Aaron Johnson

16 posts
Aaron is the Co-Policy Director at RAFI, working to end trends of concentration and extraction in the meat industry and build resilient community-rooted animal agriculture economies. Prior to joining RAFIhe worked as a program designer and evaluator for several youth asset-building nonprofits in Durham, NC. Originally from Illinois, Aaron grew up spending his summers on his grandfather’s hog and dairy farm, and later working as a farmhand on his uncle’s hog farm. These formative experiences shaped Aaron’s passion for fighting for more ecologically just food systems.

The Senate Should Not Use Farmers as a Deal “Sweetener”

July 1, 2026
Farmers need a real Farm Bill — not short-term relief used as a bargaining chip for unrelated war funding. As farm families face rising input costs, inflation, disrupted programs, and delayed action from Congress, small- and mid-scale independent farmers need policy that addresses the roots of the crisis. A strong Farm Bill should strengthen farm credit, restaff local USDA offices, rebuild regional food infrastructure, protect SNAP, and curb corporate price gouging.
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Sen. Fetterman Introduces S.2792 in Collaboration with RAFI

September 15, 2023
On Tuesday, September 13, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), in close collaboration with RAFI (Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA), introduced the Strengthening Local Meat Economies Act (S.2792), which will take action against runaway corporate concentration in the meatpacking industry by redirecting over $300 million in federal procurement toward local meat processors rather than multinational corporations, over a four-year period.
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USDA Should Buy Meat from Local Processors, Not Meatpacking Monopolists

September 13, 2023
In 2022, USDA purchased nearly half of its meat from the largest category of meat processors. Even more egregiously, 25% of USDA’s meat procurement was allocated to just four dominant meatpackers: $279 million to Tyson, $13 to Cargill, $5 million to Smithfield, and, despite its criminality, $63 million to JBS. In contrast, less that 7% of USDA’s meat procurement contracts were awarded to small meat processors serving regional food systems.
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USDA’s New Poultry Industry Transparency Rule

June 23, 2022
Don’t have the time to read 155 pages of the USDA's proposed rule that would revise regulations that apply to poultry growing contracts and the use of tournament ranking systems in the poultry industry? We've got you covered.
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Sign up for RAFI-USA's Policy Action Network

April 29, 2022
For years, we’ve issued action alerts and policy updates around important policy issues so that they can speak up to their representatives and key policymakers about policies that affect their lives. This year, we’re expanding the ways that you can engage in our policy work through the creation of our new Policy Action Network.
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