Food Tank

On Monday afternoon, Sept. 21, Food Tank will host the “Mission-Driven Brands Sustainability Summit” at Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with Bel US, Northstar Recycling, the Global Traceability Framework for Beef and Leather, and Bonterra Organic Estates.

The event is Food Tank’s annual gathering of Chief Sustainability Officers, mission-driven brand leaders, impact directors, and founders at Climate Week NYC. The afternoon will feature food system industry leaders discussing challenges and opportunities for brands to make an impact across retail, food service, and hospitality.

“We’re honored to join this conversation during Climate Week NYC and to celebrate the organizations demonstrating that purpose and commercial leadership can go hand in hand,” says Mark Kaplan, Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer at blockchain-based traceability system Wholechain.

Speakers will explore how to build a common language for supply chains, including through solutions like The Global Traceability Framework for Beef and Leather. The pre-competitive platform for collaborative action provides a shared foundation for how traceability data is captured and exchanged, so systems can work together across companies and geographies.

“Leather has traditionally been treated as a byproduct and afterthought of the beef industry,” says Jason Weller, Chief Sustainability Officer at JBS, the world’s largest meat processor. “At JBS, we have spent years building the expertise and techniques to elevate leather as a valuable resource: tracing hides to the source farm groups, re-engineering tanning chemistry to cut water and chemical use, and performing in-depth analyses so that we understand opportunities to improve the greenhouse gas emissions performance of our products.”

“We are thrilled JBS is joining us and showing their leadership by example to advance standardized, interoperable traceability,” says Kaplan. “Their leadership shows how mission-driven brands can accelerate meaningful progress by building the common language for data sharing that benefits their entire industries.”

The conversation will also turn to regenerative agriculture and how brands can support more resilient farming systems. Panel topics and fireside chats include “Mission Driven from Brand to Shelf,” “Regenerative Agriculture Grain to Glass at Star Hill,” and “How Regenerative Vineyards Are Shaping the Future of Wine.”

Immersive tasting experiences throughout the afternoon will feature traceable beef, lobster, and honey, Bel US cheese, Maker’s Mark whiskey, and wines from Bonterra Organic Estates.

“As climate change continues to challenge our food system, we must transition from extractive to regenerative models of production,” says Beatrix Scolari, Sustainability Manager at Bonterra Organic Estates. “Food Tank provides a forum for sharing the ideas, partnerships, and practical solutions needed to make that transition possible. Bonterra is honored to join this year’s summit, and we hope participants leave inspired by the growing evidence that regenerative agriculture can both strengthen farm resilience and help restore the health of our planet.”

With lightning talks on topics like the future of circular food systems, speakers will also emphasize the importance of collaboration across the food system to turn sustainability goals into action.

“Meaningful progress in sustainability happens when leaders across the food system come together to share what’s working, challenge conventional thinking, and learn from one another. That’s what makes gatherings like this so valuable,” says Shawna Laczko, Chief Revenue Officer at Northstar Recycling. “I hope attendees leave with new perspectives, practical ideas they can take back to their organizations, and a stronger sense of how collaboration across the value chain can turn ambitious sustainability goals into real, scalable progress.”

The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 1:30pm with food and live musical performances, followed by a reception until 5pm.

Speakers include Jordan Catalana, Senior Manager, Social Impact, Tapestry Foundation; Dana Cowin, Founder, Progressive Hedonist and Former Editor-in-Chief, Food & Wine Magazine; Stephen Cronk, Co-Founder and Trustee, The Regenerative Viticulture Foundation; Co-Founder and CEO, Maison Mirabeau; Diana Hanus, Senior Executive Vice President, Commercial & Business Development, Sovereign Seas; Ann Marie Hourigan, Head of Quality Standards, Whole Foods Market; Mark Kaplan, Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer, Wholechain; Shawna Laczko, Chief Revenue Officer, Northstar Recycling; Elaina Leibee, Wine Director, Erewhon; Peter McGuinness, CEO, Bel North America; Sarah McMullin, Senior Vice President, Owned Brands Product Operations and Manufacturing, Target; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Rob Samuels, Eighth-Generation Whisky Maker and Managing Director, Maker’s Mark; Beatrix Scolari, Sustainability Manager, Bonterra Organic Estates; and Jason Weller, Global Chief Sustainability Officer, JBS.

“Mission Driven Brands Sustainability Summit” will feature a special musical performance by Daniel Quadrino, Broadway actor currently starring as Boq in Wicked, with additional Broadway credits including The Who’s Tommy, Newsies, and Bye Bye Birdie. He will be joined by Ryan Fielding Garrett, a New York City-based composer, music director, orchestrator, and musician whose Broadway credits include Kinky Boots, Wicked, Back to the Future, The Notebook, and Mean Girls.

This summit 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 Food and Agriculture Businesses Tackle Food Sustainability at Climate Week NYC appeared first on Food Tank.

On Thursday morning, Sept. 24, Food Tank will host “Chefs Save the World” at Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with The James Beard Foundation and CARE. The morning will highlight how culinary leaders are using their platforms to drive meaningful impact in their communities and beyond.

Chefs are far more than culinary innovators. From reducing food waste and supporting regenerative agriculture to championing local producers, improving nutrition, and responding to humanitarian crises, they are helping shape a more sustainable and equitable food system.

Discussions will feature voices of global farmers, explore the barriers facing women farmers, and highlight the solutions—including those in partnership with chefs—driving meaningful change.

“Every meal served today starts with a farmer, and in much of the world that farmer is a woman working land she does not own, in a climate she did not destabilize, with less access to credit, seed, and training than the men farming beside her,” says Maria Hinson Tobin, Executive Director of Agribusiness Partnerships at CARE.

“Women are feeding their families, their communities, and contributing to the world’s food resources. Their resilience is the most undervalued asset in the global food system, and events like this exist to make sure it stops being invisible.”

The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 9am with breakfast and live musical performances, followed by a reception including lunch until 12:45pm.

Speakers and performers include Chef Fariyal Abdullahi, Executive Chef and Partner, Hav & Mar; Chef Bleu Adams, Executive Chef, Black Lamb Group, and Director, IndigeHub; Fernando González, Co-Founder and Pitmaster, 2Fifty Texas BBQ; Roman Goron, French-Filipino-American jazz pianist, composer, and producer at Juilliard; Erica Helms, Chief Growth Officer, James Beard Foundation; Emily Janoch, Associate Vice President for Evidence and Learning, CARE; Ellie Krieger, Dietitian and Nutritionist, Host of Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger on Food Network and Ellie’s Real Good Food on PBS, and Columnist, The Washington Post; Anne E. McBride, PhD, Vice President of Impact, James Beard Foundation; Taylor Montgomery, James Beard Award-Winning Chef, Farmer, and Co-Founder, Montgomery Sky Farm; Liz Murray, Chief Operating Officer, The Marlow Collective; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Chris Noble, Associate Vice President, Corporate Partnerships, CARE; Chef Grace Ramirez, Chef, La Latina Cocina and Aramark Collegiate Hospitality; Nishant Roy, Chief Impact Officer, Chobani; Deena Shanker, Writer, Bloomberg Businessweek; Chef Sean Sherman, Founder and Executive Director, NĀTIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems); Janae Yates, New York-based drummer, composer, and bandleader who studied at Juilliard and has performed at Lincoln Center and internationally; and Andrew Zimmern, Emmy- and James Beard Award-winning chef, television host, author, and food advocate.

“Chefs Save the World” will feature a special musical performance by Nick T. Daly, an actor, singer, and dancer currently appearing Off-Broadway in The Heart; previously in MJ the Musical on Broadway. He will be joined by Elijah Caldwell, an OBIE Award-winning actor, singer, pianist, and music director whose credits include A Strange Loop Off-Broadway and the national tour of Shucked.

This summit 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 Chefs Driving Climate Action at Climate Week NYC appeared first on Food Tank.

On Friday morning, Sept. 25, Food Tank will host the “Water and Blue Foods Summit” at Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with Future Food Institute, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Venice Climate Week.

Water connects every aspect of our food systems, public health, ecosystems, and communities. The summit will bring together leaders working across oceans, fisheries, blue foods, water, climate, public health, and global justice to explore how healthier aquatic ecosystems and communities can help build a more peaceful, equitable, and resilient future.

“We began this journey in Venice, during our Climate Week, promoting a simple but radical idea: we are citizens of a water planet, our ‘Planet Aqua.’ Water is the resource of life, and the blue resource—in all its forms—must be addressed from every perspective: from food to energy, from ecosystems to human health, mental health and longevity,” says Sara Roversi, President of the Future Food Institute, Founder of Paideia Campus, and producer of the Venice Climate Week.

“This is why we are proud to continue this conversation in New York with Food Tank: because water cannot be a topic we discuss once a year. It must become a daily priority for regeneration, prosperity and planetary care.”

Panel discussions will explore both global and national perspectives on blue communities, blue food, and fisheries, as well as water crises and water bankruptcy.

“Climate change is transforming our ocean, creating challenges for coastal communities around the world. In the Mediterranean Sea, warmer waters have contributed to the spread of blue swimming crab, an invasive species that is disrupting marine ecosystems and threatening local fisheries and livelihoods,” says Wendy Norden, Global Programs Director of Global Ocean Conservation at Monterey Bay Aquarium.

“Some countries are finding ways to turn this challenge into an opportunity that benefits both people and the environment, and we look forward to sharing these stories of resilience and collaboration at the Water and Blue Foods Summit.”

