Mission & Services
Who are we?
Ag Innovations Network (AIN) is a leader in the effort to create a vibrant, healthy, and enduring food system. Since 2000 we have worked with farmers, ranchers, farm labor advocates, environmentalists, food processors, distributors, retailers, and health and food access advocates—virtually every stakeholder in the food system—to devise strategies that create better results at every stop from farm to fork.
We focus exclusively on facilitating the dialogue between stakeholders that will lead to new business models, new ways to grow and distribute food, new community efforts, and new public policy to create a better food system.
Our Mission
The mission of AIN is to assure the long-term viability of the global, regional and local food system. We define the food system as the interconnected set of processes that grow, process, and distribute food.
Our Vision
A food system where everyone has access to healthy food, where every partner in the food chain from food producers to workers to food outlets have the economic returns they need to flourish, where the productive capacities of the natural world are in balance with our demands on those capacities, and where food and food production are recognized as the cornerstone of a healthy civilization.
Our Approach
“I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again. Simple, honest, human conversation. Not mediation, negotiation, problem solving, debate, or public meetings. Simple truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard, and we each listen well.” Meg Wheatley, Turning To One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future
Ag Innovations Network facilitates truthful conversation. We work with businesses, community organizations, governments, and others to bring together people to talk about food, farming, and the future. Our approach is to ask the questions that help groups understand the root causes of the current crises in agriculture and discover the new solutions that are needed.
We are passionate about our vision, but humble about how to accomplish it. We take no positions on the best way to get to a better food system. In this way we can work with the very diverse stakeholders and needs in the food system as a trusted neutral facilitator of new understanding and ideas.
Our Expertise
- Creating and facilitating public processes that bring together divergent groups with a stake in agriculture to find common ground and implement solutions that address local needs.
- Helping organizations in the food system plan for the turbulent future of increased global competition, environmental pressures, climate change, and ever-changing demands of the market.
- Training individuals and organizations in the tools needed to create a healthy food system. This includes systems thinking, stakeholder engagement, and facilitation.
What We Do
AIN offers its services to non-profits, formal and informal community groups, businesses, and government. We add value in three major areas:
Facilitating Change
Our skilled team of facilitators can help historically deadlocked parties engage in a meaningful dialog and ultimately a sustainable solution. Combining our knowledge of agricultural innovation with skilled process management, we help communities to agree on and organize around effective responses to today’s challenges.
Strategic Planning
We work with organizations and enterprises to develop the concepts, strategies and plans they need to cope with the incredible complexity of the global food system. Using a “reality-based” approach, we help clarify the imperatives driving change and viable options for success. We also provide classic organizational development support that increase capabilities and improve productivity.
Training
We offer a suite of training programs that can be tailored to individual needs. We also develop custom training in our areas of experience. Current offerings include basic and advanced facilitation training, multi-stakeholder collaboration and systems thinking.