Food Tank

This article is part of Food Tank’s primer series, “Food Tank Explains.” Each installment unpacks the ideas, innovations, and challenges shaping today’s food and agriculture systems, offering clear insights into complex topics. To explore more articles in the series, click here.

Food labels provide information about food products and their contents. Most identify the product and list its ingredients and net quantity. Labeling requirements generally apply to packaged and prepared foods, although the information required—and how manufacturers must present it—varies across countries and food categories.

Food labeling has expanded beyond identifying a package’s contents. Today, labels communicate information about nutrition, allergens, food safety, preparation and storage, production practices, and other product characteristics.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) identifies nutritional information as a central feature of food labels. Nutrition labels typically provide a product’s energy content and levels of nutrients including carbohydrates, protein, fat, sugars, sodium, vitamins, and minerals, typically reported per serving or specified quantity.

Labels also communicate food safety information. Allergen disclosures identify ingredients that may trigger reactions, while storage, preparation, and handling instructions help consumers use foods safely. Date markings such as ‘sell by’ and ‘best before’ can provide information about a product’s safety or quality over time. But date labeling can also be confusing to consumers, leading to safe food going to waste.

According to the European Commission and the FDA, food labels are intended to help consumers make informed choices by explaining what a product contains and allowing them to assess dietary needs and compare products.

They aim to provide clear comprehensible information to enable efficient decision-making at the point of sale, describes the World Health Organization (WHO). Data from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute shows that the majority of in-store shoppers spend an average of 13 seconds evaluating a brand before purchasing, with most decisions taking less than 10 seconds.

Food-labeling requirements vary globally. Research published in Frontiers in Public Health has identified mandatory nutrient-declaration policies for processed foods in at least 95 countries, with differing requirements for front-of-package labels and health and nutrition claims.

The FAO and WHO develop international standards through the Codex Alimentarius Commission, including baseline principles for labeling prepackaged foods that can inform national regulations.

In the United States, the FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) share primary responsibility for food labeling. Federal regulation dates to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which targeted adulterated and misbranded foods. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 expanded labeling requirements, while the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 established mandatory nutrition labeling for most FDA-regulated foods.

The European Union takes a more centralized approach, establishing common labeling requirements across its member states. The United Kingdom’s voluntary ‘traffic light’ system uses green, amber, and red to identify nutrient levels, while Chile requires black, octagonal ‘high in’ warnings on products exceeding thresholds for calories, sugar, sodium, or saturated fat.

As food labels communicate more information, they can also become more difficult to interpret. Consumers must navigate nutrition and ingredient information alongside claims, certifications, warnings, and other disclosures, making relevant information harder to identify and understand.

Government labeling resources often target producers and use technical language that consumers may struggle to interpret, Laurie Beyranevand, Director of Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems and Professor of Law, tells Food Tank.

And because the pages contain technical jargon, consumers may not always understand what they read.

A study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior finds that 89 percent of respondents believed they understood date labels, but just 24 percent correctly identified their meaning.

“I think there are real trust issues with our food supply. Having access to information and having clarification of what those things mean is really important,” Dr. Roni Neff, Professor at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for a Livable Future, tells Food Tank.

Confusion around date labels can also contribute to food waste. A European Commission study estimated that confusion and other practices surrounding date marking contribute to approximately 10 percent of food waste in the EU. Consumers may discard food that remains safe to eat after misinterpreting ‘best by,’ ‘sell by,’ or ‘use by’ dates.”

Public health organizations increasingly identify food labels as a potential policy tool. The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies nutrition labeling as one approach to helping consumers make healthier food choices, while UNICEF reports growing evidence that nutrition labels can improve consumers’ understanding of nutritional quality.

But labels can only serve that purpose if consumers can understand and use the information they provide. WHO recommends that front-of-package labels present nutrition information in a convenient and readily understood format, while the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) emphasizes the need for clear, reliable labeling as global food supply chains increase the distance between consumers and producers. For policymakers, Beyranevand says, that means prioritizing accessibility and comprehensibility when developing labeling requirements.

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The food and agriculture sector employs 1.4 billion people—more than any other in the world. It’s also the most exploitative,  according to a new report from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). But stronger labor protections and worker-led movements can help build food systems that work for those who sustain them.

Roughly two out of every five people in the global workforce depend on food and farming systems for their livelihoods. But whether they are in a field, on a boat, in a processing facility, or a supermarket, many lack the protections they need to keep them safe.

Informal employment agreements, legal loopholes, and systemic discrimination make food systems workers some of the most vulnerable on the planet. The climate crisis, expanding gig economy, and corporate consolidation are adding new layers of uncertainty and risk.

“This report confirms what we’ve seen for many years: That there’s widespread exploitation throughout these systems,” says Susan Longley, a labor rights expert and External Advisor for IPES-Food.

The authors highlight a stark gender imbalance. One in three food systems workers makes below a living wage with women earning, on average, 50 percent of what men do. Women are also more likely to engage in unpaid care work, from cooking to cleaning, which makes up an estimated 12.5 billion combined hours of labor per day. This often prevents them from holding full-time jobs, resulting in lower wages and weaker protections.

“One of the things that is fairly central is our insistence that care be centered in the way that we think about food and food work,” says Raj Patel, a member of IPES-Food’s Expert Panel. “That means that we need to recognize care [and] we need to reduce the amount of it that is disproportionately on women’s shoulders.”

Migrant workers also face a uniquely precarious position. Despite the essential role they play in food and agriculture systems, they face “some of the highest rates of workplace abuse,” the report states.

The authors reveal that migrant workers are three times more likely to experience forced labor and they are 70 percent more likely to die on the job compared to the general population. They are also “routinely victims of wage theft,” says Olivier De Schutter, Co-Chair of IPES-Food’s Expert Panel. The International Labor Organization estimates that, collectively, migrant workers lose US$31 billion in underpaid wages every year.

The report makes clear that the exploitation experienced by food workers is no accident. It is built into the systems and structures that shape how food is produced, processed, prepared, distributed, and sold.

Patel sees efforts to upend these harmful power dynamics, but notes that “we are at the very early stages of the transformations that we need.”

Outlining 12 levers for change, the authors call for legislation that guarantees protections for workers, regardless of status, and demand accountability for employers guilty of labor abuses. And at the heart of solutions are the workers, who are empowered through stronger trade unions, collective bargaining, and broad cross-movement coalitions.

“The key to resolving a lot of these problems is through building worker power,” Longley says.

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Photo courtesy of Bernd Dittrich, Unsplash

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In a new documentary, The Vegan Poultry Farmer, filmmaker Kadir van Lohuizen follows Ruud Zanders as he grapples with a moral dilemma: raising animals for food while following a vegan diet. Zanders travels the globe, meeting with food systems experts, to determine if an animal-free food system is possible.

“Personally, I would say: stop exploiting farm animals,” Zanders says in the documentary.

Zanders opened the first Kipster farm in the Netherlands in 2017 after his large-scale poultry operation went bankrupt. He realized that large-scale farms are efficient and produce cheap eggs, but “something else is paying the price… biodiversity, the climate, the animal itself,” he tells Food Tank.

His farming model, he says, is based on sustainability, animal welfare, and transparency. Zanders ultimately envisions an animal-free food system, but until that becomes a reality, he aims to provide the highest-welfare eggs possible. “It’s very complicated to produce eggs or other animal-based products in a really animal-friendly way,” Zanders says.

His farms house 24,000 chickens per barn, compared to industrial operations which can hold up to 350,000 per barn, according to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The chickens receive indoor and outdoor space, fresh air and sunlight, and an enrichment playground to exercise their natural instincts.

Kipster is working to produce carbon neutral eggs by giving their chickens feed made from waste streams, including stale pastries or other food no longer fit for human consumption. This feed model eliminates competition for food (corn, grains, soy) between people and farm animals. Zanders bases this model on the idea that growing crops directly for human consumption can decrease agricultural land usage and allow for more land to be restored to natural ecosystems.

He was inspired to do this by Imke de Boer, a Wageningen University professor of livestock and sustainable food systems, as well as environmental activist and writer George Monbiot, who Zanders visits in the film. Monbiot tells him that livestock farming is the single most destructive human activity to the environment.

The farm also uses solar panels and transforms chicken litter into fertilizer. They report that a Kipster egg’s carbon footprint is about 23 percent lower than that of a conventional egg.

The documentary examines behind the scenes of Kipster farms and other operations to reveal the industry’s reality. It shows chickens being shoved into crates to be transported to slaughter, limp carcasses dangling on a conveyor belt, and workers wearing blood-spattered aprons. Even under Kipster’s higher-welfare standards, the end result is still the same.

Zanders meets with various stakeholders to help him answer the film’s driving question: Is an animal-free food system possible?

Melanie Jaecques, co-owner of a farm animal sanctuary in Belgium, saves chickens predominantly from the egg industry. She talks to Zanders about the complexity of chickens’ behavior and personalities, and that even on his higher-welfare farm, they are not given the proper environment to thrive. To her, housing 24,000 chickens in one barn is “terribly wrong,” and that Kipster is “not a good system, but the least bad.”

To answer his logistical questions about fertilizing crops without animal manure and whether people can maintain proper health on a vegan diet, he visits a human waste fertilizer producer in Ghana and a plant-based hematologist, respectively. Together, these experts affirm his belief in an animal-free agriculture system—which only intensifies his internal struggle as a poultry farmer.

