Food Sovereignty Tours Transition

To Our Food First Family,

What does Food Sovereignty actually look like? In 2010, this question led us to launch a path-breaking project in educational tourism to experience food sovereignty around the globe.

Food First’s Food Sovereignty Tours took farmers, students, educators, professionals, and activists to meet with and learn from the communities that are forging food sovereignty on the ground. In week-long educational tours, participants met with farmers and farm organizations, with food, health, and environmental activists, and with government representatives—all working for just, sustainable and healthy food systems.

For over 8 years we traveled to Cuba, Bolivia, Mexico, South Korea, Hawaii, Italy, and the Basque country. Over 300 travelers joined us. Many returned to work on food sovereignty in their own communities. Friendships, alliances, and projects emerged naturally from these people-to-people experiences. We are inspired by the reach and depth of Food Sovereignty Tours, and for that, we have all of you to thank.

We thank every participant who created a critical learning space and took home with them the lessons and experiences of those on the frontlines of change. We know you will continue this work and please know Food First is ready and willing to provide any help in your endeavors. We also thank the many who donated whatever they could to provide scholarships to youth, farmers, and people of color, creating diverse and inclusive spaces that dismantle age, race, and class-based boundaries. Finally, we would like to honor the local movement organizers and farmers who worked with us to shape an experience that inspired action. We are forever indebted to you.

Don’t worry, this is not good-bye! But we are devolving the tour operations to a close ally, Altruvistas travel.

Food First is excited to continue the work as a support organization to a socially and environmentally responsible solidarity tour operator whose director, Malia Everette, originally helped us launch Food Sovereignty tours and has worked closely with Food First all along.  We will continue to lend our work to Altruvista’s solidarity travel participants and anyone using it as a tool to build a just food system. As an organization, Food First is excited to re-focus our efforts into deepening our analysis and research to build the food sovereignty movement from the ground up. We do this because we know that when we change our food system, we change everything.

In Solidarity,

Food First