What's at stake

Food is woven deeply into the fabric of our daily lives. It nourishes our bodies, binds together communities, and provides a good living for the millions of people who work to produce, distribute and sell it. And it does all this while sustaining and regenerating the resources that it depends on.

At least, food should do all those things. But the current US food system too often plays a different—and destructive—role. Instead of keeping us healthy, it fuels epidemics of diabetes and heart disease. Instead of supporting strong communities, it exploits workers, worsens racial and income inequality, and drains money from local economies. Instead of working with nature in a resilient, sustainable way, today’s dominant farming methods despoil the landscape, pollute air and water, and accelerate climate change.

These problems didn’t arise by accident: they are the result of policies driven by narrow private interests rather than the public good.

The good news is that we know how to build a better food system—one that provides healthy, sustainably produced food for all and treats everyone at every stage of the system fairly. A growing movement of farmers, workers, scientists, community activists and eaters is working to make this vision a reality. UCS is part of this movement—and you can help.