Illinois Stewardship Alliance is creating impactful farm and food solutions by advancing farmer-led, eater-powered policy changes
We’re advancing farmer-led, eater powered policy solutions to address corporate consolidation in our farm and food system.
Our solutions prioritize and center the needs of farmers, the health of our communities and the conservation of our state’s natural resources.
The Alliance creates impactful Farm & Food solutions
in three key ways:
1. Researching Policy Grounded in Lived Experience
We start with the expertise of those whose livelihoods are dependent upon the farm and foodsystem. Through research rooted in lived experience, we identify the most urgent challenges and develop practical, values-based policy solutions that reflect what’s happening on the ground.
Our 10-year Policy Platform and our Annual Policy Agenda reflect the issues most urgent to our community, and most impactful in creating a more just and regenerative food and farm system.
In 2024 we celebrated our 50th anniversary and looked ahead to our next chapter. Our members embarked on a journey to create a policy platform that outlines the deep rooted challenges embedded in our food and farm system, as well as community-driven policy solutions that will lead to change.
Our first long-term Policy Platform, created with input from hundreds of farmers, eaters, and food and farm organizations across Illinois, serves as a 10 year roadmap to a just and regenerative future.
2. Educating and Building Champion Policymakers
Advancing impactful policy requires leadership from lawmakers. Strong policy requires strong allies. We work to educate policymakers, build lasting relationships, and foster champions who understand the realities of food and farming. Through legislative farm tours, meetings, briefings, roundtables, and testimony, we help decision-makers become advocates for change.
3. Making Policy Work in Practice
Policy doesn’t end at passage—it begins there. We stay engaged to ensure laws and programs are implemented effectively, equitably, and with accountability. From working with government agencies to participating in policy implementation groups, we make sure good policy delivers real results.
Every legislative win chips away at a consolidated, corporate-controlled farm and food system, and builds one that works for us all.
