For 25+ years, Richard has played both hyper local and global roles in growing community through food. In 1995, he founded Market Umbrella and its flagship Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans with both urban and rural allies. From the laboratory of underutilized parking lots, he developed worker cooperatives with public housing residents; health incentive programs for seniors, children, fishing families, and families on SNAP — especially relevant in times of trauma, like after Hurricane Katrina.

For six years, beginning in 2013, he directed Slow Food USA, in the spirit of where joy meets justice. Today, he serves on the organization’s international governing body and manages the Meatless Monday portfolio. In 2019, he launched Think Like Pirates, to serve as a platform for writing, films, and consulting devoted to the dignity of people, places and products that defend life on planet Earth.