Although Zanders concludes that it is possible to have an animal-free food system, he knows that his vision is not shared by all. As long as there is a demand for animal products, Zanders hopes that Kipster can help bridge the gap between his ideal vision and the current industrial system. That’s why he believes that he can positively impact farm animals as a poultry farmer. “We have to do our utmost best to give them a life worth living.”

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For southeast Iowa farmer Amos Graber, the path to healthier food begins in the soil.

“I firmly believe that if I have healthy soil, then I can raise healthier crops, which in turn will mean healthier livestock,” says Graber. “And then, really the end goal, all this is healthier food for the consumer.”

Graber is the seventh generation to farm his family’s land. Alongside his father, he raises cattle in partnership with specialty meat company Niman Ranch and grows a mix of non-GMO and organic crops, including corn, soybeans, oats, alfalfa, and clover hay.

At 25 years old, Graber is experimenting with new practices to continually improve the family farm. He feeds their cattle a mineral mix including yeast and essential oils, which support animal health without synthetic antibiotics, and applies a worm compost extract to corn and soybean fields to help boost nutrient absorption.

But Graber knows that building healthier soil and livestock does not happen overnight. He is focusing on improving his land, not just sustaining it, and that’s a long-term project.

“By going the natural route, focusing on the soil health, it’s a slow grind, but you’ll start seeing the rewards from it,” says Graber. “We’re not here to just be sustainable in the soil. We’re trying to make it better.”

For Graber, this means being willing to question conventional approaches and experiment with alternatives. He says farmers can feel pressure to follow the practices of those around them, even when those methods may not be working financially or environmentally.

“Some farmers, [they say], ‘Well, this is what my neighbor does, and that’s just the only thing we can do around here,'” says Graber. Instead, he tries to think beyond the status quo at Graber Farms, recognizing that there may be more than one way to make a farm successful.

In his area, it is typical for cattle to move between several separate, specialized operations: a cow-calf ranch from birth, a backgrounder farm for early life, a feedlot for later life, and finally a packing plant. But Graber Farms raises its herd for their entire lifetime, from calves to market, and Graber believes this reduces stress on the animals while allowing him greater control over the conditions in which they are raised.

Maintaining a small, independent, sustainable farm in a highly consolidated and specialized industry is difficult, Graber says. For farms like his to survive, he argues that young farmers need more opportunities to build businesses that are diversified rather than dependent on producing a single commodity.

“To stay farming, I think we’re going to have to think outside the box,” he says. “We’re not just going to be able to grow corn one year and soybeans the other year.”

For Graber, that could mean integrating livestock with crop production, producing value-added foods, or finding markets that reward farmers for more sustainable practices, such as Niman Ranch. The network of more than 600 independent U.S. farmers and ranchers offers a guaranteed market for cattle raised to high standards of sustainable and humane farming practices.

Graber sees a growing group of farmers experimenting with cover crops, grazing livestock, and taking other approaches to improving soil health. He says change may happen gradually, but he is encouraged by a willingness among farmers to question conventional systems and try something different.

“To see people’s minds click, even if it’s just on little things, just to start thinking about it…Then [people can] hopefully see where that health of the livestock and health of the crops and health of the soil comes together,” says Graber.

Graber believes the future of farming will depend on rebuilding connections between soil, crops, and livestock, as well as between farmers and eaters. He believes farmers themselves will need to take an active role in shaping that future.

“At the end of the day, government’s not going to save anybody,” he says. “So, it’s up to us as farmers, and the local people, to work together and figure it out.”

The post Iowa Farmer Says We’re Here to Make the Soil Better appeared first on Food Tank.

Bee U NYC is using urban beekeeping to teach young people about food systems, biodiversity, and environmental careers, while fostering the next generation of pollinator stewards.

Bees, along with other pollinators, help reproduce 35 percent of the world’s food crops and nearly 75 percent of flowering plants, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that pollinators are under growing pressure from habitat loss, the climate crisis, pests, and pesticides. Bee U is raising awareness of these issues while supporting the broader ecosystem around pollinator research.

“Many young New Yorkers have limited opportunities to learn directly about pollination, biodiversity, urban agriculture, or where their food comes from,” André Ware, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Bee U NYC, tells Food Tank. “Through beekeeping, participants begin to see the connections among pollinators, plants, climate, food production, neighborhood green spaces, and environmental justice.”

The organization’s paid Urban Beekeeping Fellowship teaches young people between the ages of 16 and 24 how to manage hives, identify pollinators, understand bee biology, and explore careers in sustainability and agriculture. This year, Bee U NYC accepted 46 Fellows, its largest class to date. Since 2021, nearly 100 young people have completed the program.

“We believe that a more sustainable food system requires a more inclusive workforce,” Ware says. “It is not enough to teach young people about environmental challenges. They need paid opportunities to build skills, develop professional networks, and imagine themselves as future environmental leaders and scientists.”

The program also builds community partnerships. Fellows learn in local community gardens, urban farms, cultural institutions, and neighborhood organizations instead of traditional classrooms. These experiences connect pollinator health with food production, environmental justice, and local history.

The organization’s work comes at a time when public investment in agricultural research faces growing uncertainty. Following the closure of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s century-old Beltsville Bee Lab, food systems researchers like Dr. Jennie Durant, a food systems researcher at UC Davis and former USDA fellow, warned that the loss of research capacity and technical expertise could weaken support for farmers and reduce crop yields over time.

Programs like Bee U NYC can translate science into action by educating future beekeepers, supporting pollinator stewardship, and building stronger connections between communities, the environment, and local food systems. Their work helps ensure that research does not stay in laboratories but reaches the people who will shape the future of agriculture.

Ware says pollinator education must extend beyond honeybees. “Supporting pollinator health also means understanding the science behind native pollinators, planting diverse forage, harmful pesticide practices, and managing urban hives responsibly,” he tells Food Tank.

As bee populations continue to face new challenges like rising temperatures and loss of habitat, Bee U believes that education may become one of the most valuable conservation tools.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Bee U

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A recent review in Frontiers in Microbiology finds that heavy fertilizer use by rice farmers in China is limiting the ability of soil microbes to promote crop growth. The result is a greater dependency on artificial inputs, which threatens water and terrestrial ecosystems. But researchers find that integrating legumes can help mitigate these harms and help farmers use fertilizer more efficiently.

Nitrogen fixation is a natural process that converts atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use. While nitrogen is vital for plant health, too much can harm ecosystems, says soil health expert Yuting Liang of the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“In flooded rice paddies, excessive nitrogen can increase nitrogen losses and nitrous oxide emissions, affecting microbial processes involved in the nitrogen cycle,” Liang tells Food Tank.

Liang notes that in contrast to conventional fertilizers, biological nitrogen fixation “supports a slower and more efficient nitrogen cycle.” But if the soil is already rich in nitrogen from fertilizers, microbes will respond by shutting the process down. “Many nitrogen-fixing microorganisms tend to reduce their activity because the need to fix atmospheric nitrogen becomes much lower,” she explains.

This leads to a paradoxical feedback loop, the study explains. The more fertilizer a farmer adds to secure a harvest, the less nitrogen the soil makes on its own, and the more fertilizer the next crop needs. Instead of helping farmers cut back on fertilizer, it encourages overuse.

“It is so connected to many problems while it is essential for food production,” Wim de Vries, a soil scientist and professor at Wageningen University, tells Food Tank.

De Vries argues the first solution is to apply less fertilizer. He points to what he calls the four-R principle: the right amount, right type, right time, and right place. “The right rate is extremely important in regions like China where they over-fertilize,” he says. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, China is the largest producer and consumer of nitrogen fertilizers and remains one of the largest rice producers globally.

Soil scientists like Mark Peoples of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization say crop diversification can help reduce reliance on artificial fertilizers.

“A diverse system is likely to be more resilient and have better environmental outcomes than a landscape dominated by highly specialized, frequent cereal cropping that is heavily reliant upon fertilizer,” Peoples tells Food Tank. He notes that legume cover crops can increase soil nitrogen availability for cereal crops like rice, suggesting that increased global and regional demand for legumes can support sustainable farming.

Liang agrees, stating, “In regions where conditions are suitable, rice-legume rotations or green manure systems can further strengthen natural nitrogen cycling and increase microbial diversity.” By planting legumes during the dry season and rice during the wet season, farms retain nitrogen-fixing microbes which support soil nutrient availability.

But to encourage farmers to plant more legumes, the demand must exist, says Adrian Leip, co-chair of the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe’s Expert Panel on Nitrogen and Food. “It’s often not the farmers who have the power to change, at least not alone, because they are constrained by contracts and value chains,” he tells Food Tank. He notes that farmers need these market signals to transition to more sustainable practices, including crop rotation.

But dietary trends seem to be moving in the opposite direction, Peoples says. He sees that more eaters are seeking animal protein over pulses and legumes while governments subsidize cereal production and fertilizers.

Leip and De Vries call for a systemic approach to change this. “It’s dietary change, it’s food waste reduction, it’s circular agriculture, and it’s improved practices,” De Vries tells Food Tank. “These are the four. If you want to reduce the problem, you need to look at all four of them. And never only one is the answer.”

