Our spark.

There would be no story about Fair Food Network without Oran Hesterman. From early roots working on the country’s first student organic farm, his life’s purpose became clear: to create a more sustainable future for everyone.

In the decades following, Oran gained a broad perspective of our food system, first as a farmer turned owner of a small agricultural business, later as a scientist and agronomy professor at Michigan State University. This background laid the foundation for his next chapter at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation where he helped seed the local food systems movement with more than $200 million in philanthropic investments.

After more than a decade as a funder fueling nonprofit innovation and experimentation, Oran struck out to launch his own organization. And in 2009, Fair Food Network was born.

Inspiring, yet practical solutions.

We began by recognizing two of our greatest challenges as opportunities. On one hand, many families lack access to affordable, healthy food. And on the other, American farmers struggle to earn a fair pricing for their goods.

A win/win solution was born with Double Up Food Bucks, a healthy food incentive program that boosts the value of federal nutrition benefits spent on produce, while supporting local growers. Double Up was the first statewide incentive program and is today a national model implemented in over 20 states. And we continue to grow and innovate the program in Michigan to bring healthy food to more families, through more farmers, in more locations.

While Double Up is growing demand for healthy, locally grown food, Fair Food Network’s financing work–through Fair Food Fund and Michigan Good Food Fund – helps build our capacity to meet this demand by providing financing and business assistance to good food entrepreneurs.

In these signature programs and other projects, we are committed to pushing boundaries and identifying catalytic opportunities that create multiple wins and help move the field forward faster.

A team of pragmatic idealists.

Working with a diverse network of partners, we have made significant strides these past seven years—on the ground in communities, pioneering models that inspire others, and spurring public policy change.

This is just the beginning.

Our team leverages decades of experience in sustainable agriculture, food systems, policy, communications, public health, and community development.

We dream big, staying anchored in our core values of optimism, pragmatism, innovation, rigor, fairness, and partnerships.

We are fueled by this work and by the change we can create, together: more healthy food on the tables of low-income families, more money in the pockets of American farmers, a groundswell of American entrepreneurialism, and stronger, more resilient communities.

That is, and will always be, the work of Fair Food Network.