Our Values

Building Sustainable Food Systems

The Common Market is a nonprofit food distributor founded on very basic principles: Access to good, affordable food is a fundamental human right and that the people who grow our food deserve to be paid and treated fairly—and that these two ideas need not be mutually exclusive.

Since our founding, our social enterprise allows these principles to guide us as we work to change the status quo of food systems in the United States.

We formed a set of Values inspired by these equity-based principles. These values inform everything we do.

• Community: Rooted in community since our founding days, we believe in the potential to build collective power through collaboration across an interdependent food system.
• Diversity: We believe that all environments thrive with greater cultural and biological diversity. The Common Market embodies this value in our organization and all of our relationships throughout the food system.
• Local Investment: We believe that by building the strength of regional economies, we can promote equitable health and well-being in urban and rural communities.
• Stewardship: We believe that agriculture can be restorative to the environment. By developing markets for food that is grown with integrity and respect, we can help transform growing practices and heal communities.
• Transparency: At every step from seed to table, we are dedicated to building trusting relationships that ensure food safety, foster accountability and maintain traceability.