Leip also underscores that these solutions must work for producers: “This should be done in a way that is not harmful for the farming community. They are keeping the land intact; if they can, they would like to make it in a way that is sustainable… [while] conserving biodiversity.”

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Photo courtesy of Ivan Bandura, Unsplash

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The intersection of food and education goes well beyond just school lunches; food systems can be a tool for instruction on a variety of subjects and values, educators, farmers, chefs, and other experts said during the “Future of Food Education” Summit during Climate Week NYC.

The event, presented in partnership with Pilot Light and with support from Nielsen Massey, focused on ensuring that children from a young age are thinking critically about where food comes from, developing tools to fuel their bodies and minds, and reflecting on how they can be change agents for climate action.

“You can teach any subject through food,” says Alexandra DeSorbo-Quinn, Executive Director of Pilot Light. “Food makes learning relevant.”

Watch the livestream recording on Food Tank’s YouTube channel. 

“The food system is flawed; it’s no secret. It’s important to remind ourselves—and our kids—that they are a part of a change. It’s important that we plant those seeds,” says Shanon Morris, Chief Program Officer at Harlem Grown.

In schools, food can give teachers permission to be creative, says Caitlin Arens, Food Education Fellowships Director at Pilot Light. Teaching is a form of food system action, she says. 

To facilitate this, Pilot Light has created the United States’ first-ever Food Education Standards, benchmarks for teaching food systems and using food as a pathway for broader learning.

“We think of those standards as a common language that we can all speak,” says Taylor Meredith, Education Policy Advisor at Pilot Light. “When everybody is speaking the same language in the classroom, that’s when we have impact in the broader community.”

Food education can also take place outside of traditional classroom settings, including on farms and in gardens.

“The power of bringing people together for shared experiences is transformational,” and school gardens bring that to kids, says Lyndsey Waugh, Executive Director of the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation. “Human connections spark around food.”

“If we can eat better, we can teach the next generations to love the garden and the harvest and the things that we can pull from the ground,” says Rev. Linda Carmen Bryant, Co-Founder of San Antonio Million Gardens Project and Pastor of Grant Community AME Church in San Antonio, Texas. “If we get the kids excited (about growing food), they will lead us.”

But teaching kids to grow food is not enough alone. Preparing young people for careers in agriculture also means teaching them business skills and guiding them in navigating financial resources.

“There’s power in the fact that your kids are the next generation. I am not too scared about the next generation of producers; what I am scared about is their ability to access (resources),” says Gerardo Martinez, Founder of Wild Kid Acres and a Marine Corps Veteran.

It’s true that land is becoming more commoditized and more difficult for younger farmers to obtain, says Karen Washington, a Food Justice Advocate, Farmer, and Author—but the solution cannot simply be to give them land without also making sure they can afford access to water, electricity, equipment, and agricultural inputs. Collective ownership makes this more feasible, she says.

“Now is the time to organize. People are forming ecosystems, cooperatives, collaborative organizations; they are doing the work,” Washington says. “Make sure that you’re connecting with your community, connecting with your growers. … The remedy is, know your local farmer.”

And this connection between eaters and food can start in schools, including at lunchtime. In New York City’s public schools, nutrition educators collaborate with students to get feedback on menu items and model healthy eating patterns, says Jeremy Walter, Executive Director of Food & Nutrition Education for New York City Public Schools.

“We’re more and more trying to optimize the cafeteria as a classroom,” says Nancy Easton, Executive Director and Founder of Wellness in the Schools.

In her classroom at P.S. 072 Dr. William Dorney, educator Amanda Torres uses food to teach multiplication and division—but she also wants school to be a place where kids feel empowered to be curious, find their voice, and create change.

“People talk about the past and talk about the future, but what we’re doing now matters,” she says. “We all have the power to change. Don’t wait on anyone to change for you.”

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post The Future Of Food Education Is In Classrooms, On Farms, And Everywhere In Between appeared first on Food Tank.

Happy birthday, Marion Nestle!

At Climate Week NYC, Food Tank held a 90th birthday celebration to honor the legendary food policy expert, writer, thinker, and Professor Emerita of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. 

During the evening, Marion received the Rodale Institute Organic Stewardship Award for Lifetime Achievement in Education.

“Marion really is a total badass who, for decades, has told some of the most powerful industries in the world exactly what they didn’t want her to say, and she said it loudly—with footnotes,” says Renée Baran, Dean of Education at the Rodale Institute. 

Watch the entire livestream of the event, hosted in partnership with New York University and the Rodale Institute, on Food Tank’s YouTube channel. 

Throughout the celebration, Marion’s food system friends and colleagues joined the stage to offer toasts:

“Marion is a changemaker. Marion is a force of nature…She has taught us how to think about food, argue about food, question and challenge food, and how to eat.”

—Jennifer Berg, Clinical Professor and Department Chair of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University

“(Food) is sociology, agriculture, history, and community, but above all, it’s politics. Today it’s obvious, but 30 years ago, it certainly was not…It’s because of Marion that we have a new generation of food people.”

—Ruth Reichl, Author and Former Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet

“Marion can walk into a supermarket and see an entire political economy. Marion’s voice is needed now more than ever.”

—Frances Moore Lappé, Author and Co-Founder of the Small Planet Institute

“Marion, as we say in the business, gives a good quote…but she also tells the truth.”

—Kim Severson, National Food Culture Reporter at The New York Times

“Marion occupies a place no one else does in our understanding of the world. Years ago I called her matchlessly lucid, and she hasn’t changed a bit.”

—Corby Kummer, Executive Director of Food & Society at the Aspen Institute, Senior Editor at The Atlantic, and Senior Lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science

“Marion has never been interested in telling people what they want to hear. She asks the uncomfortable questions. She follows the money. She looks at who has power, who doesn’t, and why. And she has spent decades helping all of us understand that food is never just about what is on our plates.”

—Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post Raising A Toast To Food Politics Expert Marion Nestle On Her 90th Birthday appeared first on Food Tank.

The climate crisis moves quickly. That means our solutions need to move even faster, panelists said during Climate Week NYC.

The Summit “Acting at the Speed of Crisis: Challenges & Opportunities for Food Security and Rapid Response,” held in partnership with RAAPID and Arrell Food Institute, brought global leaders together to explore how we can use fast-moving tech to build resilience.

“There are a lot of evolving crises where, if we work together, bringing in both the tech side and the local expertise…we can move faster to get not only early warnings but action when we need it,” says Inbal Becker-Reshef, Managing Director of Microsoft AI for Good Lab, Founder & Co-Director of NASA Harvest, and Founder of RAAPID.

Watch the livestream recording on Food Tank’s YouTube channel. 

“It’s easy to get numb to these issues…and the underlying assumptions of the global food trading system are getting eroded,” says Evan Fraser, Executive Director of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph. “We need the data to anticipate where the problems are going to lead.” 

Indeed, says Simon Winter, Vice President for Reimagining Humanitarian Nutrition Security at RF Catalytic Capital, “the prevalence and availability and access to very advanced data is increasing.” But to be able to analyze this data and actually turn information into action, panelists said, we need to work with technological tools like artificial intelligence (AI)—not against them.

“A big part of the challenge is the fact that (we have) vastly more information than human beings can look at, so we need AI,” says Andrew Zolli, Chief Impact Officer at Planet. “Human attention is the scarcest resource we have right now.”

As an example, Planet Remained and the Hewlett Foundation presented a case study of Grapevine, a way to create and replicate city-level policy using AI tools. Broadly speaking, if we don’t adopt AI, we’ll be entering at a disadvantage compared to oil and plastic industries that already do use the tools, says Adam Met, Musician of Multi-Platinum band AJR, Founder and Executive Director of Planet Reimagined, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. 

“When you gather enough of this data…it makes it easier and easier for a city to say, OK, my city looks like this other city, to be able to implement it,” Met says. “This tool allows them to do it from home,” metaphorically speaking.

Dave Turk, Program Director of Environment at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, echoes the value of AI for making the right choice be the easy choice.

“Especially when you get to the local level, it just gets down to pragmatism and problem solving,” Turk says. “The power of AI done right is to make it super efficient.”

Better information-gathering can also help us respond to geopolitical conflicts and wars on a global scale, other panelists explained. 

“We are in a very tight situation right now globally,” says Máximo Torero Cullen, Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). “In the case of agriculture, AI is an opportunity.”

For example, because a significant portion of agricultural lands in Ukraine are occupied or impacted by the Russian war, “satellite data is of crucial importance,” H.E. Taras Vysotskyi, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, told us via video remarks.

“Globally, we are seeing an increase in the weaponization of food,” says Michael Werz, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Food security is one of the few areas where AI doesn’t totally freak me out.”

But technological tools like AI are only valuable if they’re used well and paired with other solutions, says David Beasley, Trustee of The Rockefeller Foundation and the Former Governor of South Carolina and Former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme. 

“You’ve got to make sure you have good data; bad data can create a lot of harm,” he says. “You get data, and if you don’t use it strategically, what good is it?”

Better data might help us know where to target our philanthropic dollars and policy resources—but, of course, we can only accomplish these goals if funding and legislation already exist. Just as we need action on strengthening our data collection, we need action on these other social factors, too. 

