Food & Control

RAFI staff members Aaron Johnson and Melanie Canales will lead a workshop on how corporate consolidation in U.S. grocery retail impacts food access, food prices, and food security. Using The Grocery Gap Atlas to map grocery consolidation over the years, we will discuss how corporate dominance manipulates our food systems.
WHEN: Tuesday, July 8, 6 – 8 p.m.
WHERE: Word Tabernacle Church (821 Word Plaza, Rocky Mount, NC 27804) in Room 448
Aaron Johnson
Policy Co-Director

Aaron Johnson is RAFI’s Co-Policy Director.  Before joining RAFI, he 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. He enjoys elaborate cooking projects, photography, and having fun with his partner and daughter.

Melanie Canales
Challenging Corporate Power Project Manager

As RAFI’s Challenging Corporate Power Project Manager, Melanie Canales realizes a goal she barely dared to dream: making a living by fighting the man. Melanie’s work focuses on dismantling corporate consolidation in the agricultural industry through building policy and resources informed by on-the-ground stakeholders, crafting narrative change, and relentlessly reimagining what a just transition in scalable agriculture can look like. A mover and shaker at heart, Melanie enjoys swimming, dancing, and stewarding her local pollinator ecosystem as a beekeeper in her spare time.