Seed-to-Table Food Systems — Bryant & Co. Foundation
What We Do · Pillar One

Seed-to-Table
Food Systems

From soil to harvest to table — we teach the full cycle of growing, processing, and sharing food in a way that nourishes people and sustains communities.

47.9M
Americans in food-insecure households in 2024
USDA Household Food Security Report, Dec 2025 — the final report ever published
29.5%
Cumulative rise in US grocery prices since December 2019
BLS Consumer Price Index, 2025
14.1M
Children in food-insecure households in 2024 — up from 2023
USDA ERS / Food Research & Action Center, Jan 2026

Food is never
just food.

It is health, land use, labor, access, culture, local economics, and survival all braided together. Most people are deeply dependent on food systems they do not understand and cannot influence. Diet-related illness, food insecurity, soil depletion, and disconnection from how food is grown continue to rise. When communities lose knowledge of how to feed themselves well, they also lose resilience.

Right Now

The food system is not approaching a crisis.
It is inside one.

$25
A salad. In an American city. In 2026. This is not normal and it is not sustainable.
13.7%
Of US households food insecure in 2024 — highest since 2021. The USDA just ended the report that tracked it.
+11.5%
Fresh vegetable prices year over year as of April 2026. Every link in the chain under pressure at once.

Farmers across the country planted what may be among the most critical crop cycles in a generation this past spring. What comes out of the ground this summer matters in a way most people do not yet fully understand. The Living Ground exists because waiting for the crisis to become undeniable is not a strategy. Building something resilient before the window closes is.

Sources: USDA ERS, BLS CPI, FRAC, Reuters · Current as of June 2026

A system that feeds people,
but not always well.

Industrial food systems often prioritize speed, convenience, and volume over nutrition, stewardship, and local ownership. Many families live far from fresh food. Many children grow up without ever learning how food is produced. Many communities are left consuming what they did not help shape.

Communities that lose their connection to how food is grown also lose their ability to shape what they eat, how they heal, and who they become. The result is a system that feeds people — but not always in a way that strengthens health, dignity, or place.

We reconnect people
to the full chain.

Participants learn by doing — planting, tending, harvesting, processing, preparing, and sharing food in community. It makes food systems visible again and turns agriculture into something practical, participatory, and deeply human. At The Living Ground, the seed-to-table experience is not a class. It is a way of being on the land.

On the Farm

Hands-on growing, soil stewardship, seasonal harvest cycles, and regenerative farming practices that rebuild the land while feeding the community.

In the Kitchen

Food handling, preparation, and basic processing workshops that close the gap between field and table and turn knowledge into daily practice.

In Schools

A school garden stewardship program that keeps gardens alive long after grant funding ends — pairing students with real responsibility and real results.

In the Community

The Living Ground Block Party brings the farm directly into neighborhoods, turning city blocks into classrooms, kitchens, and celebrations all at once.

Knowledge you can take home,
share, and root into your community.

  • 01Soil health and regenerative growing practices
  • 02Seasonal planting, harvesting, and crop planning
  • 03Food handling, preparation, and basic processing
  • 04Nutrition, wellness, and the connection between food and long-term health
  • 05How local food systems create stronger communities and local economic opportunity

The data that drives
everything we do.

Americans in Food-Insecure Households
Millions of people · 2019 to 2024 · USDA Household Food Security Report
USDA Economic Research Service, Dec 2025. Note: USDA has discontinued this report — 2024 is the final year of federal data.
Cumulative Grocery Price Increase Since 2019
% rise in food-at-home CPI · December 2019 to May 2025 · Bureau of Labor Statistics
BLS Consumer Price Index, farmdoc daily May 2025. Grocery prices are up 29.5% since December 2019.

This is about more than learning
how to grow food.

It is about learning how to build health, resilience, and shared abundance from the ground up. Whether you are a school, a family, or an organization ready to bring this model into your community, there is a place for you here.