“We have more data, and that data allows us to predict crises better, but unfortunately it doesn’t give us the capacity to act,” says Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, Founder and CEO, Food Systems for the Future. “What does (enable action) are the permissions from government and finance, and that speed has not changed with data.”

We have to be both optimistic and realistic, panelists said: Data can guide us in changing behavior, but data alone does not change behavior. Data can highlight the climate protections that local and renewable energy provide; data can highlight how critical plant-rich diets are toward tackling the climate crisis—but we’re still responsible for building momentum, says Helen Clarkson, CEO of Climate Group.

“It doesn’t just magically happen,” she says.

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post Data And AI Tech Can Speed Up Our Responses To Climate Change, Not Replace Them appeared first on Food Tank.

Water is becoming more scarce across the globe, and the consequences are reaching far beyond the tap. Rivers are shrinking, aquifers are being depleted, oceans are warming, and the pressure is rippling throughout the food systems that depend on them. 

“Climate change is a water story. Food security is a water story. Public health, livelihoods, biodiversity, and resilience are all water stories,” says Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank, at the “Water and Blue Foods Summit” at Climate Week NYC, which was held in partnership with the Future Food Institute, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Venice Climate Week. Click here to watch the full summit replay on YouTube.

The morning began with a discussion of water bankruptcy—when the rate of water consumption and pollution exceeds nature’s capacity to replenish. Kaveh Madani, Director of the U.N. University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, warns that water systems can only absorb so much pressure before they lose their ability to recover.

“Nature at the beginning is generous, resilient, but after a while it loses its resilience and can never go back to where it was,” says Madani. “We are seeing more and more systems getting pushed into that stage and losing their capacity to bounce back.”

Meanwhile, fisheries are struggling to meet global food demand. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, just 62.3 percent of marine fish stocks were fished at biologically sustainable levels in 2021. Aquaculture has become a major part of the global food system, producing 51 percent of aquatic animals for human consumption in 2022—surpassing wild capture fisheries for the first time.

But even beyond blue food production, speakers emphasized that water issues are inseparable from the global food system—water is critical at every step of the food supply chain, from irrigating fields to moving food products from processing to plates.

“When we talk about food, it doesn’t come from the air. We have to grow it. You need water to grow your crops, feed your animals, process your food, and move things around,” says David Laborde, Director at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

That makes protecting the landscapes that supply water essential. Brendan Shane of Trust for Public Land says, “It’s all a system. The water is flowing from the land, so if you want to protect the water, you need to protect and sustainably manage the land.”

Those same connections extend into the ocean, where climate change is reshaping both ecosystems and the seafood people eat. For Chef Barton Seaver, a more sustainable future means looking not only at how seafood is produced but how it is consumed: “So much of the sustainability conversation has been about the producers…but there’s an entire behavioral aspect of the consumers” and their seafood purchasing choices.

Wendy Norden, Director of Science and Global Strategies at Monterey Bay Aquarium, points to changing marine ecosystems as an opportunity to rethink how people eat seafood.

“Invasive species are quite important,” says Norden. “It’s often seen as a threat…but it’s really a story of adaptation. It can be a story of hope.” For example, catching and eating invasive aquatic species—known as invasivorism—is a growing conservation strategy used to help reduce the populations of harmful, non-native animals.

That shift will require consumers to become part of the solution. Jenn Kemmerly, Vice President of Global Ocean Conservation at Monterey Bay Aquarium, says U.S. demand has global consequences because so much seafood consumed in the country comes from elsewhere. “To choose sustainable seafood is the easiest, most in your face, top of mind choice to make right now.”

“We need to connect the research to the policymakers, but unfortunately, what we are seeing is that policymakers are not looking at the science at all,” says Sara Roversi, Founder of the Future Food Institute. 

Finance can help turn that hope into action. Sarisher Mann of BNP Paribas points to growing investment in water resilience, but says stronger collaboration is needed between scientists and financial institutions. “Finance doesn’t necessarily speak the language of the science…We need much more translation of that science.”

Cities, meanwhile, can serve as laboratories for solutions. Simone Venturini, Mayor of Venice, says, “If something can work in Venice, it can work anywhere…we need to use Venice as an experimental field to put practice into theory.” Riccardo Luna, Co-Curator of Venice Climate Week, puts the challenge even more simply: “Climate change is here to stay. It’s accelerating. But we have an opportunity….We have the playbook; we need to scale the solutions and take action.”

From sustainable fisheries and aquaculture to watershed protection, climate finance, and city-led experimentation, the solutions are already taking shape. The challenge now is connecting them—and scaling them fast enough to keep water systems, food systems, and communities resilient.

“Water is life. If we don’t start from the essentials, we’re going to miss a big part of the story,” says Roversi.

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post The Future of Food Depends on Water appeared first on Food Tank.

Chefs are more than culinary innovators. They connect farmers and consumers, shape food culture, and use their purchasing power to influence how food is grown, produced, and served. 

“Chefs are in a very unique position on planet Earth to be changemakers,” says Andrew Zimmern, Emmy- and James Beard Award-winning chef, television host, author, and food advocate. They operate at the intersection of immigration, gender and pay gaps, hunger and food insecurity, food waste, and a range of other global issues.

At “Chefs Save the World,” held in partnership with the James Beard Foundation and CARE at Climate Week NYC 2026, culinary leaders, farmers, and advocates came together to explore how chefs can use their platforms to build a more equitable, resilient, and sustainable food future. Watch the full event replay here.

Throughout the morning, speakers emphasized the importance of diversity throughout the food system—not only in crops and ingredients but among humans.

“If we demand more diversity in our food system, that is what is going to build resilience,” says Chef Bleu Adams, Executive Chef at Black Lamb Group and Director of IndigeHub. And diversity in kitchens builds human resilience, too, she adds.

“Better food begins with embracing diversity. Whether that’s diversity in our fields, diversity in our ingredients, diversity in the people preparing our food, or diversity in the people we welcome around our tables,” says Food Tank President Danielle Nierenberg.

Right now, chefs are “operating in the most difficult environment they’ve ever operated in,” says Erica Helms, Chief Growth Officer at the James Beard Foundation.

Meanwhile, food producers and workers face systemic challenges worldwide: “In many parts of the world, the people who are food insecure are the people who are growing the food,” says Emily Janoch, Associate Vice President for Evidence and Learning at CARE. “This is not a charity problem but a systems problem.”

That imbalance also affects the restaurant industry, which navigates pricing food to appropriately compensate farmers and food workers while caring for their own employees.

“How do we balance the really tricky economics of being able to actually charge the cost of food to be able to pay farmers fairly and pay our employees and offer benefits to allow them to stay in this industry?” asks Liz Murray, Chief Operating Officer at The Marlow Collective.

Panelists also spoke to the importance of respecting local knowledge and ensuring communities have the resources to lead their own solutions. Foreign aid, especially in times of disaster, is critically important—but it must allow the skills and knowledge of local communities to lead the way.

“We prefer you give us what we need and trust we will utilize it in the way that best fits our community,” says Chef Adams. And Chef Fariyal Abdullahi, Executive Chef and Partner at Hav & Mar, agrees: “When you have the right partnership, it’s never to override what’s happening on the ground. They have the knowledge; they just need resources.”

Chef Sean Sherman brought the conversation back to the importance of diversity in food systems, calling for greater recognition of Indigenous foodways and the knowledge embedded in regional ingredients. 

Through NĀTIFS, the North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems, Sherman works to revitalize Indigenous food systems and promote greater access to culturally rooted foods. His Ring Diet, or Regional Indigenous Nutritional Guide, offers a framework for understanding the nutritional value of foods connected to local ecosystems.

“We’ve been living under this eurocentrism of our food here in North America…Even in a city like New York, we can find food from all over the world, just not right here where we’re standing. There are no Native American restaurants in this city,” says Sherman. 

“We have a lot of evolving to do as humans and as a global community. Food is that connection.”

Sherman says greater curiosity about different plants and ingredients around the world can help drive change. “There are so many more plants and proteins out there that we haven’t touched.” He adds, “Be curious. That’s the biggest part of how change happens.”

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post Chefs Are Driving a More Diverse, Resilient Food System appeared first on Food Tank.

From soil health and supply chain collaboration to the importance of farmer voices, organic food systems call for shared responsibility, meaningful investments, and tasty and affordable climate-smart ingredients. 

The past, present, and future of organic agriculture were reflected on and celebrated during “The Roots of Organic: From Soil to Shelf,” an all-day Summit at Climate Week NYC presented in partnership with Organic Trade Association, Organic Valley, Once Upon a Farm, Handsome Brook Farms, Stonyfield, and Amy’s Kitchen, and in collaboration with Organic Voices, Lundberg Family Farms, Tradin Organic, and Rodale Institute.

“The organic movement didn’t grow because of one certification,” says Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank. “It grew because people built relationships that allowed ideas to spread.”

Watch the livestream recording on Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

“The farmers are the true roots of this movement,” says Matthew Dillon, Co-CEO of the Organic Trade Association. 

The organic agriculture moment was built by farmers who believed deeply in sustainability and took risks to build consumer trust, he said—and organic farmers must be recognized for their contributions to the sector’s future, too. This means giving farmers resources to adapt and ensuring their voices and expertise are centered.

