CAFS is a non-profit organization that promotes interdisciplinary research, teaching, and outreach related to food systems. As a community, CAFS facilitates partnerships between researchers, practitioners and other stakeholders in the food industry to address pressing food-related issues in ways that enhance and support equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization. CAFS works to promote innovative approaches to food systems research and practice, including participatory and community-based research. On April 19, 2005, a number of academic and community-based researchers from Ontario met at Ryerson University to develop a proposal for an  national research program about food security. CAFS was subsequently founded as an interdisciplinary academic association to identify research priorities and to share research findings on diverse issues. On August 16, 2006, it was incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation under the Canada Corporations Act. Since then, we have worked to expand our reach, including food sector practitioners and those with on-the-ground experience, so as to ground our efforts in diverse, lived experience. Through our annual conference, the listserv and other online tools, we exchange ideas and findings, and develop new research priorities that deepen and extend our collective understanding.