On February 2, 2017, in partnership with The George Washington University and World Resources Institute, Food Tank will present a one-day summit titled “Let’s Build Better Food Policy” from 9 AM to 5 PM EST in the Jack Morton Auditorium at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
As the first major bipartisan food policy summit post-inauguration, the event will gather dozens of expert speakers who are top leaders across all sectors of the food industry, including business, government, and elected officials, policymakers, nonprofit groups, farmers, unions, chefs, and more. This platform for conversation will bring speakers of diverse backgrounds and expertise together for a day of unprecedented discussion.
Summit speakers are invested in creating food businesses, amplifying the voices of smallholder farmers, increasing opportunities for youth in agriculture, creating technological innovations, and providing greater access to healthy, sustainable foods. Expert journalists and food advocates will moderate each panel—topics include Creating Resiliency in the Food and Agriculture System, Global Food Security and Change, Local and Regional Food Systems, and Future of the Farm Bill.
Confirmed speakers include (in alphabetical order—more to be announced soon):
- Chuck Abbott, Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN)
- Chef José Andrés, ThinkFoodGroup
- Tim Carman, Washington Post
- Shenggen Fan, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
- Matt Herrick, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- Roger Johnson, National Farmers Union (NFU)
- Kathleen Merrigan, The George Washington University
- Gerald Nelson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank
- Marc Oshima, AeroFarms
- Kip Tom, Tom Farms
- Eric Trachtenberg, McLarty Associates
- Ambassador Darci Vetter, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
- Malik Yakini, Detroit Black Community Food Security.
Each 2016 Summit was completely sold-out, and last year’s D.C. Summit brought together 400 in-person attendees and more than 30,100 livestream participants from 125 countries. We anticipate that 2017 will be another great year for these impactful summits, as we expand to Boston, Los Angeles, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, continuing to create networks of people, organizations, and content that push for food system change.
The Food Tank Summit D.C. can be viewed remotely via a free livestream at foodtank.