“How do we make sure that farmers are at the table for all of these major milestones?” asks Organic Valley CEO Shawna Nelson. “Organic farmers, I find, are the most innovative. They’re willing to continuously improve; they’re willing to look at the solutions.”

Critically, these solutions have to be financially viable, especially given a difficult economic environment for the farming sector, panelists said. Strategies like stronger supply-chain collaboration can help farmers achieve sustainability goals without taking on increased cost burdens, panelists said. At the same time, financial support tools like accessible technical assistance and cash incentives for low-emissions practices can also help farmers adopt the sustainable practices they believe deeply in.

“There’s not a one-size-fits-all solution,” says Britt Lundgren, Senior Director of Sustainability and Government Affairs at Stonyfield. But “if the cost falls at the farm level, we’re not going to succeed.”

But as organic farmers know, sustainability is not only the ethical choice but also a good business strategy.

“Sustainability is a three-legged stool. We all talk about the climate, but you also have social and financial benefits,” says Tracy Favre, Senior Vice President of Sustainability and Organic Strategies at Handsome Brook Farms. 

However, organic farmers are only one part of broader sustainable supply chains: Food producers and retailers play a significant role in communicating the specific benefits of organic agriculture and in building broader consumer interest for climate-smart eating, panelists discussed.

“We’ve just been deceived by Big Food for many years that (conventional and ultra-processed) is the only way,” says Paul Schiefer, CEO of Amy’s Kitchen. Our food choices are deeply tied to our identities and taste preferences, he said, so “we have to meet people where they’re at and help them see that they can be themselves and choose better food.”

It can be “a difficult needle to thread,” admits Jane Kuhn, Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing & Sustainability at Once Upon a Farm, but organic agriculture needs to be accessible for both farmers and consumers, without expensive bottlenecks in the value chain.

The scientific backing for organic agriculture is strong, too, said Amber Sciligo, Senior Director of The Organic Center. However, when research priorities are rooted in conventional systems and when measurements focus on individual metrics, like carbon, researchers can occasionally miss the more interconnected holistic picture. 

“Organic, regenerative, perennial systems are much more complex…and that helps them thrive,” she said. “If we want to truly understand what is happening on the farm, we have to move away from these single metrics.”

Beatriz Daim, Sustainability Specialist at Tradin Organic, echoed this point, noting that “carbon is just one metric. You need to look at a farm as a much wider ecosystem.”

This reality is complex and sometimes messy, and we need to respect that, says Abianne Falla, Founder of CatSpring Yaupon—which, she points out, “is sometimes hard when we live in a culture of soundbites.”

Farmers themselves understand the full scope of their climate-smart land management practices and efforts to reduce emissions, of course—but their time is devoted to the actual work of farming, which means food system partners need to pick up the mantle of communication and engagement. 

“There are only so many hours in a day, and dairy farming requires most of them,” says Annie Watson, an Organic Dairy Farmer at Sheepscot Valley Farm and a Stonyfield Producer. “If we don’t tell the stories of farm life, no one will know. Farms are disappearing, and so are their stories. Somebody has to tell them.”

So how does the organic movement chart a collective course forward? By continuing to place innovation and inspiration at the center, panelists said. 

“It’s easy to define organic for what it’s not,” says Maria Rodale, Board Co-Chair of the Rodale Institute. “But we have to start defining it for consumers for what it is—and what it is is safe food you can trust.”

And big-picture climate solutions must also continue to center the people who grow food and hold generations of agricultural knowledge, says Leah Penniman, a Farmer, Author, and Food Justice Activist at Soul Fire Farm. 

“There is a powerful need to take a stand for the people who know the earth most intimately,” she says. “We are not going to solve the climate puzzle by ignoring the people who are tending to the climate.” 

“It’s not just about consumer choices and labels; we have to be political advocates.”

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post The Roots Of Organic Agriculture—And The Future Of Climate-Smart Food—Are Farmers appeared first on Food Tank.

Across New York City, food system inclusivity is foundational to building healthier neighborhoods and a flourishing city life. And that’s not unique to the Big Apple: Food policy is central to urban well-being in any and every city—and both public and private institutions have a role to play.

“You can’t talk about food and climate and health without talking about culture and community and connection,” Siddhartha Sanchez, Executive Director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, said during a Climate Week NYC Summit, “People-Focused. Climate-Friendly. Food-Forward New York City.” The event was co-hosted by Food Tank in partnership with Support + Feed, Strong Roots, and the NYC Mayor’s Office. 

Watch the livestream recording on Food Tank’s YouTube channel. 

“Food connects us. And it’s what makes this city so amazing,” says Helen Arteaga, New York City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. “Food not only nourishes our bodies but also nourishes our minds, (and) more importantly, makes us share our stories.”

In terms of civic institutions that can drive change, schools are among the most powerful—both as sites for food system education and as incubators for innovative solutions that can be scaled up once they’re proven successful. 

“We hope that the healthy eating habits that they’re learning early on carry into adulthood,” says Brittany Saffold, Director of Partnerships, Communication, and Retention with New York City Public Schools. “How do we take something that’s happening at one school and put it citywide?”

At the Climate Week Summit, for example, students from Francis Lewis Culinary High School prepared climate-friendly recipes for attendees to try and gave an overview of the process of creating meals for events.

“We don’t just learn about cooking; we learn about food preparation and safety—and all these experiences grow all of us as people,” one student says. 

And getting the next generation of chefs and urban food system leaders engaged requires creativity.

“Gen Z wants delicious food that’s also good for the planet and on the right mission,” says Emma Curtis, Managing Director of Strong Roots. “Brands have got to do a good job at making it exciting.”

Artists can also drive important, exciting change. During the Summit at Climate Week, attendees were able to view a special pop-up exhibition of a project by illustrator Kevin Nakagawa to spotlight food memories in residential facilities for New Yorkers with disabilities, alongside Open Doors. You can view a video on the project here.

“When you listen to community, you not only hear the direct impact policies have on community but the lived reality of someone that’s failed by the system,” Sanchez said. “Folks have endless ideas, and the job of the government is to listen.”

Or, take Maggie Baird as an example. She’s the Founder and President of Support + Feed and the mother of artists Billie Eilish and Finneas. 

“When we book a tour, we tell arenas upfront what our requirements are, and some of those are at least three plant-based mains,” she said. “I feel like my life is so much better for being a plant-based eater … I think we need to share that joy and help people understand it’s not about what you take away; it’s what you add in.”

Even though they’re often disregarded, institutions like prisons are connected to the food system, too and have significant procurement power.

“We do everything we can with the resources that we have,” says Norman Priester, Executive Director of the Nutrition Service Division at the NYC Department of Correction. “Sourcing locally is always our priority when possible. … It provides the healthiest options.”

This is city life: Complex, but an environment where real change is possible with cross-disciplinary partnerships and engaged consumers.

“Be curious about your food environment,” says Ora Kemp, Senior Policy Advisor at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. “It’s all unique to the land that you’re on.”

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post NYC Is Leading The Charge Toward People-Focused Urban Food Policy appeared first on Food Tank.

Everything in the food system is interrelated, from agriculture to nutrition to medicine to climate. And among these institutions, farms are the connective tissue that binds them together, panelists said at Climate Week NYC. The way food is grown, raised, and produced shapes its nutritional value and, ultimately, its impact on eaters’ well-being.

Ranchers, chefs, scientists, business leaders, and health experts joined an engaged crowd for the Food Tank Summit “Nourishing the Future: How Farming Practices Shape the Food We Eat, the Health We Build, and the Longevity We Seek,” in partnership with Diestel Family Ranch.

Watch the livestream recording on Food Tank’s YouTube channel. 

“Everything starts in the soil; everything is grounded in the soil,” says Heidi Diestel, a 4th Generation Family Farmer at Diestel Family Ranch. “The family farmers are the ones who have figured out not just how to farm, innovate, and market the products, but help people understand the value (of healthy food).”

The connection between better farming practices and healthier food is not theoretical—it’s science. Everything from animal health to soil biology to regenerative production practices on the farm helps shape the nutritional value of crops that leave the farm, which in turn shapes public health outcomes and societal well-being.

“For regenerative agriculture…there is pretty good evidence that crops are more nutritious, and even livestock that are pasture-raised are more nutritious,” says Dariush Mozaffarian, Cardiologist, Public Health Expert, and Director of the Tufts Food is Medicine Institute. “We have to link agriculture to human health to human productivity.” 

As Paul Lightfoot, General Manager of Patagonia Provisions, said later in the Summit, we need to be engaging more in conversations about these nuances.

“Should we eat beef? That’s not the right question; not all beef is the same,” he says.

But understanding this reality relies on conducting—and communicating—strong research. For too long, Mozaffarian says, many of the most important nutrient markers were not the ones being measured. That’s changing now, thanks to large-scale efforts like the Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI). 

“We now have the molecular tools to be able to profile foods beyond what’s conventionally on the back of the nutrition label…which allows us to elevate foods with nutrients that might not show up on a label,” says Nile Nair, Senior Program Manager for Health Science, Research, and Translation at PTFI. 

This also means strengthening local food systems that bring farmers as close as possible to the end consumer.

“Getting closer to the source oftentimes is the very beginning of the choice to having a whole food, not as much processing involved,” says Kate Fullam, Team Lead for Food Systems Resiliency at the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. “Whose voice is not at the table yet that needs to be?”