Speakers include Jenn Kemmerly, Vice President of Global Ocean Conservation, Monterey Bay Aquarium; David Laborde, Director, Agrifood Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Riccardo Luna, Co-Curator, Venice Climate Week; Kaveh Madani, Director, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health; Sarisher Mann, Director of Sustainable Finance Engagement, BNP Paribas; Kathleen McDavitt, Senior Programs Manager for North America, Aquaculture Stewardship Council; Laura McDearis, US Program Director, Marine Stewardship Council; Lela Nargi, Journalist and Author; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Wendy Norden, Director of Science and Global Strategies, Monterey Bay Aquarium; Joshua Perry, Seafood Coordinator, NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets; Stefano Pisani, Mayor of Pollica, Italy, and Mediterranean Diet Advocate; Sara Roversi, Founder, Future Food Institute; Carlotta Santolini, Marine Biologist and Group Leader, Blueat La Pescheria Sostineble; Barton Seaver, Chef, Author Sustainability Fellow at the New England Aquarium, and Director of the Sustainable Seafood and Health Initiative at Harvard; Brendan Shane, Director of Philanthropy Special Projects and Climate Advisor, Trust for Public Land; Michael Sheldrick, Co-Founder and Chief Policy, Impact & Government Relations Officer, Global Citizen; Simone Venturini, Mayor of Venice; and Kate Warren, Executive Vice President and Executive Editor, Devex.

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 “Water and Blue Foods Summit” will feature special musical performances by Blu Allen, a Broadway actor, singer, and dancer currently appearing in MJ the Musical, with previous credits including Titanique. He will be joined by Elijah Caldwell, an OBIE Award-winning actor, singer, pianist, and music director whose credits include A Strange Loop Off-Broadway and the national tour of Shucked.

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 Why Blue Foods Matter to the Future of Food appeared first on Food Tank.

Food Tank, in partnership with Whole Foods Market, will kick off Climate Week NYC 2026 on the evening of Sunday, September 20, by hosting “Putting Farmers First: How Young Farmers Are Shaping the Future of Food.” The free event will celebrate the next generation of farmers and food systems leaders who are redefining agriculture through innovation, resilience, and climate leadership.

Farmers in the United States are facing a generational challenge. While the number of new and young producers is beginning to rise, farmers overall are getting older: The average age of U.S. producers increased from 56.3 in 2012 to 58.1 in 2022. At the same time, the total number of farms fell by about 7 percent between 2017 and 2022.

This makes supporting young and beginning producers increasingly important. New farmers face significant barriers to entering and staying in agriculture, including access to affordable land and capital, housing, health care, production costs, and climate-related risks.

“At Whole Foods Market, we believe that investing in the next generation of farmers is one of the most important things we can do—for our food system, for our customers, and for our planet,” says Sonya Gafsi Oblisk, Chief Merchandising & Marketing Officer at Whole Foods Market and Vice President of Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores Private Brands & Marketing.

“We’re proud to partner with Food Tank during Climate Week to put their voices front and center, because when farmers thrive, we all thrive.”

Sessions will include a young farmer storyteller panel with an immersive video and tasting experience. Panelists will explore what it means to be a farmer today, how to work better with farmers, and how to elevate farmers’ voices among those influential in this space.

A panel of three consumer packaged goods company CEOs who have signed the pledge to support farmers—Brita Lundberg of Lundberg Family Farms, Becca Millstein of Fishwife, and Anna Turrell of Mars Snacking—will also join the stage. The discussion will explore how to humanize the farmer connection for consumers, why supporting farmers is a winning business angle, and the need for greater transparency from food companies.

The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 6:30pm with food, drink, and live musical performances, followed by a reception until 9:40pm.

Speakers include Jason Buechel, Vice President, Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores and Chief Executive Officer, Whole Foods Market; Amalia Colón-Nava, Farmer and Co-Director, Dirtbaby Farm; Michelle Hughes, Executive Director, National Young Farmers Coalition; Sarah Jones, Jones Farms Organic, Hooper, Colorado; DeVonne Jackson Perez, Brooklyn-based Urban Farmer and Sustainability Educator; Emily Grant, R&S Acres, diversified/livestock farmer, Genesee County; Caitlin Liebert, Head of Sustainability, Worldwide Grocery, Whole Foods Market; Brita Lundberg, Fourth-Generation Farmer, Lundberg Family Farms; Becca Millstein, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Fishwife; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Sonya Gafsi Oblisk, Chief Merchandising & Marketing Officer, Whole Foods Market and Vice President, Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores Private Brands & Marketing; and Anna Turrell, Global Chief Sustainability Officer, Mars Snacking.

“Putting Farmers First: How Young Farmers Are Shaping the Future of Food” will feature a special musical performance by Tristen Buettel, Broadway actor, singer, and dancer currently appearing in Just in Time, where she covers Connie Francis and Sandra Dee, following roles in BOOP! The Musical, Bad Cinderella, and Jersey Boys. She will be joined by Cullen Curth, New York City-based pianist, music director, and conductor who recently made his Broadway conducting debut with Just in Time.

This summit 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 Young Farmers Shaping the Future of Food appeared first on Food Tank.

Ukraine may be heading toward one of its strongest harvests since the start of the full-scale war. But in 2026, the central question is no longer how much grain the country can produce. It is how much of that harvest can actually reach buyers.

According to the Ukrainian Grain Association, Ukraine’s combined grain and oilseed harvest could reach 84.6 million metric tons in 2026, up from roughly 80 million metric tons in 2025. As of September 15, 2026, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine reported over 24.9 million metric tons of wheat and 6.4 million metric tons of barley being harvested. The country is expected to harvest 32.1 million metric tons of corn. If logistics operate without major disruptions, Ukraine’s export potential could approach 52 million metric tons in the 2026/27 marketing year, compared with 41.1 million metric tons in the previous season.

These figures highlight the extraordinary adaptability of Ukrainian agriculture. Farmers continue to work through air raid alerts, cultivate land near the front lines and in mined lands, and cope with labor shortages, damaged machinery, unstable electricity supplies, and rising production costs.

These numbers are impressive, although they should not be read in isolation. For many producers, the situation on the ground remains considerably more difficult than aggregate harvest data would suggest.

Yet a strong harvest alone does not guarantee food system resilience. Ukraine’s challenge is increasingly shifting from production to access. Farmers may be able to grow the grain, but whether they can move it efficiently, safely, and affordably to international markets will determine the real value of the 2026 harvest.

For Ukraine, that difference matters not only for export revenues. It will also shape farmers’ ability to finance the next planting season, maintain stable production, and remain economically viable under prolonged wartime conditions. And for the rest of the world, the stakes extend far beyond Ukraine’s borders. The country remains a key supplier to global grain markets, meaning that disruptions to its exports can reverberate through food prices, trade routes, and economies dependent on food imports. Ukraine may have the harvest. The harder question is whether the world will be able to receive it.

The harvest is there. Logistics are the bottleneck. In August and September, the scale of Ukraine’s logistics challenge became especially clear. According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, between August 1 and 26 the country exported 1.423 million metric tons of grains, oilseeds, and processed agricultural products—only about one-third of its potential export volume. Grain exports alone totaled 822 thousand metric tons, or roughly 21 percent of the potential volume needed. Logistics issues worsen grain storage shortages, with slow exports threatening an 8–11 million ton domestic deficit by November.

The problem, then, is not a lack of grain or a lack of buyers. It is the physical ability to deliver agricultural products from Ukrainian farms to global markets. Black Sea ports remain essential to Ukraine’s agricultural trade. According to the Ukrainian Grain Association, seaports handle around 90 percent of the country’s grain and oilseed exports, while overland and other alternative routes cannot fully replace maritime shipping. Due to continuing logistics constraints caused by the war, Ukraine could lose nearly US$10 billion in potential agricultural exports.

There is another problem—the cost of alternatives. According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, shifting agricultural exports to alternative routes in August increased logistics costs by at least US$50 per metric ton. In particular Atria Brokers reports an increase in freight rates for shipping corn on 6-thousand-ton coasters from Danube River ports to the Mediterranean reaching US$105 per ton as of September 10, 2026, compared to US$28 in June-July 2026. For a relatively low-value bulk commodity such as grain, that additional cost can absorb a significant share of a farmer’s margin. The result is a striking paradox. Global grain prices can rise as Black Sea supplies become tighter, while prices received by Ukrainian farmers can fall because grain accumulates inside the country. In other words, the same disruption that makes Ukrainian grain more valuable on the world market can make it less profitable for the farmers who produce it.

Global markets are already responding to lower Ukrainian supplies.This is no longer only a Ukrainian problem. In August, the FAO Food Price Index rose to 133.3 points, up 1.9 percent from the previous month and 2.5 percent from a year earlier. The FAO Cereal Price Index increased by 2.2 percent, while international wheat prices rose 2.6 percent over the month and were already 15 percent higher than a year earlier. FAO identified disruptions to Black Sea logistics as one of the factors contributing to higher prices. The wheat market has reacted even more sharply. According to Reuters, by August 20 Chicago wheat futures had risen by more than 17 percent since the beginning of July.
Black Sea wheat was trading at roughly US$260-280 per metric ton for August-September arrivals, while replacing those supplies with Australian wheat could cost Asian buyers around US$315–320 per metric ton. For wealthier countries, this mostly means paying more for grain. For import-dependent economies, the consequences can be far more serious. According to Reuters, Egypt sourced more than 82 percent of its imported wheat from Russia and Ukraine combined during the first half of 2026. Algeria, Jordan, Tunisia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and other major importers also remain highly dependent on supplies from the Black Sea region.

For these countries, higher grain prices are not simply a trade issue. They can translate into larger food import bills, greater pressure on public budgets, and higher prices for basic foods. That is why disruptions to Black Sea trade are increasingly shifting from a regional logistics problem into a driver of global food price inflation.

When Ukraine cannot export, other countries fill the gap. One of the clearest signs of how global grain trade is shifting comes from Argentina. According to Reuters, Argentina’s corn exports are expected to reach a record 10 million metric tons in August and September 2026 while the usual export volumes for August-September reach about 3 million tons. Argentina is also getting more active in the global sunflower and soybean oil and meal markets due to tighter supply from the Black Sea region, increasing competition. This is especially relevant for India and the EU, which remain key destinations for both Argentine and Ukrainian products.

