CH. 02
Impact Report 2024/ Impact Report 2024/

Delivering Results:
Good Food

Report
Published Date June 09, 2025

Food Overview

Too often, food is either unhealthy or wasted, while the way it’s grown, processed, and transported contributes to one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Fixing that means finding new ways to connect people with food that’s good for them and good for the planet.

This chapter explores how The Rockefeller Foundation is advancing that goal through Big Bets such as Food is Medicine, regenerative agriculture, school meals, and the Periodic Table of Food Initiative, which is cataloging the biomolecular composition of the world’s food supply.

In 2024, the Foundation made a $100 million commitment to Food is Medicine, an approach that uses produce prescriptions, medically tailored meals, and groceries to prevent and treat diet-related diseases. This chapter takes a closer look at pilots with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and hears directly from Veterans about how these interventions are improving their health. More than 1 in 4 Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans are food-insecure and are more likely than the general population to suffer from conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

The chapter also spotlights school meals: the world’s most extensive social safety net and how they are becoming more nutritious and locally sourced in countries like Benin, Kenya, and Burundi.

 

Read the full chapter to explore how food, when backed by data and partnership, can change lives for the better.
Deep Dive:

Helping Veterans Get Healthy

“I gained a whole new perspective on eating,” — a powerful statement from Herman Johnson, an Army Veteran who is participating in the Food is Medicine program in Texas. For people like Herman, and especially for Veterans who are disproportionately affected by diet-related health conditions, this work is life-changing. Find out how looking at what we eat through a health lens is eye-opening.

More than one in four Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans are food-insecure, that is, they don’t have access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life. What’s more, compared with the general population, they experience disproportionately high rates of diet-related chronic health conditions, like diabetes and heart disease.

U.S. Army Veteran, Herman Johnson shakes hands with Dr. Rajiv Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. Also in the photo are Karen Dewey, a nurse practitioner and U.S Army Veteran Oswald Hutton.

So, in 2023, the Foundation and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) launched their first Food is Medicine pilot projects in Texas and Utah, which together are home to more than 1.5 million U.S. Veterans.

For Herman Johnson, an Army Veteran in Texas, a new physique and half the meds are all the proof he needs. Once enrolled in the Food is Medicine program, Herman made the switch to plant-based meals. He lost 50 pounds, lowered his blood pressure, and cut the number of medications he needs in half.

With guidance from the Food Security Office, clinicians, and social workers, eligible Veterans like Herman were referred to the About Fresh produce prescription program which, provides participants with grocery cards to purchase fruits and vegetables as well as nutrition counseling.

The results are life changing — “I gained a whole new perspective on eating,” Herman said. The pilot programs funded by the Foundation will eventually serve over 2,000 Veterans and now we’re working to build momentum to bring even more partners and good food to the table.

download the Good Food Chapter
Help us spread the word

Highlight the text below to share this story and help spotlight the amazing work of visionary grantees driving real change. Your voice helps their impact go even further.

grantee spotlight story
Stories from the field: Minnesota

Want to transition to sustainable farming? Get a mentor.

Sustainable farming has the potential for huge ecological and economic benefits, but the transition for farmers isn’t easy. Before the benefits can be reaped, farmers will see yields decline combined with new expenses.

Making this leap requires financial backing that traditional lenders just aren’t prepared to make.

This is where ‘Mad Capital’ comes in. Supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, the scheme offers financing and mentoring to farmers making the switch.

Andrew Barsness, a corn and soy farmer from Minnesota, is just one who has benefitted from this scheme; “I finally felt I had a funding partner in my corner who understood what I was doing and was ready to help me.”

read the grantee impact story
a green combine harvester works in a large wheat field under a partly cloudy sky
A view from the combine during a wheat harvest on the Barsness farm. (Photo Courtesy of Andrew Barsness)

Our Big Bet on Food:

Food is Medicine

 

The current healthcare bill for diet-related diseases is a staggering $1.1 trillion — equal to all the money Americans currently spend on food itself.

What if instead of being part of the problem, food is the cure?

Food is Medicine programs are aiming to do just that through medically tailored meals, groceries, and food-based interventions to help prevent, manage, and treat diet-related diseases.

In 2024 we committed $100 million to this vital initiative to help Americans access affordable and nutritious food.

Learn about our work with Food is Medicine
Produce prescriptions help U.S. Marine Corps Veteran Kenny A. Joyner battle degenerative disc and joint disease.

Transformational Numbers

 

Food Results

Access to affordable, nutritious food is crucial for good health, yet many Americans, particularly in under-resourced communities, face barriers. We’re proud that Food is Medicine one of our Big Bets where instead of it being part of the problem, it is part of the cure.

  • $51.5Million

    mobilized for Food is Medicine programs

  • 118.5kPatients

    patients accessed Food is Medicine programs through The Rockefeller Foundation grantees

  • $110Million

    leveraged for Good Food and Food is Medicine programs

On Reflection

What We Are Learning From Our Food Work

Learn first, join second, build last.

As a science-based philanthropy, we often invest in research that will help us understand how an intervention can improve people’s lives. This belief is central to our Food is Medicine strategy.

But we have also learned that the most compelling evidence often does not come from research. Rather, it comes from the life experiences of people, like Veterans, who make it clear how and why access to healthy food matters. Staying close to these experiences — and making sure large institutions hear and act on them — is critical for success.

Stand behind — don’t stand in for — leaders of unlikely partnerships.

Getting Good Food to those who most need it requires working across many sectors — from agriculture to health to education. We are learning the best ways to promote multi-sectoral collaboration and increasingly see that forging a leadership body that represents multiple perspectives is a powerful way to encourage collaboration across a coalition. 

For example, in shaping leadership for our Periodic Table of Food Initiative, we knew that agricultural and health sectors would have to both build the science but do so in ways answers questions being asked in both disciplines. We are learning a singular focus in leadership can lead to a singular focus in the work, at the expense of uptake and impact.

Students share school meals at Primary School KoAnagodo, Benin. (Photo Courtesy of Jennifer Lazuta CRS)

Download the Good Food chapter or our full impact report now.

Download the Good Food chapter

download the full 2024 Impact Report

Jump to Other Chapters

    CH.01
    Power Results
    Reliable Power

    Abundant energy is out of reach for billions of people. Our mission is clear: to ensure everyone on the planet can access the power needed to unlock a brighter future.

    CH.03
    Opportunity Results
    The American Dream

    Even though the United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, for some the opportunity for a better future feels further away than ever. We are working to change that.

    CH.04
    Finance Results
    Catalytic Finance

    The world has no shortage of solutions to improve human well-being, but it lacks sufficient financing to scale them. We’re taking steps to improve that.

    CH.05
    Health Results
    Resilient Health

    Around the world, people are facing mounting and increasingly complex threats to their health. These crises call for new partnerships that can build a resilient approach to today’s health threats.

    CH.OV
    Overview
    Impact Report 2024

    Delivering results for people in the United States and around the world has not been easy. Across energy, food, health, finance, and economic opportunity, the Foundation uses its convening power to show that collaboration is the fastest route to impact.

Back to Top