Kansas Farm Bureau (KFB) announced Tuesday it has joined the Center for American Food Power (CAFP), a think tank devoted to strengthening, advancing and aligning national agrifood strategy and national security priorities.

As part of its commitment, KFB will provide guidance and professional support to the Center to ensure American agriculture remains competitive around the globe and recognizes its role as a pillar of national security.

“Food security is national security, and CAFP will help develop comprehensive policy to drive innovation in the increasingly complex network between farm fields and dinner plates,” says KFB President Joe Newland. “Kansas Farm Bureau’s board is excited to partner with the Center and believes the policy developed there will bring together broad perspectives to shape agriculture, food production and national security for generations.”

CAFP will be at the forefront of the structural shifts happening across production, trade, labor, technology and geopolitics that challenge the long-standing models underpinning the United States’ decades-long leadership in agricultural and food security.

“CAFP will foster innovation in creating new policy discussions surrounding some of the toughest issues affecting farmers, ranchers, rural communities, food companies, consumers and our national security,” says Joel Leftwich, KFB chief strategy officer and member of the American Food Power Council, CAFP’s leadership body. “I’m humbled to be part of the leadership team that will meet the challenge of creating integrated strategies to achieve success across all aspects of the food chain.”

Founded by Brett Sciotto, CEO of Idealyst Innovation, Ray Starling, general counsel for the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce and former White House policy adviser, and Greg Somerhalder, partner and executive advisor for Idealyst Innovation and former Farm Credit executive, the CAFP will serve as a nonpartisan platform for strategic analysis, cross-sector coordination and policy framework development with the goal of positioning U.S. agriculture for long-term resilience, competitiveness and geopolitical relevance. Additional funding partners will be announced in the near future.

“The Center for American Food Power is about bringing together collaborative leadership willing to look over-the-horizon to secure the future of U.S. agri-food and our nation,” Sciotto says. “We’re proud to see Kansas Farm Bureau step forward in this capacity, exemplifying the kind of vision and commitment that defines American food power.”

 To learn more about CAFP, visit www.idealystinnovation.com/americanfoodpower.