Competition is also increasing in oilseed markets. Argentina is expanding its supplies of soybean and sunflower oil to Europe and India, while Brazil continues to strengthen its position as a major soybean supplier to China. Russia is also redirecting grain and vegetable oil exports to alternative markets, further intensifying competition for Ukraine.

One reason is that buyers are looking for alternatives to Ukrainian supplies disrupted by the war and constraints on Black Sea shipping. The shift is especially visible in North Africa, a region that has traditionally been an important market for Ukrainian grain. During the first seven months of 2026, Argentine corn shipments to North Africa increased by 45 percent. Morocco’s imports of Argentine corn jumped 133 percent year over year, while Egypt increased purchases by 48 percent and Algeria by 10 percent. These figures point to an important economic shift. When Ukraine loses export capacity for several months, the consequences extend beyond lost revenue. Buyers find new suppliers, shipping companies reorganize routes, and commercial relationships begin to shift toward competitors.

And once those relationships are established, they may not immediately reverse. Even if Ukraine restores the full capacity of its ports, regaining some export markets could take time. The longer disruptions persist, the greater the risk that what begins as a temporary logistics problem becomes a longer-term loss of market share. In this sense, the cost of disrupted exports is not measured only in the grain that fails to leave Ukraine today. It may also be measured in the markets Ukraine has to win back tomorrow.

The biggest risk is not this year’s harvest, but the next one. Ukraine’s export problem is quickly becoming a liquidity problem for farmers. Grain sales finance the next production cycle. They pay for seeds, fertilizer, fuel, land rent, wages, machinery repairs, and loan repayments. When grain remains in storage, a farmer’s working capital is effectively locked up with it. That is why a large harvest can paradoxically weaken the producer who grew it. As of September 15, 2026, at Ukrainian ports, prices for food and feed wheat stood at $167-177 per ton and $146-155 per ton CPT port, respectively. If farmers are forced to sell at depressed domestic prices while absorbing higher logistics costs, they may respond by cutting fertilizer use, delaying machinery purchases, or reducing the area they plant the following season. Small and medium-sized farms are particularly vulnerable because they typically have less working capital and less capacity to store grain while waiting for better prices.

A U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization assessment of more than 2,800 rural households across nine frontline regions of Ukraine illustrates the scale of this pressure. One in three surveyed households reported declining income over the previous year. Among families that rely primarily on agriculture for their livelihoods, 48 percent reported income losses. More than three-quarters of surveyed households were already drawing down savings, borrowing money, or cutting essential expenses, including spending on health care and education, to cope with financial pressure.

These figures point to a broader lesson about agricultural resilience. Resilience cannot be measured only by how many tons of grain Ukraine harvests this year; it should be assessed in terms of the production sustainability, which depends on whether farmers have enough liquidity to buy inputs, maintain equipment, keep workers employed, and plant again next season. A record harvest today means little if producers cannot afford to produce another one tomorrow.

Storage can buy time, but it cannot solve the problem. If export constraints persist, Ukraine will face another challenge—where to store the new harvest. Logistics issues worsen grain storage shortages, with slow exports threatening an 8–11 million ton domestic deficit by November. According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, international partners have already confirmed around US$10.5 million in support for temporary storage solutions, including grain bags. Ukraine is also finalizing discussions with the World Bank over an additional US$25 million in assistance.

This support is important, especially for smaller farms and producers in front-line regions. But storage can only buy time. It does not create a buyer. It does not lower transportation costs. And it does not restore the working capital that farmers need for the next production cycle. Temporary storage can help prevent immediate losses and give producers greater flexibility in choosing when to sell. But it cannot substitute for functioning export routes. The real solution is stable and predictable access to international markets. Without such access, additional storage risks becoming nothing more than an enlarged “waiting room” for grain that still has nowhere to be sold.

One question is will Europe and the Danube replace the Black Sea? The European Union has already helped build one of the most important backup logistics systems for Ukrainian trade. According to the European Commission, the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes have enabled the export of nearly 230 million metric tons of Ukrainian goods since May 2022, including around 94 million metric tons of grain, oilseeds, and related products. Without these routes, the consequences of disruptions to maritime trade would have been far more severe. But August 2026 also showed the limits of an overland solution. According to the Ukrainian government, between August 1 and 26, roughly 600,000 metric tons of agricultural products moved by rail and another 600,000 metric tons through the Danube, while road transport accounted for only about 80,000 metric tons.

For grain, this difference matters. Maritime shipping can move enormous volumes of relatively low-value bulk commodities over long distances at lower cost. Moving the same quantities by thousands of railcars and trucks is slower, more expensive, and constrained by border capacity, infrastructure, and transshipment bottlenecks. The Danube, rail links, and road corridors are therefore indispensable as alternative routes. They provide resilience when Black Sea access is disrupted and reduce Ukraine’s dependence on a single export channel.

But due to their limited throughput capacity, they cannot fully replace deep-water seaports. Europe’s overland routes should be treated as a strategic backup and a permanent part of a more diversified export system—not as a substitute for secure Black Sea shipping. For Ukraine’s grain economy, resilience ultimately requires both: strong connections to Europe and reliable access to the sea.

Ukraine needs more than one corridor. It needs a resilient food system. Ukraine’s first priority must remain the security of maritime exports. That means protecting ports, transport networks, and energy infrastructure, while expanding war-risk insurance mechanisms for shipping companies and agricultural businesses.

The second priority is protecting farmers’ financial cycle. Affordable credit, guarantees, grants, warehouse-receipt financing, and access to insurance can help producers avoid being forced to sell grain when domestic prices are at their lowest. Without that financial buffer, even a strong harvest can leave farmers short of the cash they need to plant the next one.

A third priority is expanding the capacity of the Danube, rail, and border infrastructure. The EU–Ukraine Solidarity Lanes have already demonstrated their strategic value. But the current crisis also shows that these routes need greater capacity, faster border procedures, and continued investment if they are to serve as a reliable long-term component of Ukraine’s export system.

And Ukraine needs to move further up the agricultural value chain. Producing more flour, animal feed, vegetable oils, starch, bioethanol, and other higher-value products would reduce the country’s dependence on a model in which economic performance is determined largely by how many tons of raw grain can physically leave through a port. Processing cannot replace grain exports. But it can diversify revenue, create jobs, reduce the value lost to high transport costs, and make the agricultural economy more resilient to logistics shocks.

Ukraine also needs predictable trade rules with the European Union. Farmers make production decisions months before harvest. Uncertainty over quotas, transit conditions, or national restrictions adds another layer of risk to an already unpredictable wartime environment. The broader lesson is that Ukraine does not need a single replacement for the Black Sea. It needs a diversified food and export system in which secure maritime trade, European land routes, financial support, storage, processing, and predictable market access reinforce one another. Resilience will come not from one corridor, but from having multiple options when any one of them fails. Ukraine will have bread. The question is what the world will pay.

Ukraine does not currently face a physical shortage of grain for domestic consumption. The Ukrainian government has stressed that the country is producing enough to meet its own food needs. But the global market is already feeling the effects of disruptions to Black Sea trade.

Ukrainian grain can theoretically be replaced by supplies from Argentina, Australia, the United States, Canada, and other major exporters. But that substitution comes at a cost. It reshapes trade flows, lengthens shipping routes, increases freight and insurance expenses, and adds pressure to food-importing countries that are often the least able to absorb higher prices. That is why Ukraine’s 2026 harvest is more than a test of the country’s agricultural sector. It exposes one of the central vulnerabilities of the global food system: producing food is not enough. Food must also be moved safely, predictably, and affordably to the people who need it.

There is also a broader point here. Ukraine’s experience since 2022 has shown how closely agricultural production, transport security, trade policy, and global food security are now connected. Treating them as separate policy questions no longer makes much sense. Ukrainian farmers have already proven that they are capable of continuing grain production under the extraordinary conditions of a full-scale war. The question now is whether the international community can help ensure that this grain reaches global markets. Because the success of Ukraine’s harvest should not be measured only by what is grown in its fields. It should also be measured by whether that food can reach the tables that depend on it.

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 Raimond Spekking, Wikimedia Commons

The post Will Ukraine’s Record Wartime Harvest Reach Global Markets? appeared first on Food Tank.

A version of this piece was featured in Food Tank’s newsletter, released weekly on Thursdays. To make sure it lands straight in your inbox and to be among the first to receive it, subscribe now by clicking here.

At major events like Climate Week NYC, we do a lot of talking. Over the course of the week, hundreds of experts and inspiring changemakers cross our stage. I almost always have a water bottle with me when I’m moderating these discussions, because my voice gets tired!

But we can’t just talk about addressing the climate crisis. We have to do something. There’s a reason phrases like “actions speak louder than words” and “leading by example” are repeated so often: They’re 100 percent true.

The discussions we’re having—from Climate Week NYC next week to COP31 later this year and beyond—are most valuable when each of us takes what we’re hearing and learning and translates these into on-the-ground solutions. In this newsletter last week and this week, we’re highlighting 13 (a baker’s dozen!) of the many steps that are already being taken across the global food system.

Find out more about our amazing lineup for Climate Week NYC—featuring more than 225 speakers and performers from September 20 to 25—by CLICKING HERE. And all 13 of our Summits are being livestreamed, so you can tune in from wherever you live!

Here’s this week’s crop of seven solutions:

Telling people-centered food stories

I’ve said before that storytelling can change the world, and that’s no exaggeration! Films and documentaries—and other forms of media, from books to podcasts to articles—can bring viewers to the front lines of food system action, forge powerful personal connections to complex topics, and elevate success stories that can then be shared and replicated for even broader impacts.

“There is a love story in every practice of agriculture, and as we face an increasingly mechanized world, stories coming from the heart are the path towards a more sustainable, prosperous, and empathetic future,” says Haven Worley, the director of “Irish Farmers: A Love Story,” Food Tank’s debut documentary short.