Ann Marie Hourigan, Head of Quality Standards for Whole Foods Market, echoed this sentiment: “We need to invite farmers to the conversation and understand what their needs are,” she says. 

Engaging farmers could transform entire nations, as Chef Andrew Zimmern, a Television Host, Author, and Food Advocate, said in a special fireside chat.

In Zambia, for example, changing “what they’re farming can change the landscape of a country economically,” he says. 

At the same time, panelists said, creating stronger food systems also means engaging consumers—but effective ways to reach eaters are quickly changing, says Tambra Raye Stevenson, Founder of WANDA (Women Advancing Nutrition, Dietetics, and Agriculture). 

“We are at a state of food system illiteracy, not truly understanding the impact of what’s happening to our food system,” she says. “The media and algorithms (such as TikTok) are becoming the determinant of our health.”

Interestingly, consumer interest in high-quality food is increasing—but for personal wellness reasons, not necessarily for its impact on environmental well-being. That opens up a huge opportunity for advocates to help consumers understand these links between the health of our bodies and the health of the planet. 

“Consumers are sick and tired of being sick. They’re turning to food as health more and more,” says Kristine Root, Chief Strategist and Founder of Socha. “We’re seeing mass segments of consumers who care about food quality…but they need our help in communicating better.”

When we draw straight lines from farms to tables—and when we grow crops with sustainability in mind and feed our communities with care and love—the food we’re eating literally tastes better, panelists said. 

“We believe that food is medicine, and therefore we work hard to grow food, provide quality food to families, and for the past five years, we’ve charged no one anything,” says Elder Raymond Bryant, Presiding Elder of AME Church and Co-Founder of San Antonio Million Gardens Project. “If the food is not good, people are not going to eat it. It doesn’t matter how healthy it is.”

From a family farm perspective, this could not be more true.

“Stewardship goes beyond just what we do. It’s really about the legacy of food and being intentional about the food that we’re producing,” says Jason Diestel, Farmer at Diestel Family Ranch. “I wish more people understood that what we eat matters, what we feed the soil matters. It’s just one long chain.”

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post “It’s Just One Long Chain”: How Regenerative Farming Equals Tastier Food, Healthier Eaters, And Nourished Communities appeared first on Food Tank.

Farmers across the U.S. are facing mounting economic pressures alongside the growing impacts of climate change. More than half of farms had negative income in 2024, while extreme weather disasters cost farmers billions, in addition to new tariffs and soaring input costs, and rising land prices threaten access for the next generation. 

Supporting viable farms and ranches is essential to strengthening rural communities and building a more resilient food system amid these challenges.

“Farmers cannot carry the climate transition alone,” Food Tank President Danielle Nierenberg said during “Thriving Farms and Ranches,” a summit held in partnership with the American Farmland Trust at Climate Week NYC. You can watch the entire event stream here.

“If we want healthier soils, if we want cleaner water, if we want to protect biodiversity, if we want nutritious food, if we want thriving rural communities, then we have to build an economy that rewards the people making those outcomes possible,” says Nierenberg.

Throughout the morning, speakers discussed how agriculture can help address climate change while ensuring the people who grow our food have the resources to thrive. A central theme emerged across conversations: Climate solutions must also support the economic well-being of farmers and rural communities.

“Even though more and more farmers are eager to follow regenerative practices, none of that makes much of a difference if farms are going out of business,” says John Piotti, President and CEO of American Farmland Trust.

Piotti highlighted the connection between farm profitability and environmental stewardship. While agriculture plays an important role in climate solutions, farmers need economic stability to sustain those efforts.

“Ultimately we need to pay farmers adequately not only for the food that they grow but for the ecological services they provide,” says Piotti. American Farmland Trust’s new Thriving Farms and Ranches initiative focuses on strengthening the economic viability of farms and ranches alongside their environmental contributions.

The economic challenges facing farmers also affect who can access land and continue farming. During a panel on farmland access for a new generation, Brooks Lamb, Director of Food Systems and Agriculture Policy at Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, described rising land values and growing barriers for young farmers.

“In a lot of communities across the country, land values have skyrocketed…Sometimes even $40,000 an acre, in part because of real estate development,” says Lamb. “We’re seeing a lot of rural gentrification.”

Dominick Grant, Partner and Managing Director of Dirt Capital Partners, says land ownership is critical to supporting farmers’ long-term investments: “Land ownership is the foundation upon which everything is built…the ability for a farmer to invest in regenerative practices, their community, and a rural economy.”

Olivia Fuller, a fourth-generation farmer at Fuller Acres, points to another way communities can help sustain local farms: simply building relationships directly with farmers. “Find out who the farmers are in your community that you can support. Build relationships, show up at the farm for events…We need more of that.”

Speakers also explored how women farmers, local procurement, and farm-to-school programs can strengthen food systems. Hillary Barile, Owner of Rabbit Hill Farms, says farmers often want to make sustainable decisions but must balance those choices with economic realities.

“Every farmer that I’ve ever met wants to make the more sustainable choice that they can for their farm…but they have to balance those decisions with economic sustainability,” says Barile.

For Heather Oppel, Senior Climate Manager at General Mills, climate and agricultural solutions must also reflect the communities implementing them. Women comprise more than one third of U.S. agricultural producers, yet they face persistent systemic barriers in securing loans, land access, and technical assistance.

“Regenerative agriculture and women go hand in hand,” says Oppel. “In order to make this transition durable, it needs to be locally relevant.”

State policies also can—and must—help farmers respond to climate pressures.

“Our farmers are experiencing the impacts of climate change every day,” says Amanda Beal, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry. “We are in a drought…we are seeing the impacts of extreme weather events, soil erosion, rivers flooding fields.”

 And local procurement is a powerful way for institutions to support farmers, economic development, and children’s health: The school cafeteria is America’s biggest restaurant. 

“Local procurement supports farmers and local economic development. Kids eat it, and therefore they will be healthier,” says Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “And there’s experiential learning. The children are connected with nature and understand how farming and nature can be compatible.”

Farm-to-school programs offer another way to connect farmers, communities, and the next generation. Kat Taylor, Chair of the Board of Directors at TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation, says California’s universal school meals program success demonstrates how quickly food systems can shift when investment and political will align.

“It’s not just the morally right thing to do for kids,” says Taylor. “It was also the right thing to do for the supply chain to shift it in favor of ecological and racial justice.”

Much of the work of ecological regeneration happens below the ground, in the soil. Ranchers joined the stage to speak about the realities of regenerative grazing, and how ranching can support soil health while strengthening rural economies and communities.

“The bounty is so great from the soil…and the economic impact. Our whole town is thriving,” says Will Harris, Owner of White Oak Pastures.

Finally, the program looked toward the next generation of eaters and farmers.

Access to land, economic viability, and opportunities to learn remain critical challenges to the next generation of farmers. But without more young people farming, the industry faces further consolidation or development that takes farms out of production and negatively impacts rural communities.

Connecting young people with farming and the natural world can help get children and young people excited about agriculture, says Jeff Tkach, CEO of Rodale Institute: “What gets kids excited is the world of soil. There’s a world beneath our feet…we only know about 5 percent of what we believe there is to know about it.”

And it’s working, says Deydra Steans, Manager of S3 Legacy Ranch—though young farmers still need much more education and support.

“There’s a trend. More young folks wanting to return to the farm,” says Steans.

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post Building Thriving Farms: “Farmers Cannot Carry the Climate Transition Alone” appeared first on Food Tank.

Lights… Camera… Food system action!

Storytelling is a powerful catalyst for education, connection, and transformation, and filmmakers and documentarians are highlighting inspiring people and unsung innovations in food systems across the globe.

“Stories and food are what make us human,” says Haven Worley, Director of “Irish Farmers: A Love Story,” at the All Things Food & Agriculture Film Festival, hosted by Food Tank in partnership with Kat Taylor, President of TomKat Foundation; Halter; The Henry Ford; The Rockefeller Foundation; and Groundswell during Climate Week NYC.

Watch the livestream recording on Food Tank’s YouTube channel. 

“As conveners, as storytellers, we can share what’s working across the country,” says Spence Medford, Senior Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer at The Henry Ford, after screening the foundation’s new “Farm to School Lunch Across America” film. “There’s innovation that’s happening in the food system right now; people just don’t know about it.”

At Climate Week, the packed audience also enjoyed a screening of clips from the documentary short “Language of the Land,” produced by Halter. The film follows 5th-generation ranchers Kacie and Zach Scherler-Abney of Scherler-Abney Land & Cattle, as they transition their Oklahoma farm to regenerative practices. 

“It’s a beautiful thing to see producers from different parts of the world who share this goal and really want to work with one another,” says Helen Moore, VP of Commercial Strategy at Halter.

“Especially with our generation, there’s a huge interest in agriculture and…a real genuine interest in connecting with food sources,” Zach Scherler-Abney added.

In introducing the “Powered By Community” film series, a grassroots project highlighting local changemakers, Big Green president Madeleine Nelson reminded the crowd that “Small can scale.”

“These local projects are part of the solutions that we need to change the food system for the better,” she says.

Jennifer Sherman, Program Director at the Alice Waters Institute, echoed this sentiment.

“There is no change that is too small,” she says.

