Programs and Projects
With support from a 2010 endowment from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, INFAS leads many collaborative projects aligned with our vision and mission, with many of these initiatives being carried out through our working groups. Outside of these projects, INFAS has helped lead several graduate fellowship programs aimed at expanding the diversity of scholars and perspectives engaged in food systems and agricultural research. INFAS currently partners with Tuskegee University to co-lead the CISC-INFAS HBCU Fellowship and recently began recruitment for the newly developed INFAS Food System Fellowship.
Working Groups Graduate Fellowship Programs Special Projects Publications
Working Groups
Each working group has a small annual budget to help seed and catalyze action. Working group chairs also serve on the INFAS Executive Committee. If you're an INFAS member interested in joining one of our working groups, please reach out to our coordinator at [email protected].
Education Working Group
The Education Working Group is the home to our CISC-INFAS HBCU fellowship program (CHFP). The Education working group recently launched a Conference Travel Fund Fellowship to support fellows in attending conferences and presenting their food systems research. This initiative helps reduce financial barriers while creating opportunities for fellows to share their work, build professional networks, and engage with the broader food systems community. Fellows will also share reflections on how the INFAS network has supported their professional growth and shaped their journeys in the field at the 6th Annual INFAS Virtual Summit.
Chair: Lindsey Lunsford, Tuskegee University’s Cooperative Extension. (Committee term: 2023-2026) [email protected]
Justice Working Group
The Justice working group will allocate $1500 of its annual working group funds to support INFAS members to serve as guest editors/small editorial teams for a special section in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD). We invite INFAS members to propose a special section topic that aligns with the INFAS mission and JAFSCD’s aims and scope, especially justice- and equity-centered work by June 30th, 2026. The INFAS EC will review and select one special section proposal topic for INFAS-JAFSCD each partnership year (July 1st - June 30th). Join the INFAS Annual Summit on April 20th to learn more about this opportunity and brainstorm ideas for special section topics that you would like to lead as a guest editor.
In addition, the working group seeks up to seven INFAS faculty members to guide our INFAS-FSF & CHFP graduate student fellows through the first-time peer-reviewed manuscript submission and, ideally, publication process in JAFSCD. Mentors will receive $500 (up to $3500 total) for providing ongoing guidance through manuscript submission preparation and peer review, including continued support for up to one year following the fellowship. Further details are forthcoming at the INFAS Annual Summit.
Finally, several current and former Justice working group members contributed to the JAFSCD special section honoring our former working group member and INFAS executive chair Christine Porter, including a posthumous contribution with working group chair Rachael Budowle in Triple Rigor: An introduction to the special section outlining Christine Porter’s Work & life and Comfort. The concepts of ethical and emotional rigor outlined in the introduction have a strong connection with the Justice Working Group’s priorities. Additionally, working group member Lesli Hoey contributed “Love as praxis: Academic and activist pathways to food justice.” Finally, Budowle; former working group chair, Julie Grossman; and working group member and EC chair, Brandy Phipps (with co-authors) contributed Strategic storytelling: Reflecting on the past, present, and future of INFAS. In this piece, INFAS members can learn more about our network’s history, including how justice and equity became central values for INFAS over time.
Chair: Rachael Budowle, Virginia Tech Honors College. (Committee term: 2023-2026) [email protected]
Organizational Development Working Group
A small group of INFAS members, with the help of John Fisk, has met several times to develop a national fundraising strategy for centers. This is in direct response to needs expressed at past annual INFAS meetings. We are also closely aligned with a fundraising effort led by Ernesto Mendez at the University of Vermont on behalf of agroecology research
Chair: Michelle Miller, University of Wisconsin - Madison (Committee term 2018 -2026); [email protected]
Research Working Group
The INFAS Research Working Group has been working on multiple research, editorial and publication projects this year. Please contact Albie Miles for additional details: [email protected].
Food System Transformation and the Realization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is a completed Research Topic (RT) in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems Research led by INFAS Executive Committee members Dr. Albie Miles, Dr. Brandy Phipps along with an international editorial team. The RT centers on the argument that transforming agri-food systems is essential to achieving the UN SDGs. It brings together interdisciplinary work on agroecology, governance, food policy, indicators and metrics, Indigenous food ways, food justice, resilience, education, and planning across multiple world regions. The body of collected work explains that agri-food systems are major drivers of climate, biodiversity, health, labor, and equity outcomes. It argues that integrated research, policy, investment, and governance are needed to address these challenges together rather than in isolation. Several articles draw upon the research of INFAS members and INFAS-sponsored studies. Impact: The RT has received over 175K views, 34K article downloads, with 154 authors, and 30 articles. Research Topic page | Editorial
Food System Resilience, Disaster Preparedness & Response is a completed Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems Research Topic led by Dr. Albie Miles and a team of national collaborators. This collection is centered on the need to understand food system resilience in relation to shocks, disruptions, and the institutional, infrastructural, ecological, and social capacities needed to prepare for, respond to, and recover from crisis. It brings together interdisciplinary work on emergency food response, wildfire and water resilience, transportation disruptions, Indigenous knowledge, collaborative response networks, and applied resilience frameworks across diverse contexts. Together, the collection argues that resilient food systems require integrated planning, distributed infrastructure, cross-sector coordination, and governance systems capable of addressing both immediate disaster conditions and longer-term structural vulnerability. Several articles also align closely with resilience-oriented scholarship advanced by members of the Inter-Institutional Network for Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability (INFAS). Impact: The Research Topic page currently reports 56K topic views, 43K article views, 6K article downloads, and 11 articles. Research Topic page | Editorial
Other active INFAS-led Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems Research Topics include:
- Measuring Sustainability in Food Systems: This Research Topic advances scientific indicators and metric systems for assessing food system sustainability across social, economic, environmental, health, and governance dimensions. It emphasizes integrated, policy-relevant measurement frameworks that can track progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals while also being adapted for use at local, state, regional, and national scales. Editors: Albie Miles, Konstantinos Zougris, Nikolitsa Grigoropoulou, Ryan E. Galt, and Konstantinos Zarras.
- Right-Wing Social Movements and Agri-Food Systems: This Research Topic examines how right-wing political movements are shaping agri-food systems, rural politics, environmental discourse, labor relations, and struggles over land, identity, and governance. It seeks to better understand the implications of authoritarian, nationalist, exclusionary, and reactionary politics for food system equity, democracy, sustainability, and social transformation. Editors: Albie Miles, Tania Schusler, Christine C. Caruso, Erica Zurawski, and Neeraja Havaligi.
- Transformative Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems Education: This Research Topic explores how agroecology and sustainable food systems education can cultivate systems thinking, ethical leadership, experiential learning, and transformative capacity among students and communities. It highlights innovative pedagogies, curriculum models, and educational institutions that prepare learners to address the ecological, social, and political challenges of food system transformation. Editors: Albie Miles, Damian Parr, Md Rayhan Shaheb, Nils McCune, Roland Ebel, Karen L. Nordstrom, and Morten Kromann Nielsen.
- Food System Planning, Governance, & Democratization Across Scales: This Research Topic focuses on the institutions, planning processes, and governance mechanisms needed to democratize food systems from local to global scales. It emphasizes participatory governance, community voice, equity-centered planning, and cross-sector coordination as essential foundations for building more resilient, just, and sustainable food systems. Albie Miles, Michelle Miller, Maya Moore, and Kareem M. Usher.
Chair: Albie Miles, University of Hawai'i, West O'ahu. (Committee term 2019 - 2026); [email protected]