Teaching optimism to future food leaders

Over many decades as one of the country’s top food policy experts, professor and nutritionist Marion Nestle—who celebrated her 90th birthday last week!—has guided generations of eaters, students, and policymakers toward a deeper understanding of the food system. One of the countless lessons I’ve learned from Marion is that true mentorship is not just about navigating the world as it is today; it’s about seeing the world as it could be and developing the tools to make that into reality.

“I deeply believe that setting goals—even those that seem highly unattainable—is a useful public health strategy,” Marion wrote in a 90th birthday reflection blog post. “Unrealistic goals can educate, expand expectations, promote critical thinking, motivate action, attract resources, and encourage accountability.”

Integrating food into the school day beyond the cafeteria

Organizations from Pilot Light to Wellness in the Schools are redefining food education, 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 agents of change to drive climate action.

“Incredible work is already happening in food education, but the question now is how we build on it so every student has the opportunity to learn about food,” says Alex DeSorbo-Quinn, Executive Director of Pilot Light.

Making better consumer choices feel achievable

Food Tankers know how impactful our food choices are: What we eat matters not just for our individual bodies but for the entire food system, too. But educating consumers—and getting folks to actually change their behavior—is easier said than done, which is why any accessible resource goes a long way. For example, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch provides well-researched recommendations that encompass some ¾ of U.S. market seafood and half of global seafood, plus restaurants and major companies committed to sustainable blue food systems.

“I think it really is important to know that the choices we make do matter at the grocery store. They do mean something,” says Wendy Norden, Director of Science and Global Strategies at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. “And they help us do our work and improve, because we want to celebrate seafood.”

Giving chefs a platform as food systems leaders

Here’s an idea: What if our food policy were influenced less by politicians taking donations from major food corporations, and instead shaped by people who know food better than anyone: Chefs! While the Trump-Vance Administration was reshaping the “food pyramid” of dietary guidelines for all Americans, Chef Sean Sherman, a.k.a. The Sioux Chef, had a better idea. He created what he calls the Regional Indigenous Nutritional Guide, or the RING Diet, which helps us eat in ways that match the places we actually live.

“The RING Diet is a living guide, and one you could actually use,” Chef Sherman, the founder of Native American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS) writes. “You can use it to learn about your own region, its seasons, its plants and animals and the precious nutrients they offer and how they work within our bodily systems. A tool to teach your kids, to plan a week of eating, to reconnect with the specific foods of the specific place you stand on.”

Working smarter to nourish the future

It’s easy to list off a couple examples of foods that are healthy and a couple that are not. It’s much more difficult to explain why—what specific biomolecules make up our foods and how each one impacts systems in our bodies. This is why I both admire and am awestruck by the Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI), which is creating data systems to map out these biomolecules and translate that research into action.

As PTFI Global Director Selena Ahmed and other experts write in a joint Op-Ed, “We cannot fix what we do not measure. … Without knowing what’s actually in our food, the tens of thousands of molecules, we cannot design food systems that sustain health.”

Embedding resilience into entire supply chains

We typically think of certifications like organic in the context of individual farms or food producers—but what about entire supply chains? Take a new carbon insetting program in the organic dairy industry, for example: Collaboration across the supply chain is creating a model for private-sector companies like Organic Valley, UNFI, and Whole Foods Market to work together to reduce emissions and build resilience. This is a step toward the kind of big-picture thinking we need to see across the entire food system!

“When we collaborate across the value chain, we unlock new ways to reduce emissions, meet climate goals, and support the people at the heart of it all—our farmers,” says Jessica Luhning, Organic Valley’s Senior Sustainability Manager.

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 Polina Kuzovkova , Unsplash

The post These Solutions Are a Roadmap to a Stronger Food System, Part II appeared first on Food Tank.

On Thursday afternoon, Sept. 24, Food Tank will host “Acting at the Speed of Crisis: Challenges & Opportunities for Food Security Rapid Response” at Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with RAAPID and the Arrell Food Institute. The summit will explore how organizations can rapidly mobilize resources, leverage innovation, and build more resilient systems to meet urgent food security needs. 

“Food security crises rarely happen in isolation. Severe weather, conflict, supply chain disruptions, and other pressures can compound quickly, while the information needed to understand what is happening on the ground often arrives too slowly. We now have the tools to change that,” says Inbal Becker-Reshef, Managing Director of Microsoft AI for Good Lab and Founder of RAAPID. 

Food security emergencies are becoming more frequent, more complex, and more interconnected, driven by conflict, climate change, economic instability, and public health crises. Responding effectively requires not only speed, but stronger coordination across governments, nonprofits, researchers, and the private sector. 

“By bringing together Earth observations, AI, and expert networks, we can turn complex signals into actionable information when decisions can still prevent a shock from becoming a crisis. The challenge now is building the system and investments needed to make that capability available when and where it matters most,” says Becker-Reshef.

Experts will identify opportunities to strengthen preparedness, collaboration, and long-term resilience for communities around the world. Panel discussions will cover topics including the power of geopolitics and food, as well as how climate change is fueling more frequent food crises.

“As climate change escalates and more people around the world face crop failure and food precarity, anticipatory action becomes absolutely essential,” says Evan Fraser, Executive Director of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph. 

“Anticipatory action is not an optional extra. Combining remote monitoring with on-the-ground context means that emergency aid can go where it is most urgently needed, and we can identify the supports and buffers required to prevent catastrophic failure.” 

The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 1:30pm with lunch and live musical performances, followed by a reception until 4:30pm.

Speakers include Governor David Beasley, Trustee, The Rockefeller Foundation; Former Governor, South Carolina and Former Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme; Inbal Becker-Reshef, Managing Director, Microsoft AI for Good Lab, Founder & Co-Director NASA Harvest, and Founder, RAAPID; Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, Founder and CEO, Food Systems for the Future; Máximo Torero Cullen, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Evan Fraser, Executive Director, Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph; Ruth Hill, Director, Markets, Trade, and Institutions, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Melissa Mahtani, International Affairs Journalist; Adam Met, Musician of multi-Platinum band AJR, Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, and Climate Activist; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Ambassador Philip Thigo, MBS, Special Envoy on Technology, Office of the President of Kenya; Michael Werz, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Simon Winter, Vice President for Reimagining Humanitarian Nutrition Security, Rockefeller Foundation Catalytic Capital (RFCC); and Andrew Zolli, Chief Impact Officer, Planet.

“Acting at the Speed of Crisis” will feature a special musical performance by Oluchi Nwaokorie, Broadway actor and singer currently Elphaba standby in Wicked, following performances in the Parade National Tour and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She will be joined by Noah Turner, Music Director, Conductor, Pianist, and Arranger.

This summit 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 Rethinking the Future of Food Security at Climate Week NYC appeared first on 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.

The H-2A program allows United States agricultural employers to hire foreign workers temporarily or seasonally when there are insufficient qualified and available U.S. workers.

Since its inception, the H-2A program has grown exponentially. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued 44 H-2A visas in the program’s first year in 1987. It has become the nation’s largest temporary visa program, with more than 315,000 visas issued in 2024.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) certified 48,000 H-2A positions in 2005 and more than 398,000 in 2025. H-2A workers now are one sixth of the U.S. agricultural labor force, and data suggest H-2A growth is continuing. In the first half of 2026, DOL certified 17 percent more positions than it did during the same period in 2025.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), increasing H-2A demand is a direct reflection of the U.S. labor force. H-2A jobs arise from a proven lack of domestic interest in seasonal work, the organization says.

In 2025, U.S. workers applied for less than 0.04 percent of requested positions. “The lack of available labor is among the largest limiting factors of American agriculture,” says Zippy Duvall, AFBF President. “Most Americans don’t want to work on farms.”

To qualify for the H-2A program, agricultural employers must have a temporary or seasonal need for full-time labor. Employers apply for certification from DOL while recruiting U.S. workers for the positions. The employer must demonstrate that enough able, willing, qualified, and available U.S. workers cannot be found and that employing H-2A workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.

The employer then petitions U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Once approved, prospective workers may apply to DOS for H-2A visas. Employers must provide workers with housing, three meals per day, and convenient cooking facilities, and provide or pay for required transportation and travel expenses.

The program’s growth has occurred alongside widespread reports of fraud, labor violations, and worker exploitation. From 2018 through 2023, DOL investigated 2,857 H-2A employers. 84 percent uncovered at least one violation.

Though charging a fee for recruitment is illegal recruiters have charged workers thousands of dollars to secure H-2A jobs. Other schemes have collected money for jobs that do not exist. Documented on-farm violations range from wage theft and inadequate housing to retaliation and dangerous working conditions. Polaris’s Trafficking Hotline identified 2,841 H-2A visa holders who were victims of labor trafficking.

H-2A workers often live in remote camps with limited digital connectivity, Stacy Rhodes of the Agricultural Workers Advocacy Coalition (AWAC), tells Food Tank. This seclusion, coupled with language barriers, and limited access to legal assistance makes reporting abuses difficult.

Workers risk losing employment, immigration status, or future job opportunities if they assert their rights, Maggie Gray, Adelphi University Professor and Author of Labor and the Locavore: The Making of a Comprehensive Food Ethic, tells Food Tank. As a result, H-2A workers are unlikely to advocate for themselves.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reports that DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), tasked with federal enforcement, is “underfunded and understaffed,” with 800 WHD investigators monitoring 165 million workers. DOS describes oversight of temporary worker programs as “weak,” while EPI calls it “woefully inadequate.”

Stakeholders broadly agree that the H-2A program needs reform but differ over what those reforms should address. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union opposes any increase in the program, while some farmers, worried for their labor supply amid a labor shortage, have sought to expand H-2A. House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson, alongside organizations including the American Dairy Coalition, Dairy Business Milk Marketing Cooperative, and the CATO institute, have proposed legislation extending the program to jobs that aren’t seasonal or temporary, like dairy, cattle, and pork producers.