Then, Kat Taylor, Founder of TomKat Ranch and TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation, and director and producer Rebecca Harrell Tickell took the stage with clips from “Groundswell,” the feature-length documentary that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

“The farmers are not only right; we should be listening to them more often and enabling them more, and giving them more agency,” Taylor says. 

When pitching the film project, back in 2013, the team faced pushback from producers who didn’t believe regenerative agriculture was actually transformative, Harrell Tickell recalled. The film has been its own proof-of-concept. 

“They laughed us out of Hollywood,” Harrell Tickell says. “We were filming a movement as it was coalescing. … It feels like we’re just getting started even though it’s been over a decade to get to this point.”

Stories like these, filmmakers said, only reinforce the importance of storytellers following their passions and telling true stories.  

“We have to fight to curate and support and bubble up hope,” says Sara Farley, Regenerative School Meals Co-Lead and Vice President for the Food Team at The Rockefeller Foundation. She presented clips from “Food 2050,” which she described as a radical listening project. 

“The future isn’t written,” she continued. “Use the creative part of your brain to imagine the future.”

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

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With private-sector power and resources, major food brands can help spearhead significant food system transformations—but only if they embrace transparency and long-term thinking, leaders said. At Food Tank’s annual “Mission Driven Brands Sustainability Summit” at Climate Week NYC, founders and corporate sustainability officers had candid conversations about building trust in the food system.

“We’re making food, so there’s nothing more important than trust,” says Peter McGuinness, CEO of Bel North America. “If we’re making healthy food with real, simple ingredients, we are respecting the planet.”  

The event was hosted in partnership with Mission Driven Brands: Bel US, Northstar Recycling, Global Traceability Framework for Beef and Leather, and Bonterra Organic Estates. You can watch the livestream recording on Food Tank’s YouTube channel. 

As a surprise guest for a fireside chat, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, First Partner of California, grounded the audience in discussing the beneficiaries of better food-industry practices: The next generation.

“As a mother of four, I was trying to feed my own children local and organic,” she told the packed crowd. “I thought, ‘I can’t just be nourishing my own children, but all California children need to have this.’ … It’s a shame that we’ve been feeding kids such horrible food for so long.”

So how do we steer the ship? Trust is one of the most powerful resources a food business has—and also one that requires constant work to maintain, leaders said. This means both trust in individual companies and trust in broader institutions, like the food system at large. 

“Consumers more than ever want transparency, but they also want to know that they’re eating real food,” says Ann Marie Hourigan, Head of Quality Standards for Whole Foods Market. “There’s a lot of distrust in what’s been allowed in the food system over time.”

Building trust means focusing on transparent supply chains and traceable ingredients.

“[Traceability] makes companies accountable for what they’re doing and where they’re sourcing their products from,” says Diana Hanus, Senior Executive Vice President of Commercial & Business Development at Sovereign Seas. “It’s good for business; it’s not just good for the consumers. What traceability does is it puts a face to where your products are coming from.”

The solution is information: Not just more information, but better information, communicated more effectively to the shoppers and eaters who consume the companies’ products.

“If you can’t see it, you can’t really make claims and verify what’s in that supply chain,” says Mark Kaplan, Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer at Wholechain. “In the future, I see labels on pretty much everything—policy and the world is asking for it.”

Across the food business landscape, several of the companies leading the charge toward more transparent, regenerative, transformative practices are not exactly food businesses at all—they’re beverage producers and sellers.

“At the end of the day, my team and myself are stewards of this type of farming and we are there to guide people,” says Elaina Leibee, Wine Director at Erewhon. “There really is not a lot of transparency in winemaking and what is in the bottle. Some people don’t know you can add up to 300 different additives in the wine, and it doesn’t have to be listed on the label.”

So what do better beverage business practices look like?

At Bonterra Organic Estates, Sustainability Manager Beatrix Scolari says, “We are cultivating our vineyards as a living, thriving ecosystem. Nearly every wine grower is facing some sort of climate pressure. But wine growers are extremely resilient.”

Practices like these mean that “you can eat and drink your way out of climate change with regenerative organic,” according to Stephen Cronk, Co-Founder and Trustee of the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation and the Co-Founder and CEO of Maison Mirabeau. 

As Rob Samuels, Eighth-Generation Whisky Maker and Managing Director at Maker’s Mark, reminded us, “Whisky is grown. Whisky is an agricultural product.” 

When you focus on that, it only makes sense for businesses to think and act sustainably, he said. 

“When you’re in the whisky business, you have to think long-term,” he says. “Oftentimes family companies have a sense of responsibility to the community. We want to be in business thriving all over the world for the next 100 years—of course we should be investing in this.”

We also have to remember that circular food systems of the future can’t just be accomplished by switching a plastic fork for a compostable one—the changes we need are truly systemic.

“Waste isn’t the problem; how it’s managed is,” says Shawna Laczko, Chief Revenue Officer at Northstar Recycling. “A material that’s compostable in theory needs the infrastructure at the right scale and in the right place.”

As Jordan Catalana, Senior Manager for Social Impact at the Tapestry Foundation, reminded us, “Scalability and adoption matter. That’s how we’re going to achieve anything.”

“It’s not about what we’re striving for; confidence and transparency are the only way we can prove any of it,” she says. 

Explore the entire Food Tank event schedule during Climate Week NYC 2026, and live-stream every Summit on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel. 

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post Industry Leaders Talk Transparency And Trust At Annual Climate Week Brand Sustainability Summit appeared first on Food Tank.

Food waste is a global climate, food security, and economic challenge. From farms and commercial kitchens to households and landfills, roughly one-third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted, costing the global economy roughly US$1 trillion annually and driving 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, an estimated 1 in 11 people face chronic hunger and undernourishment worldwide.

With this in mind, “food waste belongs at the center of the conversation on climate action,” says Martin Krause, Director of the Climate Change Division at UNEP. 

Krause spoke at “Solving Food Waste is a Key Solution to the Climate Crisis,” a Food Tank Summit at Climate Week NYC, held in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Food Planet Prize, NRDC, Restaurant Technologies, CookUnity, and Mill. Throughout the morning, speakers agreed that addressing food waste requires action across the food system, from agricultural production and government policy to businesses and households.

Speakers emphasized the importance of preventing waste at the farm level—where unharvested surplus crops, strict cosmetic standards, and economic factors can sometimes make it unprofitable or impractical to pick and sell everything that is grown.

U.S. Representative Andrea Salinas (D-OR) points to the financial pressures that force farmers to waste food: “A lot of our growers are leaving their crops in the fields or orchards. Some of it is it just isn’t going to pencil out for them to harvest…This is all food that should not be wasted,” says Salinas.

Yet food waste prevention at the farm level “is what keeps the most carbon in the ground and keeps the most people alive,” says Veleké Brown, CEO of E-RoadMap and Velloris and Executive Director of E-RoadMap Corporation. “When we talk about food waste, most people work at the end of the line moving surplus, but my work is upstream where the waste is quieter.”

U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) says reducing food waste also requires examining how food is distributed and who has access to it.

“Part of why you have food waste is because farmers are producing agricultural products they’re selling nationally and internationally, and local people who are hungry cannot get their hands on that food. We have not, as a country, made it a policy priority to address this,” says Stansbury. “We cannot talk about food waste without talking about fixing the food system.” 

Food recovery can help connect surplus food with communities experiencing food insecurity, but speakers say that donations must meet people’s needs.

“Even if you do all this work to donate the excess food, if it isn’t intentional and what people want, it just ends up in the trash,” says Matthew Jozwiak, Founder and CEO of Rethink Food.

And strong partnerships are necessary to expand food recovery efforts, says María Bengochea, Director of Sustainability & Standards at CookUnity.

“We are suffering from many climate crises…we need to unlock emergency donations for people who are suffering from this. It’s important to have strong partners who are really committed,” says Bengochea.

Especially at a time when fuel and grocery prices are at historic highs across the world, speakers say that communicating with consumers about food waste prevention must point to the financial benefits.

“Reducing methane emissions might not land with people, but reducing their grocery bill will,” says Tia Schwab, Senior Manager of U.S. Food Systems at C40 Cities

And for Madeline Keating of NRDC, infrastructure and education are critical components of making any food waste production effort successful. If the compost stream is contaminated or there are not enough facilities to process it, then efforts to increase composting practices will be wasted.

“Cities can realize the most cost savings from reducing food waste when they look at their entire waste system. But a really critical piece is education,” says Keating.

In commercial kitchens, this also means engaging employees at every level. 

“It really just comes down to the actions of the chefs and making sure everyone from hourly associates to executive chefs knows what they need to do in their specific roles,” says Gwyneth Rampton, Vice President of Sustainability at Compass Group USA.

And at the retail level, Jackie Suggitt, Senior Director of Waste & Circularity at Walmart, calls for faster implementation of solutions that already exist.

“Let’s not wait for the next thing to come along and fix all the problems…we have enough to be moving and moving quickly,” says Suggitt. “I would like to see us implement at scale faster. People love pilots…we need to move past that.”

As speakers emphasized throughout the event, reducing food waste requires coordinated action across the food system. From preventing waste on farms and connecting surplus food with communities to improving infrastructure and changing consumer behavior, existing solutions can help move the food system toward greater sustainability.

