As the global food crisis deepens, the urgent question is no longer if we must change how we grow and consume food, but how fast we can do it. Our current food and agriculture systems are among the largest drivers of climate change, biodiversity loss, and inequality. Yet, they also hold the greatest potential for healing restoring ecosystems, strengthening farming livelihoods, and ensuring that nutritious food is accessible to all.
This is the vision behind Growing Our Future (GoF), a flagship initiative led by Forum for the Future, now active in the US, UK, and India. By building coalitions across farmers, businesses, policymakers, and civil society, GoF is working to accelerate the transition towards a food system that is regenerative, equitable, and resilient.
Why agriculture must transform
Conventional agricultural practices intensive monocultures, overuse of chemicals, and extractive models of production are straining both people and planet. They fuel food insecurity, undermine farmer livelihoods, and disrupt ecosystems. At the same time, they leave communities vulnerable to supply chain shocks, as seen during recent global crises.
But agriculture can also be a solution. By regenerating soils, conserving water, diversifying production, and embedding justice at the heart of food systems, farming can become a driver of ecological restoration and community resilience. What’s needed is systemic change one that dismantles silos and replaces profit-driven models with holistic, future-fit approaches.
Planting the seeds of transformation
Launched in 2020 in the United States, GoF began by bringing together more than 100 stakeholders across the food value chain to identify the actions most critical for a regenerative transition. These ranged from reshaping agricultural policy and financing, to opening new markets for regeneratively grown produce, to valuing social and ecological outcomes alongside yields.
These ideas grew into four core workstreams that pilot new ways of collaborating and acting at scale. Practical resources such as toolkits have since been published, equipping changemakers to design food systems that work for farmers, communities, and the environment.
The movement has since expanded: GoF UK launched in 2021 with a focus on middle actors such as distributors and processors, and the transformation of dairy and orchard sectors. In 2023, GoF India took root in Madhya Pradesh, a state where farming dominates both livelihoods and culture, creating pathways for coordinated, systemic change.
Across these countries, the unifying principle is the same: multi-stakeholder collaboration that builds connectivity, reframes dominant narratives, and seeds innovative action.
Early impact: Changing hearts, organisations, and systems
Shifting mindsets
GoF is helping leaders and communities rethink food from the ground up. In the US, more than 135 organisations from farmers and ranchers to food brands and advocacy coalitions have come together to co-create pathways towards a just and regenerative food future. Farmers are not just participants but co-designers, ensuring that the vision reflects lived realities.
In the UK, more than 100 organisations spanning farmers, retailers, and NGOs are learning to see interdependence as strength. By convening diverse actors in shared workstreams, GoF is fostering collaboration that re-energises change agents and begins to shift entrenched power dynamics in supply chains.
Enabling organisations to act
Beyond ideas, GoF is enabling concrete organisational action. In the US, grants supported Black, Indigenous, and Latine farmers and farmworkers, ensuring they are compensated for leadership roles in shaping the transition. A regenerative cotton pilot has broken new ground by enrolling 400 acres of Black-owned farms into innovative financing models.
In India, the focus is on creating equitable monetisation mechanisms, such as payment for ecosystem services (PES), ensuring small farmers are fairly compensated for their stewardship. Meanwhile, market access for agroecological produce is being expanded.
In the UK, GoF has developed practical action plans for sectors such as dairy, orchards, and vegetable processing, while exploring new markets for regenerative produce.
Influencing wider systems
GoF is also reshaping the broader environment for change. In the UK, collaboration with WWF aligned the strategies of 16 food and farming NGOs to amplify impact. In India, state-level CSOs are being equipped to influence government policies on regenerative agriculture. In the US, definitions of “sustainable” and “regenerative” agriculture adopted by mainstream platforms now reflect GoF’s emphasis on justice and systems-thinking.
The initiative is becoming a trusted voice at global platforms, from the Oxford Farming Conference to Climate Week NYC, where it has helped amplify farmer voices particularly those from marginalised communities.
What’s next?
The journey is far from over. The next phase of GoF will scale and deepen impact across all three countries:
• In the US, focus will be on the cotton and dairy sectors, strengthening policy advocacy through the Farm Bill and state-level reforms, and advancing metrics to measure social outcomes of regenerative farming.
• In the UK, new pilots will reimagine urban agriculture and strengthen supply chain accountability in dairy, vegetable, and orchard sectors.
• In India, GoF will work closely with the government of Madhya Pradesh to embed regenerative principles in governance, inspire other states, and expand local capacity.
Towards a regenerative food future
The food transition is underway, but whether it is fast and far-reaching enough remains the critical challenge. Growing Our Future shows that when farmers, businesses, civil society, and governments come together, the food system can be rewired to deliver health, equity, and resilience.
The path forward is clear: a food system that does not simply feed the world but nourishes people, restores ecosystems, and secures farming livelihoods for generations to come.