United Farm Workers (UFW) has taken DOL to court, asserting that a rule reducing wages for U.S. farm workers and H-2A workers is unlawful. Meanwhile, other organizations and farmers complain that the cost of H-2A wages, transportation, and housing are too expensive. Increasing fees have hit farmer’s margins in nearly every step of the H-2A filing process, the AFBF describes.

The Equitable Food Initiative (EFI) and UFW focus on changing labor practices within the existing system. EFI certifies farms that meet standards for worker treatment and safety, while UFW has supported policies that would allow H-2A workers greater freedom to change employers without losing legal status.

Others organizations advocate community action. “we need to see more and more communities organizing,” says Gerardo Reyes Chavez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Rather than settle, he continued, workers and organizers should “set examples with things that actually work through the market.”

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 Wikimedia

The post Food Tank Explains: H-2A Visa Program appeared first on Food Tank.

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, Food Tank will host “The Roots of Organic: From Soil to Shelf” at Climate Week NYC 2026, 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 all-day, invitation-only summit will celebrate the organic movement’s journey while charting its path forward. 

“This event is a timely opportunity to shine a light on the important connection and benefits of organic for positive climate impact,” said Matthew Dillon, Co-CEO of the Organic Trade Association. ”We expect attendees to gain inspiration and insight from the expertise of the farmers, scientists, and industry leaders who will be taking the stage—this will be a day to come together for knowledge sharing, problem-solving, and collective action to continue to drive the US$76 billion organic sector forward.” 

Panel discussions will explore science and innovation in organic practices, organic’s current successes and challenges, and how to move collectively with commitment, innovation, and inspiration into the future. 

Much of the conversation will focus on the farm, including farmers’ voices on stage to share their journey and what’s working. 

“’The Roots of Organic: from Soil to Shelf’ summit is an important event that gives people the opportunity to hear directly from farmers and brands of agricultural products just how climate changes are impacting their operations. But the good news is they will also hear how farming organically has shown to help combat climate change and what steps farmers and brands are taking now to be more resilient,” says Tracy Favre, Senior Vice President of Sustainability and Organic Strategies at Handsome Brook Farms. 

“The audience will leave with an understanding that while the sense of urgency is real, we do have the tools and knowledge to make agriculture a force for good in the fight against climate change.”

That farm-level work is also part of a broader effort to build resilience across the organic food system, from individual farms to the supply chain.

“Organic Valley is proving that climate solutions start on organic farms. Together with Food Tank at Climate Week NYC, we’re bringing leaders together to highlight innovative working models, like carbon insetting, that demonstrate climate action on farms and within the supply chain,” says Jessica Luhning, Senior Sustainability Manager at Organic Valley. “As the nation’s largest organic farmer-owned cooperative, we’re proving organic agriculture is a powerful solution for a more resilient food system.”

Throughout the day, speakers will explore how the original principles of organic can continue to evolve alongside a changing climate—and how community plays a role.

“While organic food and agriculture has an institutionalized framework that’s been around for several decades, it also has a movement surrounding it that transcends this framework,” says Jane Kuhn, Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing & Sustainability at Once Upon a Farm. “This summit is an important opportunity to convene around both the movement and the framework, reflecting together to celebrate accomplished impact, while also surfacing gaps and possibilities to inform where it goes next.”

For many, looking ahead also means returning to those principles that have defined the movement from the beginning and considering how they can shape a more resilient food system.

“Organic farming has always been about looking at the whole system, from soil health to financial sustainability for farmers,” says Britt Lundgren, Senior Director of Sustainability and Government Affairs at Stonyfield. “At Stonyfield, we’ve always believed that organic farming can help us overcome the challenges of climate change—both by reducing agriculture’s contribution to GHG emissions and by storing more carbon in the soil. This event is an opportunity to bring that whole conversation together, from what happens in the soil to what ultimately reaches consumers, and to look at what organic has taught us about building a more resilient food system for the future.” 

Where the movement goes next—a central theme of the summit—will consider that balance between honoring organic’s roots and growing its reach.

“At Amy’s, we’ve spent nearly four decades proving that organic food can grow and reach millions of families without losing sight of the values it was built on,” says Paul Schiefer, CEO of Amy’s Kitchen. “But for organic to have the impact we know it can, the entire movement has to keep pushing forward. I hope this summit challenges all of us to think bigger about how we make organic more accessible and impactful, while protecting the standards and principles that have made it meaningful in the first place.”

The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 9am with breakfast and live musical performances. An afternoon session will kick off with lunch at 1:30pm, and the evening programming will run from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, including networking opportunities. 

Speakers include Benjamin Bartley, Director of Responsible Procurement, UNFI; Alexis Bramley, Director of Strategic Projects, Organic Trade Association; Will Brinkerhoff, Soil Scientist, Chef, and Science Communicator; Marcia Brown, Food and Agriculture Reporter, POLITICO; Amy Bruch, Sixth-Generation Organic Farmer and President, Cyclone Farms; Taylor Clayton, Director of Global Impact and Responsible Sourcing, Adams Group; Beatriz Daim, Sustainability Specialist, Tradin Organic; Kathleen Davis, Producer, WNYC Studios’ Science Friday; Matthew Dillon, Co-CEO, Organic Trade Association; Abianne Falla, Founder, CatSpring Yaupon; Tracy Favre, Vice President of Sustainability, Live Operations, Handsome Brook Farms; Christopher Gergen, CEO, Regenerative Organic Alliance; David Gonthier, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky; Alison Grantham, President, Grow Well Consulting; Stephanie Grotta, Vice President of Responsible Sourcing & Sustainable Capabilities, Target; Chef Johanna Hellrigl, Chef-Owner, Ama Restaurant, Washington DC; Steven Jennings, Health Partnerships & Stakeholder Engagement Lead, Ahold Delhaize USA; Jane Kuhn, Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing & Sustainability, Once Upon a Farm; Annie Leeson, Co-Founder, AgriCarbon; Brandon Lombardi, Chief Legal Officer & Chief Sustainability Officer, Sprouts Farmers Market; Jessica Luhning, Senior Manager of Sustainability, Organic Valley; Britt Lundgren, Senior Director of Sustainability and Government Affairs, Stonyfield; Chef Joshua McFadden, James Beard Award-Winning Chef and Author; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Kousha Navidar, Host, WNYC and Co-host, Climate One; Shawna Nelson, CEO, Organic Valley; Chef Priyanka Naik, Chef, Author, TV Personality & Food Network Champion; Leah Penniman, Farmer, Author, and Food Justice Activist, Soul Fire Farms; Sandy Pfaff, Vice President of Media Relations, Organic Trade Association; Gwyneth Rampton, Vice President of Sustainability, Compass Group USA; Maria Rodale, Board Co-Chair, Rodale Institute; Paul Schiefer, CEO, Amy’s Kitchen; Amber Sciligo, Senior Director, The Organic Center; Suzanne Sengelmann, Chief Executive Officer, Lundberg Family Farms; Erin Silva, Professor of Organic and Sustainable Cropping Systems, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Katrina Staves, Executive Director, Organic Voices; Sarela Herrada, Co-Founder, SIMPLi; Annie Watson, Organic Dairy Farmer, Sheepscot Valley Farm and Stonyfield Producer; Jake Wedeberg, Organic Dairy Farmer, Compost Expert, and Participant in Carbon Insetting; Stefanie Wilbur, Farmer and Owner, Lazy Dog Farm; Nijia Zhou, Climate, Nature, and Supply Chain Standards Lead, Amazon Worldwide Grocery; and Duron Chavis, Urban Farmer and Food Justice Advocate, Founder and Director, Happily Natural Day and Founder, Sankofa Community Orchard.

“The Roots of Organic: From Soil to Shelf” will feature a special musical performances by Celia Hottenstein, Glinda in Wicked on Broadway, who will be joined by Ryan Fielding Garrett, a New York City-based composer, music director, orchestrator, and musician whose Broadway credits include Kinky Boots, Wicked, Back to the Future, The Notebook, and Mean Girls; Travis Taber, Fiyero in Wicked on Broadway, who will also be joined by Garrett; Jayke Workman, Broadway actor, singer, and dancer currently starring as Mary Sunshine in Chicago on Broadway, who will be joined by Cullen Curth, New York City-based pianist, music director, and conductor who recently made his Broadway conducting debut with Just in Time; Singer-Songwriter Amber Rubarth; and Singer-Songwriter Taylor Hurd.

This summit 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 Organic Agriculture Charts Its Future at Climate Week NYC appeared first on Food Tank.

On Monday evening, Sept. 21, Food Tank will host a food and agriculture film festival during Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with Kat Taylor, President of TomKat Foundation; Halter; The Henry Ford; The Rockefeller Foundation; and Groundswell.

The invitation-only festival will feature a screening of Food Tank’s first original documentary film, “Irish Farmers: A Love Story,” which follows three Irish farmers across three generations.

“Farmers are storytellers. There is a love story in every practice of agriculture, and as we face an increasingly mechanized world, stories coming from the heart is the path towards a more sustainable, prosperous, and empathetic future,” says Director Haven Worley.

“It is an honor to be part of a story bigger than ourselves and to come together in a festival that highlights farmers, advocates, artists, ranchers, and community members as the storytellers of a resilient climate future.” 

Through film and conversation with filmmakers, farmers, and food system leaders, the event will explore the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of agriculture while celebrating storytelling as a catalyst for education, connection, and action.

“We believe there is real opportunity for innovation in our food system, and we’re seeing it happen in communities across the country,” says Spence Medford, Senior Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer at The Henry Ford, a national cultural and educational institution that uses the stories of American innovation and ingenuity to inspire people to imagine a better future. 

