New CFI system aims to help agriculture companies navigate public perception risks

2 June 2026

2 minute read

By: CFI

North America

In today’s food system, the equation for building trust has become more complex than ever. Authority has fragmented as consumers increasingly trust their own research over expert insight. Narratives move at the speed of TikTok, while scrutiny intensifies and stakeholder expectations continue to evolve.

For more than two decades, The Center for Food Integrity (CFI) has helped food and agriculture leaders navigate that complexity by understanding the values and beliefs that shape trust.

Now the not-for-profit organization, whose membership spans the food value chain, is introducing The CFI Integrated Trust System™ – a research-based framework designed to help organizations integrate trust as an enterprise-wide strategic capability.

Grounded in peer-reviewed academic research and decades of deep industry insights, The CFI Integrated Trust System provides organizations with intelligence, strategy, activation and measurement designed to help earn and maintain trust with key audiences.

“Often, those in food and agriculture believe science will win the day. Science is essential, but it’s not sufficient,” said Kelly Leighton, CFI executive director. “People share common values about food; quality, affordability and how their food was produced. But their beliefs about what’s true and who to believe shape whether they trust the system. Our consumer research reveals the belief systems that drive trust, and that’s where the real strategic insight lives.”

The foundation of the system begins with CFI Trust Intelligence™, which helps organizations better understand where they stand when it comes to trust, as well as where risks and opportunities may exist.

This intelligence is powered by CFI Insight Engines™, living belief-based engines built specifically for food and agriculture. Each engine is grounded in locked ethnographic “DNA” from CFI’s proprietary research representing distinct consumer belief archetypes: Comfort Seekers, Authenticity Seekers, Rationalists, Progressive Disruptors and Strategists.

Through the Insight Engines, archetypes can be queried in real time to understand how key audiences may interpret decisions, new products, messaging and strategy before they go public.

“The Insight Engines don’t replace existing research, they deliver a fundamentally different kind of intelligence,” said Charlie Arnot, CFI CEO. “Each engine interprets food and agriculture topics through their unique belief lens, so organizations can understand how key audiences will process their decisions, messaging and strategy before going public.”

The system’s five phases – Predict, De-Risk, Align, Activate and Measure – move organizations from intelligence to action.  

“The CFI Integrated Trust System is designed as a continuous loop where organizations can enter at any phase,” said Arnot. “As trust evolves, the process evolves with it. It becomes a self-reinforcing operating system for building and maintaining trust.”