The Farm To Table International Symposium (F2Ti) offers practical knowledge for all those interested in the topics of sourcing, producing, and consuming foods locally. Join in lively discussions on the topic which will feature the brightest thought leaders and leading practitioners in the burgeoning farm-to-table movement. This year’s theme, “The Process,” examines the agricultural-culinary cycle at all levels and will feature its own organic urban farm research project. Registration now open! Click here to register.
Danielle Nierenberg
President & Co-Founder
Food Tank:The Food Think Tank
www.FoodTank.com
Panel Discussion: “Preventing Food Waste from Field to Fork”
Food waste is truly a global problem. According to recent U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates, roughly 133 billion pounds of food from stores, restaurants, and homes is wasted in the U.S. each year. In the U.K., up to 30 percent of vegetables never leave the farm because they don’t meet the aesthetic standards of supermarkets. In Latin America, average food waste amounts to more than 200 kilograms per person per year. Over 60 percent of the carbon footprint of food waste can be attributed to Asia and North Africa. Australian consumers throw away up to 20 percent of all food that they buy. With an annual value of approximately US$4 billion, 10-20 percent of Africa’s grain harvest is lost after the harvest – and that amount is enough to feed 48 million people.
The good news, however, is that in each of these regions, farmers, chefs, businesses, governments, and eaters are developing, scaling up, and incorporating innovations in infrastructure, technology, and farming, processing, and hospitality practices that are reducing food waste. We’ll bring together food waste experts, including Jonathan Bloom, and a local farmer and chef to talk about the strategies their using to prevent waste–and nourish both people and the planet.
Danielle Nierenberg is President of Food Tank and an expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues. She has written extensively on gender and population, the spread of factory farming in the developing world, and innovations in sustainable agriculture.
Danielle spent two years traveling to more than 35 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America meeting with farmers and farmers’ groups, scientists and researchers, policymakers and government leaders, students and academics, and journalists collecting their thoughts on what’s working to help alleviate hunger and poverty, while also protecting the environment.
Her knowledge of global agriculture issues has been cited widely in more than 8,000 major print and broadcast outlets worldwide including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, BBC, the Guardian (UK), Le Monde, the Mail and Guardian (South Africa), the East African (Kenya), TIME magazine, Reuters, Agence France Presse, Voice of America, the Times of India, the Sydney Morning Herald, and other major publications.
Danielle has authored or contributed to several major reports and books, including Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry (2005), State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet (Editor and Project Director, 2011), Eating Planet 2012 (2012), and Food and Agriculture: The Future of Sustainability (2012).
She has spoken at major conferences and events all over the world including The World Food Prize/Borlaug Dialogues (2010 and 2012), the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development (2012), the Third Annual James Beard Foundation Leadership Awards (2013), UNFCCC COP 16, the Barilla Center for Food Nutrition Annual Forums (2011 2012, 2013), the Aspen Institute Environment Forum (2011), the European Commission Green Week (2010), the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting (2008), the Sustainable Food Summit (2012), the Fourth National Conference for Women in Sustainable Agriculture (2013), the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders Network (2011), the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation (2011), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2011), the Food and Agriculture Organization (2011), Women Deliver (2013) and many others. Additionally, Food Tank routinely convenes large sold-out events in cities from New York to Chicago.
She also worked for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic.
Danielle has an M.S. in Agriculture, Food, and Environment from the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
Jason Wilson
Founder & CEO
Back Forty Beer Company
http://www.backfortybeer.com
Roundtable Participant: “Kitchen Bar Summit”
Jason Wilson is Founder & CEO of Back Forty Beer Company in Gadsden, Alabama & President of the Alabama Brewers Guild. Wilson is Vice President of the Gadsden Commercial Development Authority and a member of the Auburn University Supply Chain Management Advisory Council. After founding Back Forty Beer Company in 2009, Wilson went on to become a charter member of “Front Porch Revival”, a non profit organization focused on highlighting and supporting artists, culinary professionals & entrepreneurs in rural parts of the Deep South.
Wilson lives and works in Gadsden, Alabama and travels throughout the Southeast to speak on the topics of sustainable entrepreneurship and community development.
SoFAB Vice President Philip M. Dobard leads aspirited discussion of curatorial collaboration between kitchen and bar.
About F2Ti
The Farm To Table International Symposium (F2Ti) offers practical knowledge for all those interested in the topics of sourcing, producing, and consuming foods locally. Join in lively discussions on the topic which will feature the brightest thought leaders and leading practitioners in the burgeoning farm-to-table movement. This year’s theme, “The Process,” examines the agricultural-culinary cycle at all levels and will feature its own organic urban farm research project.
The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center’s partnerships with the SoFAB Institute and the LSU AgCenter reflect an abundance of knowledge and expertise that will be showcased at F2Ti.
SoFAB documents and celebrates the food and drink of all cultures through exhibits, programming, and a range of media. SoFAB is home to several entities, among them the SoFAB Center for Food Law, Policy & Culture, SoFAB Culinary Library & Archive, the Southern Food & Beverage Museum, Museum of the American Cocktail, and SoFAB Media.
The LSU AgCenter is a part of a nationwide network of research-based extension offices within the land-grant system of universities and provides innovative research, information and education to improve people’s lives in Louisiana and the world.
For more information please visit f2t-int.com.