The evening will kick off with a clip from “Farm to School Lunch Across America,” The Henry Ford’s film capturing a national school-supported agriculture initiative, which uses school food dollars to buy fresh, nutritious food from local and regional farmers and producers. “It means better food and better fuel for the next generation, while supporting farmers who are taking care of the land and creating a dependable market for what they grow,” says Medford. 

“Through our Farm to School Lunch Across America initiative and new documentary, we’re bringing people together and sharing the stories of the school meal leaders, farmers and chefs who are already showing us what’s possible.” 

This will be followed by a fireside chat with clips from “Language of the Land,” a film showing how Oklahoma ranchers Zach and Kacie Scherler-Abney embraced technology to achieve environmental and economic sustainability.

“For Zach and Kacie, what started as a personal health journey quickly became a soil health journey; a testament to their commitment to producing healthy and nutritious beef in harmony with the landscape they ranch on,” says Mikaele Ymker, Sustainability Lead at Halter. “Learning and mentorship are at the heart of Zach and Kacie’s ranching philosophy … We hope the audience will come away with an understanding of how ranchers are developing solutions that balance economics and ecology, without compromising their quality of life.”

Another discussion will feature clips from “Groundswell,” an award-winning environmental documentary following farmers, scientists, and Indigenous leaders who are rebuilding topsoil, restoring ecosystems, drawing down carbon, and fighting desertification across five continents.

“The films at this festival bring overdue visibility to the farmers and ranchers who feed us, regeneratively steward the soil, and are often the bedrock of local communities. We are bringing those stories to the fore and helping people see that agriculture writ large could be so much more than what currently ends up on grocery store shelves,” says Kat Taylor, President of TomKat Foundation.

“Regenerative agriculture, to us, is the largest delta solution to climate change, quelling up to 30-40% of global greenhouse gases, while re-sequestering 200 gigatons of carbon every decade in American acreage alone. I hope audiences leave as inspired as I have been by the glimpse these films give us into the way farmers and ranchers are already showing us what a new-old economy rooted in community, resilience, and care for the land and each other can look like.”

The evening’s final discussion will include clips from “Food 2050,” a documentary film narrated and executive produced by Academy Award winner Viola Davis that explores how to sustainably feed a projected global population of 10 billion people by the year 2050.

“The vast majority of films and books set in the future offer a dystopian nightmare – a world no one hopes becomes real. By giving such little creative effort to imagining the future we actually want, the hope we need to write a better tomorrow feels like it’s dwindling,” says Sara Farley, Regenerative School Meals Co-Lead and Vice President for the Food Team at The Rockefeller Foundation. 

“Food 2050 proves that when invited and empowered, communities are ready to put forward inspirational, transformational and totally feasible blueprints for the year 2050 that show we can live connected to food systems that are nourishing, regenerative and equitable.”

The event will begin at 6:30pm at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City, with food, drinks, and live musical performances. A reception will follow, with programming concluding at 9:45pm.

Speakers include Xiye Bastida, Climate Justice Activist, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Re-Earth Initiative; Sweta Chakraborty, CEO of North America, We Don’t Have Time; Mary Culler, President, Ford Philanthropy; Sara Farley, Regenerative School Meals Co-Lead and Vice President for the Food Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation; Spence Medford, Senior Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer, The Henry Ford; Helen Moore, VP of Commercial Strategy, Halter; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Kacie Scherler-Abney, Fifth-Generation Rancher, Scherler-Abney Land & Cattle; Zach Scherler-Abney, Rancher, Scherler-Abney Land & Cattle; Jennifer Sherman, Program Director, Alice Waters Institute; Kat Taylor, Founder, TomKat Ranch and TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation; Rebecca Harrell Tickell, Director and Producer, Groundswell; and Haven Worley, Director, Irish Farmers: A Love Story.

The Food and Agriculture Film Festival will also feature a special musical performance by Brandon Burks, a Broadway actor, singer, and dancer currently in the new show Midnight. He will be joined by Elijah Caldwell, an OBIE Award-winning actor, singer, pianist, and music director whose credits include A Strange Loop Off-Broadway and the national tour of Shucked.

This summit 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 Film Festival Highlights the Future of Agriculture appeared first on Food Tank.

You know those memories of childhood that catch you decades later when you are doing something entirely different, thinking about something entirely different? For me, one that frequently finds me is waking to the call of the vegetable pushcart walla while visiting my grandmother’s flat in Karachi.

Aloo-ooo, Py-azzzz, Tamatarrrr, Baiṅgan. Sabzi! Sabzi! Sabzi!

(Potato, onion, tomato, eggplant. Vegetables! Vegetables! Vegetables!)

Warm summer morning air filling the room, the fan turning overhead. Waking next to my sister, the two of us insisting on sleeping in my grandmother’s beautiful salwars that were probably not ready to be turned into pajamas. The sounds of traffic humming from the dusty streets below.

I could not see him, but he was ever present as his voice crisscrossed the neighborhood announcing fresh vegetables. And he always called out the price. His call made clear that price was part of the enticement. A good deal was passing by.

That unseen vegetable pushcart was a pocket of possibility.

Each day, Dadu, my grandmother, would sit with Sherbano, who worked in her home, and methodically go over what would be cooked. Dish by dish, they discussed who would be eating, what ingredients were still needed, the cost of the meal in relation to the week’s budget, and what else had been cooked that week. Sometimes Sherbano would double-check what remained from Juma Bazar (the Friday farmers market) or from the supermarket, where shelf-stable foreign goods like canned cheese were available.

Sherbano and my grandmother discussed what to look for when purchasing each vegetable: its appearance, size, texture, freshness, and aroma. Let’s not buy it if it’s not fragrant. The potatoes should be this size. Always the freshest. We’ll only know how many curry leaves and chilli peppers we need once the cooking starts. The aroma should pop.

Planning the day’s meals was a priority. Dadu and Sherbano held these discussions with seriousness, and occasionally argument, as each brought her own knowledge and skill to food procurement and meal preparation. These conversations brought out the most serious side of my grandmother. At most other times, there was always an excuse for a little fun, let’s paint the town red!

Sherbano returned with the day’s purchases to my grandmother’s tiny kitchen. There were a few pots. She sat on a low woven stool and cut vegetables on a cutting board on the ground. With her knowledge, skill, and labor, she transformed whole food ingredients into meals that brought joy. Meals that were festive and nourishing. Meals I long for.

That kitchen in my grandmother’s home was another pocket of possibility.

The vegetable pushcart walla was one of many who started around 3:00 a.m., purchasing vegetables from the Sabzi Mandi before dispersing across neighborhoods. Without a storefront, they helped keep fresh vegetables within reach. Across generations and geographies, mobile vendors have carried fruits, vegetables, grains, and more toward people in baskets, bundles, and pushcarts.

Most of us do not experience the food system in its entirety; we experience it through food environments. Food environments are the living confluences where climate, biodiversity, agriculture, markets, policy, culture, economics, nutrition, and health come together in our daily lives. Collectively, these relationships shape food availability, affordability, convenience, promotion, quality, and sustainability.

The Sabzi Mandi, Juma Bazar, supermarket, and vegetable pushcarts were all part of the built food environment my grandmother accessed. Built food environments extend from traditional markets and mobile vendors to supermarkets, restaurants, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and digital marketplaces. People also obtain food directly from wild and cultivated food environments, from forests, rivers, and coastlines to farms, fields, and home gardens.

I have delighted in co-creating frameworks, tools, metrics, and surveys to understand diverse food environments. What we define and characterize determines what we see and measure, and what we measure determines what we can manage. If we only measure food available in markets, we miss extraordinary pockets of food diversity in wild and cultivated food environments and the knowledge and relationships that make them accessible.

Food can be available but unaffordable. It can be affordable but poor quality, culturally irrelevant, or undesirable. Diverse foods can persist in a landscape while the knowledge to recognize, harvest, prepare, and value them disappears.

Food environments are dynamic. We are living through a profound global food-environment transition, with growing availability of ultra-processed and ready-to-eat foods and more food consumed away from home. These shifts bring convenience while distancing us from food knowledge and agency once practiced in our kitchens.

A pocket of possibility can shrink. It can also be expanded.

My grandmother’s kitchen reminds me that access to fresh and affordable ingredients was only part of what made those nourishing meals possible. Dadu had support. She and Sherbano brought knowledge, skill, labor, and time to making those meals, discerning quality, working within a budget, minimizing waste, and adjusting ingredients until the aroma popped. Nourishment requires an enabling environment inside the home, too. Today, many of our kitchens have vacancies in time, labor, knowledge, skills, and support.

But we are not going back to our grandmothers’ kitchens, nor the labor arrangements that helped make them possible. The opportunity is to carry the best of that knowledge and intention forward while finding new ways to fill some of the vacancies.

Policies can support mobile vendors in bringing fresh, affordable food closer to home. They can also help community gardens flourish, while hunting, fishing, and foraging can enhance food access. Food education can help navigate increasingly complex food and information landscapes. Where Dadu and Sherbano brought knowledge and collaboration to the meal, better food-quality data and emerging AI tools for meals can offer new forms of support. One possibility we are exploring is Swap It Smart, powered by data from The Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI).

The meal itself becomes another pocket of possibility.

Meals can heal. Evidence is growing that interventions centered on meals can improve diet and health. Providing convenient access to minimally processed meals improved dietary quality and mental health symptoms in a randomized controlled trial. Medically Tailored Meals can improve health outcomes and reduce hospitalizations and healthcare costs. Culinary medicine and cooking interventions can build knowledge and skills to prepare healthier foods. Universal school meals can improve children’s health at population scale, while school meals from regenerative agriculture extend those benefits to planetary health.

Across interventions and scales, the same fundamental possibility emerges: creating the enabling conditions and support for good food to become a nourishing meal.