“We do have the solutions; let’s implement them,” says Krause.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

The post “Food Waste Belongs at the Center” of Talks at Climate Week NYC appeared first on Food Tank.

Climate change is already affecting what farmers can grow, when they can plant, and how much they can harvest. Across the globe, they are navigating drought, unpredictable rainfall, and extreme heat. Meanwhile, public investment in agricultural research is uncertain, global conflicts are contributing to hunger and displacement, and food is becoming more expensive.

“I can’t overstate how intense climate impacts are for young farmers across the country right now,” says Michelle Hughes, Executive Director of the National Young Farmers Coalition, at “Putting Farmers First: How Young Farmers are Shaping the Future of Food,” which Food Tank hosted at Climate Week NYC 2026 in partnership with Whole Foods Market.

“Farming is starting to feel not only hard but borderline impossible for some folks,” says Hughes. 

And the pressures facing farmers extend beyond climate change. Sarah Jones of Jones Farms Organics, a fourth-generation, family-owned farm in Colorado’s San Luis Valley and the region’s first Regenerative Organic Certified grower, described the many roles farmers must take on to keep their businesses operating.

“We’re biologists, environmentalists, mechanics, engineers. We do marketing, sales, social media, we’re distributors, brand designers, customer service…it doesn’t end,” says Jones.

Farmers also face significant financial risks and difficult working conditions. Brita Lundberg, Fourth-Generation Farmer and Communications Manager at Lundberg Family Farms, highlighted the demands of agricultural work and the challenges of maintaining a viable livelihood.

“Farming is hard, it’s risky, and it’s capital-intensive. And still, data from the USDA shows that 84 percent of U.S. farmers take on second jobs to support their livelihoods,” says Lundberg.

For Amalia Colón-Nava, Farmer and Co-Director of Dirtbaby Farm, these economic challenges affect both farm owners and agricultural workers—and they are rooted in a long history of exploitation. 

“Whether you are a farm owner or a farm laborer, there’s a huge gap in how we can pay ourselves…So many farmers are actually not able to sell vegetables for a profit. Our food system is built off of slavery, exploited labor, and that culture still exists,” says Colón-Nava. “Food is a human right; it’s not a privilege.”

For DeVonne Jackson Perez, Co-Founder of Good Ground and Director of Brooklyn Supported Agriculture, conversations about climate resilience must account for farmers’ basic needs and working conditions. 

“We can’t really talk about climate resilience or supporting farmers without using them as if they too are a product,” says Jackson Perez. “Farming is one of the most dangerous careers that you can choose, but many don’t have healthcare.”

Speakers also pointed to gaps between consumer demand and the markets farmers need to adopt more sustainable practices. Jones says many farmers are prepared to transition to organic production but lack the buyers to make that change financially viable.

“We’ve got to get back to community over commodity,” says Jones. “Farmers are ready and willing. I could list 10 farmers that would go organic tomorrow if you give them the market.”

Creating those markets is one of the most important ways retailers can support farmers, says Sonya Gafsi Oblisk, Whole Foods Market Chief Merchandising & Marketing Officer and Vice President, Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores Private Brands & Marketing.

“As a retailer, the number-one thing we can do is really create a market and demand…There can’t be supply without demand,” says Gafsi Oblisk, who also emphasizes that transforming the food system requires changes in consumer behavior: “To change the food system at scale, we need to be able to change demand, not just supply…Vote with your wallet.”

Speakers also said that businesses must prioritize farmer input when developing sustainability initiatives.

“The first thing we need to do is listen. We have to put farmers’ voices first,” says Caitlin Leibert, Global Head of Sustainability at Amazon Grocery and Whole Foods Market. “We can’t just say as a retailer we want this…We have to invest and co-create the future we want to see.”

Building on-farm resilience through soil health and transitioning to organic practices takes more than one growing season, and farmers need to know that they will have buyers for their crops after they make the investment. This requires long-term investment, looking beyond immediate purchasing decisions.

“The top thing we can do as retailers is help commit to the supply not just for tomorrow and next month and six months from now, but what are the commitments we can make further out,” says Jason Buechel, Vice President of Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores and Chief Executive Officer of Whole Foods Market. “Many farmers depend on small, regional, local banks, where their business is considered high risk.”

For Becca Millstein, Co-Founder and CEO of Fishwife, strengthening food systems also means investing in sustainable seafood production and helping consumers understand the role of aquaculture.

“More than half of our seafood globally is produced from aquaculture, but there’s broad misunderstanding of what that means. Aquaculture has long been saddled with a really unfortunate reputation,” says Millstein, but “there are advances being made every single day in aquaculture…In many ways, aquaculture has more resilience than wild fisheries.”

Storytelling plays a major role in creating more sustainable food systems, speakers agreed. Anna Turrell, Global Chief Sustainability Officer at Mars Snacking, called for more storytelling to generate greater visibility for the farmers who supply the food industry.

“[Mars] won’t be here in the future if we don’t start investing in our supply chains differently, and bring the faces in that supply chain to light,” says Turrell. “I’d love to see the farmer faces of our food showing up everywhere in the next five years.”

Ultimately, speakers emphasized that supporting farmers requires action across the food system, from creating reliable markets and providing long-term investment to improving labor conditions and strengthening consumer connections.

“Sometimes when we get in these spaces we often think too lofty and then we don’t do anything… teach somebody, fund an organization, there are little things we can do day to day. The agriculture industry needs everything,” says Jackson Perez.

As retailers, brands, and consumers consider the future of food, the event underscored the importance of putting farmers’ needs at the center of efforts to build a more sustainable and equitable food system.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

The post Putting Farmers First to Build a Resilient Food System appeared first on Food Tank.

On Thursday evening, Sept. 24, Food Tank, New York University, and Rodale Institute will host Marion Nestle’s 90th Birthday Party at Climate Week NYC 2026. The evening will honor and celebrate Nestle’s legacy of advancing evidence-based nutrition, championing transparency in the food system, and empowering people to ask critical questions about the food we eat.

“Marion Nestle has spent her career teaching us that food is never just food. The choices we make about how we grow, sell, market, and eat shape our health, our communities, and the future of our planet,” said Jeff Tkach, CEO of the Rodale Institute.

Nestle is Professor Emerita of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University and one of the world’s most influential voices on food, nutrition, and public health. She has spent decades shaping the national conversation on food policy, corporate influence, nutrition science, and the importance of healthy, equitable food systems. Nestle is also a bestselling author of numerous acclaimed books, including Food Politics, What to Eat, Slow Cooked, and, most recently, Sugar Coated, which will be on sale in the lobby by Books On Call NYC.

With live musical performances, toasts, cake, and a fireside chat with Nestle herself, the evening will celebrate how she has inspired generations of researchers, policymakers, journalists, and advocates.

To conclude the evening, Rodale Institute will present Nestle with the Organic Stewardship Award for Lifetime Achievement in Education. Since 2011, the award has recognized individuals whose work has profoundly influenced efforts to improve the health of our agriculture and food systems. Nestle will receive the inaugural award for education, recognizing her visionary work to inspire lasting change by deepening public understanding of the vital relationship between agriculture, nutrition, environmental stewardship, and human health.

“For decades, Marion has had the courage to ask the questions others won’t, challenge conventional thinking, and bring clarity to complex issues. In doing so, she has shaped how generations understand our food system and empowered them to think more critically about their role within it,” says Tkach. “It is a privilege to honor her extraordinary body of work with Rodale Institute’s first Organic Stewardship Lifetime Achievement Award for Education.”

The evening will feature toasts to Marion Nestle by food system visionaries including Jennifer Berg, Clinical Professor and Department Chair, Nutrition and Food Studies, NYU Steinhardt; Mark Bittman, Editor-in-Chief, The Bittman Project; Nancy Easton, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Wellness in the Schools; Kathleen Finlay, President, Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming; Cathy Kaufman, Culinary Historian and Food Studies Scholar; Corby Kummer, Executive Director of Food & Society, the Aspen Institute, Senior Editor, The Atlantic, and Senior Lecturer, Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science; Frances Moore Lappé, Author and Co-Founder, Small Planet Institute; Kristie Patten, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean, NYU Steinhardt; Ruth Reichl, Author and Former Editor in Chief, Gourmet; Kim Severson, The New York Times; Max Sinsheimer, Literary Agent, Sinsheimer Literary, LLC; and Lisa Sutherland, Co-Author with Marion Nestle, Sugar Coated: Unboxing the Hidden Forces Shaping America’s Favorite Breakfast Food, and Interim President, Jacksonville University.

The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 6:35pm with light food and live musical performances, followed by a reception until 9:30pm.

The birthday party will also feature special musical performances by Singer-Songwriter Amber Rubarth; Jake Pedersen, a Broadway and TV actor currently in Ragtime on Broadway, who recently starred as Boq in Wicked on Broadway and on tour, as well as Frankie Epps in Parade on Broadway; and Maria Caputo, a New York-based composer, pianist, vocalist, music director, and Broadway music copyist whose work spans musical theatre, jazz, classical, and contemporary music.

The event will be streamed live on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel, here. Join the Food Tank newsletter list for reminders, and click here for Food Tank’s full lineup of events at Climate Week NYC 2026.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

The post Celebrating Marion Nestle appeared first on Food Tank.