Good Food Strategies received a grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in August 2008 to develop of a set of strategic recommendations for how the Packard Foundation and other foundations, organizations and individuals can, over the next 5-10 years, most effectively advance federal policy goals related to improving the environmental performance of agriculture, particularly in the areas of nitrogen pollution and greenhouse gases.

To accomplish this, Good Food Strategies’ staff and team of consultants conducted research and analysis of the policy, political, and communications landscape to identify key challenges, opportunities and potential strategies for leveraging progress on key federal policies that impact agricultural practices such as energy and climate change legislation, and the next Farm Bill. The goal would be to leverage these potential vehicles to move away from policies that exacerbate key environmental problems, and toward policies that that incentivize agricultural practices that reduce nitrogen run-off and greenhouse gas emissions from farming.  

To this end, our team of experts conducted public opinion research, political analysis, and analysis of relevant media coverage. A key component of our research included dozens of interviews with key stakeholders and prominent thought leaders on these issues.

FarmsFoodandFuel.org has been created to share this research with the community of advocates working to improve the environmental footprint of agriculture.