As leaders and advocates gather in New York around the U.N. General Assembly and Climate Week, conversations about climate and health unfold at planetary scale. We do not have to invent every solution anew. Food environments are powerful levers because so much of the food system converges there. Some of these solutions have been moving through our streets for generations. Others are growing in home gardens. Some emerge from tiny kitchens, where what is available meets knowledge, skill, care, and imagination.

Bring good food within reach.

As we pursue planetary-scale solutions, some of the largest pockets of possibility may already be within reach.

From the dusty streets rises the familiar call.

Sabzi! Sabzi! Sabzi! (Vegetables! Vegetables! Vegetables!)

This essay is part of Food Tank’s Flourish Series: Food and Health from Molecules to Systems, authored by Selena Ahmed, exploring how food connects us to the living world while asking what it means to flourish. For more in the series, click here.

The post Op-Ed | Pockets of Possibility: From Food Environments to Nourishing Meals appeared first on Food Tank.

On Monday morning, Sept. 21, Food Tank will host “Solving Food Waste is a Key Solution to the Climate Crisis” at Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Food Planet Prize, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Restaurant Technologies, CookUnity, and Mill. 

Food waste is one of the world’s most overlooked climate challenges, and one of its greatest opportunities. The summit will explore how reducing food loss and waste can cut greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen food security, and build more resilient food systems at the city, state, and global levels. 

“Reducing food loss and waste is a powerful example of how a simple action can deliver multiple benefits: feeding more people, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, protecting nature and strengthening economies,” says Martin Krause, Director of the Climate Change Division at UNEP. “By changing how we value, consume, and manage food, we can drive a future where every resource matters, every meal is valued, and no food goes to waste.”

Tackling food waste, speakers say, will require action at multiple levels, from individual eaters’ choices to broader policy changes.

“The world needs an array of interventions from different parts of the food system, and food waste is an important piece of the puzzle,” says Emily Norford, Nominations Manager at Food Planet Prize. “We hope the event will yield a renewed motivation to take action, whether it’s changing individual behavior, supporting policy solutions, or joining forces with others.”

Across the United States, advocacy and research organizations are already working to put those solutions into practice: “This event will highlight a range of impactful food waste solutions already taking place across the country and inspire us in our push towards the goal of reducing food waste by 50 percent by 2030,” says Rebecca Riley, Managing Director of Food & Agriculture at NRDC.

Some of those efforts are focused on one of the most consequential destinations for discarded food: landfills.

“Keeping food waste out of landfills is one of the most immediate opportunities we have to make our food system more sustainable,” says Diana Geseking, Chief Legal Officer at Restaurant Technologies. “We help commercial kitchens reduce their waste and turn what remains into something valuable. We are excited to bring that perspective to this conversation and learn from others working across the food system.”

But speakers say reducing food waste is about more than what happens after food is discarded; it can also mean getting surplus food to people who need it.

“Food Tank’s event at Climate Week perfectly illustrates how deeply food is connected to many of the challenges the climate crisis has forced us to confront,” says María Bengochea, Director of Sustainability, Nutrition, and Standards at CookUnity. “For our team at CookUnity, contributing to the fight against food insecurity—by rescuing surplus food, working with our donation partners to support local communities, and preventing good food from becoming waste—is central to both our day-to-day operations and our mission to empower chefs to feed and nourish more people.”

Discussions on chef partnerships to reduce food waste, city and state food waste action, advancing a national policy agenda on food waste, and food waste action in food service and retail will explore how food waste is a problem that can be addressed at a global scale.

“For decades, we have treated food waste like it was inevitable, but it’s actually one of the most solvable climate problems that exist today,” says Matt Rogers, CEO of Mill. “If people walk away from this summit understanding that we can move the needle on this massive-scale, high-impact problem, that’s a win for the economy and for the planet.”

The event will be at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 9am with breakfast and live musical performances, followed by a reception until 12pm.

Speakers include María Bengochea, Director of Sustainability & Standards, CookUnity; Veleké Brown, CEO, E-RoadMap and Velloris, and Executive Director, E-RoadMap Corporation; U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski; U.S. Representative Maxine Dexter; Adalberto Maluf Filho, National Secretary for Urban Environment, Water Resources and Environmental Quality, Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change; Julie Gehrki, President, Walmart Foundation and Senior Vice President, Philanthropy, Walmart Inc.; Diana Geseking, Chief Legal Officer, Restaurant Technologies; Robert Jones, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, Industry Leadership, and Impact, The Culinary Institute of America; Matthew Jozwiak, Founder and CEO, Rethink Food; Madeline Keating, Senior Advocate, Nature, NRDC; Martin Krause, Director, Climate Change Division, UN Environment Programme (UNEP); Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Emily Norford, Nominations Manager, Food Planet Prize; Emily Peck, plant-based chef and holistic nutritionist; Lou Pieh, Head of Federal Affairs, Mill; Gwyneth Rampton, Vice President of Sustainability, Compass Group USA; U.S. Representative Andrea Salinas (D-OR); Tia Schwab, Senior Manager, U.S. Food Systems, C40 Cities; Jackie Suggitt, Senior Director of Waste & Circularity, Walmart; Sydney Thayer, Pollution Prevention Specialist, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality; and Jacob Wallace, Senior Reporter, Waste Dive.

“Solving Food Waste is a Key Solution to the Climate Crisis” will feature a special musical performance by Nathan Lucrezio, a Broadway actor, singer, dancer, and recording artist whose credits include Schmigadoon!, Pirates! The Penzance Musical, The Who’s Tommy, Diana, Aladdin, and Cinderella. He will be joined by Cullen Curth, New York City-based pianist, music director, and conductor who recently made his Broadway conducting debut with Just in Time.

This summit 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 Turning Food Waste Into Climate Action appeared first on Food Tank.

On Tuesday evening, Sept. 22, Food Tank will host “People-Focused. Climate-Friendly. Food-Forward New York City” at Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with the New York City Mayor’s Office, Strong Roots, and Support + Feed. The summit will explore how New York City’s food future can best promote the health of people and planet. 

“We all rely on a complex food system in order to eat, counting on the network of those who harvest crops, ship food into our city, sell groceries, deliver takeout, and cook meals,” says Siddhartha Sanchez, Executive Director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. “When climate change disrupts our food system, strengthening those relationships creates resilience and helps communities stay fed.”

Food systems are not all created equal—or equitably—and the solution is more inclusion on and off the menu. The summit will investigate how equity and inclusivity are foundational to a food system that promotes the health of people and the planet, featuring city agencies pioneering innovative, nutritious, delicious meal programs that support their unique populations’ well-being and reflect their cultures. 

“This Climate Week, we’re elevating the voices of people across City agencies who are championing better ways to serve New Yorkers. Understanding the power of food to nourish our bodies, connect us to our communities, and contribute to climate solutions, together we’re realizing our shared vision for a healthy and sustainable food system—designed by and for New Yorkers,” says Sanchez.

The evening will include culinary student spotlights, fireside chats with food policy leaders, conversations about food and climate justice, and a food stories art exhibition. 

Discussions will also explore the power of plants in a more nutritious and equitable food system.

“For a week that puts climate at the center of the conversation, we believe the role food, and particularly the role vegetables can play in building a more climate-friendly food system needs to be firmly on the table too,” says Emma Curtis, Managing Director at Strong Roots, a plant-based frozen foods company. “At Strong Roots, we believe food can be better. We are in the business of making vegetables exciting and constantly innovating to inspire people to eat more of them, more often. We are frozen and veg-based not because we think it’s cool but because we believe it’s the right thing to do.”

Strong Roots and Support + Feed, a non-profit organization that addresses food insecurity and the climate crisis by promoting plant-based diets, are together donating 6,200 meals and pantry items to the local community in New York City during Climate Week.

“We’re excited to be joined by our long-term community partners and friends at Support + Feed, who are doing incredible work across local communities—providing plant-based meals, pantry items, education, and redistributing rescued produce to those who need it most, while highlighting the important connection between our plate and personal and planetary health,” says Curtis. 

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

Confirmed speakers include Maggie Baird, Founder and President, Support + Feed; Emma Curtis, Managing Director, Strong Roots; Shyria Donawa, Program Specialist, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; Ora Kemp, Senior Policy Advisor, New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy; Kevin Nakagawa, Community Organizer and Food Stories Lead, Open Doors; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Norman Priester, Executive Director, Nutrition Service Division, NYC Department of Correction; and Siddhartha Sanchez, Executive Director, New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy.

“People-Focused. Climate-Friendly. Food-Forward New York City” will feature a special musical performance by Kaitlyn Davidson, a Broadway actor and singer currently appearing as Helen Pritt in Schmigadoon!, with previous Broadway credits including Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella and Nice Work If You Can Get It. She will be joined by 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.

This summit 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 Climate Week Puts New York City’s Food Future on the Menu appeared first on Food Tank.

A recent report from Healthy Eating Research (HER) recommends a new definition for ultra-processed foods (UPFs) to create effective food policy. They also highlight policy opportunities to limit their consumption. The panel hoped the report can aid federal agencies as they work toward an official UPF definition.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently submitted the first federal definition of UPFs for final review after considering input from “thousands of stakeholders, including industry, consumer organizations, researchers, and members of the public,” according to a press release from HHS. It did not provide the proposed definition.

The HER report considers UPFs as products with at least one cosmetic additive to increase palatability or ingredient of non-culinary use not found in a home kitchen, like high fructose corn syrup. 

The panel’s definition is based on the Nova food classification system, developed by researchers at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. While the Nova system provides a comprehensive framework for studying UPFs in a research setting, it is difficult to employ operationally for policymaking, explains Jim Krieger, the panel co-chair and Executive Director of Healthy Food America.

By creating a policy-oriented definition, government agencies can easily and consistently identify UPFs by referencing a comprehensive list of UPF ingredient markers. The report suggests that a federal agency should monitor the constantly changing food supply and update the list with additional ingredients regularly. Used alongside existing food evaluation measures, these approaches account for a product’s level of processing, nutrient content, and ingredients.

