Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture

Systems thinking. Local action.

Arcadia is reimagining the food system from the ground up --
one community, one family, one meal at a time.

Our Mobile Markets bring fresh, locally grown food directly into DC’s most vulnerable neighborhoods -- places where grocery stores have closed, where fast food is easier to find than an apple. We don’t just sell produce; we build food security and dignity. Every item starts at an affordable price, and every federal nutrition benefit is doubled, because everyone deserves access to healthy food, not just those who can afford it.

But Arcadia’s work goes much deeper.
We grow food on our suburban farm, just outside the city: close enough to be connected, big enough to be impactful. It’s a working model of regenerative agriculture and community collaboration, showing what a healthy, local food system can look like.

We train veterans to be farmers, providing a path from service to stewardship, and a livelihood rooted in purpose. We welcome children to discover where food really comes from ...and the wonder of pulling a carrot from the earth. We support school and community gardens, helping them thrive long after the first planting. And we open our gates at the Route 1 Community Farm, where low-income and military families can grow and harvest their own food, entirely for free.

Every Arcadia program is a piece of a larger whole, creating a farm-to-community pathway that shifts demand, consumption, and appreciation for the land that sustains us all.

When you support Arcadia, you’re not just helping to feed people: you’re helping transform a system that impacts our health, our happiness, our communities and our land.

Your gift grows a food system rooted in equity, sustainability, and shared abundance.