Sustainable Food
“All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of all.” ~John 1: 3-4
What we call ’conventional’ agriculture has only been the convention since the 1950s.
We have replaced human labor and ancient practices of crop rotation and soil management with fossil-fuel derived chemical fertilizers and pesticides, many of which are exceedingly toxic. Our chemical dependence will soon run dry as we deplete our oil and natural gas. Industrial farming also comes with a great financial cost–to the natural fertility of the soil and to the people who work on it. Each year in the United States over 200,000 farm workers are accidentally poisoned with pesticides. Constant regular exposure to these chemicals makes farming one of our nation’s most dangerous occupations.
Many of our faith traditions say something about how we eat, what we eat, how to grow food and how to give thanks for it. All of them say that we are charged with the love of our brothers and sisters. We cannot ask people to poison themselves to supply our needs, but essentially we ask that indirectly whenever we purchase conventionally grown food. Economic supply chains are also chains of morality that bind us to our brothers and sisters around the world. We need to know that the people who grow our food are able to live the kinds of lives we want for ourselves. At Faith in Place we know our farmers and we love them! We can help you get acquainted with them too.
Get Educated
Learn about our religious responsibility to understand more about where our food comes from and how it’s grown, and to shift to local, humane and sustainable sources. Our workshops in conjunction with the regional planning bodies can also help congregations to understand how our land use decisions impact the availability of local food. We are glad to preach or teach workshops at your congregation.
Eat Local
We’ve helped dozens of faith communities switch to local food by referring them to their local farmers markets, and encourage congregations to host a Winter Farmers Market. We co-sponsor these markets because they provide small, local farm producers with additional venues that extend their income beyond the growing season. For a full schedule of this season's markets, visit our
Grow Your Own
Through our youth program and through our ability to network with other organizations, Faith in Place has helped to establish gardens at several congregations, helping members to grow food for their own consumption, or for donation to their local food pantry.
Our ’cowpooling’ service
Our former experience running a small cooperative that provided local, sustainable, humane and halal meat has helped us to understand the particular needs of the Muslim community when it comes to local food. We are happy to connect families to farmers, and to people who know how to perform the required zabeeha slaughter. Want organic and zabeeha meat but afraid your family could never use a whole cow? We are happy to connect you to other Muslim families who would like to share one with you.
Advocate For Sound Agricultural and Land Use Policy
Call us to learn more about current advocacy activity on land use and agricultural policy at the regional, state and federal levels.
Related Links
FamilyFarmed CSA match-making program - FamilyFarmed.org matches potential host sites with Chicago-area CSA programs.
Local Harvest - Provides a full description of our Winter Farmers Markets, as well as other local food information and resources.