UPFs are typically processed foods with several ingredients, such as sodas, candy, flavored chips, and breakfast cereals, designed to be shelf-stable, sensorily appealing, marketable, and convenient. More than half of the calories that Americans consume come from UPFs– one of the highest levels of consumption in the world, according to the report.

“Americans face an unprecedented burden of diet-related disease, and the dominance of ultra-processed foods is a major contributor,” Dariush Mozaffarian, HER panel member and Director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, tells Food Tank.

Studies including those published in The BMJ and the British Journal of Nutrition, link UPF consumption with an increased risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and mental health disorders. These findings have raised concerns among policymakers and government agencies, including the current administration, according to the report.

Using their definition, the panel recommends five policies that it believes are likely to be implemented by the federal government and effective in reducing UPF consumption in America. “The goal is not to eliminate all processed foods, but to shift the food system toward healthier formulations and defaults that make it easier, not harder, for people to eat well,” says Mozaffarian.

Their first recommendation is to tax select UPFs to increase their retail price and reduce their sales and consumption. Products would be chosen based on studies linking them to negative health outcomes, including sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meats. 

The panelists do not recommend taxing all UPFs, as it would disproportionately affect low-income consumers. They suggest that UPF tax revenues be invested into programming that benefits those disproportionately affected by them, such as healthy eating programs.

“If we raise prices on these products without simultaneously improving access to affordable, minimally processed foods, we risk worsening food insecurity,” Emily Broad Leib, panel member and Director of the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, tells Food Tank.

The report also calls on the government to restrict the procurement of UPFs in institutional settings, including schools, early childhood education centers, hospitals, and jails. 

Another policy recommendation aims to decrease demand for UPFs through funding counter marketing campaigns. Companies that produce UPFs heavily market their products, especially towards children. The panelists argue counter marketing campaigns can educate the public about the health risks of UPFs and point to the Truth Initiative anti-tobacco campaign as a model.

The report also proposes the inclusion of a limit on UPF intake within the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). While the 2025-2030 DGA suggests limiting highly processed foods, future guidelines should outline a specific upper limit.

UPF labels on the front of food packages can also be useful, the panel says. By indicating a product is ultra-processed, it may deter eaters from buying it. They acknowledge, however, that these might amplify health disparities among non-English speakers who have more trouble understanding the label. Dr. Krieger suggests that bilingual labeling may mitigate this issue.

The panel believes that the government’s attempt to regulate UPF consumption will positively impact public health. But they expect pushback from manufacturers. “Industry has a lot of influence on this administration… and they are totally geared up and lobbying hard against anything to regulate UPFs,” Dr. Krieger tells Food Tank.

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 Osarugue Igbinoba, Unsplash

The post Defining Ultra-Processed Foods: From Evidence to Action appeared first on Food Tank.

A version of this piece was featured in Food Tank’s newsletter, released weekly on Thursdays. To make sure it lands straight in your inbox and to be among the first to receive it, subscribe now by clicking here.

Buckle up: We’re on the road to a better food system! This journey will take us to places including Türkiye later this year for COP31, the United Nations climate change conference, but first, we’re stopping in New York City for Climate Week.

As always, I feel guided by the solutions Food Tank sees on the ground and the farmers we learn from every day. I firmly believe that our path toward food systems transformation is illuminated by stories of hope and success from communities around the globe—and that sharing these stories is one of the most powerful ways we can fuel greater change.

As we gear up for Climate Week, we’re spending this week and next week breaking down solutions that should remain top-of-mind no matter where in the food system you find yourself: Not only the initiatives that capture the most headlines or have the most name-recognition, but the steps that will truly make change at the scale we desperately need.

Find out more about our amazing lineup for Climate Week NYC—featuring more than 225 luminary speakers and performers from September 20 to 25—by CLICKING HERE. And all 13 of our Summits are being livestreamed, so you can tune in from wherever you live!

Here’s this week’s crop of six solutions:

Acting At The Speed of Crisis

We’ve spent too long being caught off-guard by the cascading crises brought on by climate change. We need to be proactive, not reactive. I’m fascinated by a new public-private initiative called RAAPID, or the “Remote-sensing Agricultural Assessments for Policy Impact and Decision-making initiative.” RAAPID aims to bring together satellite data, AI analytics and more to help address urgent food system disruptions. This kind of quick technological creativity is what we need to see!

“With the frequency and intensity of global conflict, climate hazards, and other stressors rapidly increasing, building a robust monitoring mechanism for food shocks is as essential as ever,” says Inbal Becker-Reshef, the Managing Director of the Microsoft AI for Good Lab, the Founder & Co-Director of NASA Harvest, and the Founder of RAAPID.

Supporting The Next Generation Of Farmers 

We’re facing a massive generational transition in agriculture. The average age of farmers continues to rise—meaning that, as today’s farmers get older and older, we’re not doing enough to strengthen the generation that’s set to inherit the food system.

“The new generation is stepping into agriculture because they see themselves as the climate leaders, environmental changemakers and problem solvers to some of our biggest environmental and food system challenges,” says Michelle Hughes, Executive Director of the National Young Farmers Coalition.

We need to see more resources, like the Next Generation Farmer Fund announced last month, dedicated to helping younger farmers access resources and technical assistance to build their businesses, sustainably steward their lands, and nourish their communities.

Building Climate Resilience One Farm At A Time

The American Farmland Trust’s Beef Grazing Network is helping hundreds of beef cattle producers transition to more economically and environmentally resilient operations.

“Sustainable grazing systems can create value for producers, communities, and the land,” says Bianca Moebius-Clune, AFT’s Climate and Soil Health Director. “That creates economic resilience through opportunities for price premiums. It also advances soil health and the many co-benefits of healthy soils. These outcomes build more resilient supply-chains and stronger rural economies.”

Involving Mission-Driven Brands In Action

The private sector has enormous power. Just as we must call out counterproductive steps in the food industry, we also can harness partnerships with businesses whose values are aligned with ours: They can push their peers to improve, too. Technology that brings greater transparency and traceability to supply chains can help stop deforestation and curb overfishing.

As Mark Kaplan, Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer at Wholechain, says: “Traceability expands market access for small-scale producers. If producers can prove that they are aligned with global standards for sustainability and safety, they meet a requirement the international market is increasingly asking for.”

Solving Food Waste via Circular Economies

There are countless ways we can solve the problem of excessive food loss and waste, and, in turn, myriad other challenges that would be solved by doing so—a perfect encapsulation of the idea of circular economies. Let’s look at Brazil: In 2024, the country launched its first National Circular Economy Strategy. Last year, they celebrated the opening of the first organic waste segregation and composting facility, which works to reduce methane emissions, create green jobs, and strengthen the local economy.

“Climate change is very real in Brazil. … And a circular economy is one of the most important ways to reduce emissions, transform our economy, and create the jobs and opportunities of the sustainable future we all need,” says Adalberto Maluf Filho, the National Secretary for Urban Environment, Water Resources and Environmental Quality, within Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.

Harnessing Local Policy Power To Drive Change

When we talk about food policy, we cannot overlook the immense power that city governments have to make urban food systems into agents of climate transformation. New York City’s Food and Climate Strategy is driving climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience by examining everything from dietary shifts to food waste to resilience to climate shocks—all while improving food and nutrition security.

With the strategy, “we are nurturing healthier families, cultivating a more resilient environment, and building a thriving, equitable food future,” says Ora Kemp, Senior Policy Advisor in the NYC Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. “Every sustainable meal served, every ton of waste diverted, and every resilient supply chain strengthened is a step toward healing our communities and our planet.”

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 Ana Jovanovski, Unsplash

The post These Solutions Are a Roadmap to a Stronger Food System, Part I appeared first on Food Tank.

On Tuesday morning, Sept. 22, Food Tank and the American Farmland Trust will host “Thriving Farms and Ranches” at Climate Week NYC 2026. The summit will celebrate farmers, policymakers, and innovators who are working to build a stronger future for farms and ranches.

“Farmers and ranchers are leading the way toward a more resilient future,” says Joy O’Shaughnessy, Vice President of Communications at American Farmland Trust. “This summit will showcase the solutions, partnerships, and opportunities helping farms and ranches thrive. We hope attendees leave inspired by the people and solutions shaping the future of agriculture.”

From strengthening agricultural resilience and supporting producers to protecting working lands and expanding economic opportunity, discussions will explore solutions that empower farmers and ranchers while building a more sustainable and secure food system for future generations.

Topics include the International Year of the Woman Farmer, farmland access for a new generation, state policies accelerating conservation practices, how farm-to-school programs support farmers, regenerative grazing and reshaping the beef supply chain, and teaching the next generation of eaters.

The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 9am with breakfast and live musical performances, followed by a reception until 12:30pm.

Confirmed speakers include Hillary Barile, Owner, Rabbit Hill Farms; Amanda Beal, Commissioner, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry; John Chester, FarmLore Films; Oliver English, Co-Founder and CEO, Common Table Creative; Simon English, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Common Table Creative; Heidi Exline, New York & New Jersey Deputy Director, American Farmland Trust; Tim Fink, Vice President of Policy, American Farmland Trust; Olivia Fuller, Fourth-Generation Farmer, Fuller Acres; Dominick Grant, Partner and Managing Director, Dirt Capital Partners; Will Harris, Owner, White Oak Pastures; Brooks Lamb, Director of Food Systems and Agriculture Policy, Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator; Caitlin Leibert, Global Head of Sustainability, Amazon Worldwide Grocery; Bianca Moebius-Clune, PhD, Climate and Soil Health Director, American Farmland Trust; Jenny Lester Moffitt, Vice President of Farmland Protection and Strategic Priorities, American Farmland Trust; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Heather Oppel, Senior Climate Manager, General Mills; John Piotti, President and CEO, American Farmland Trust; Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture; Deydra Steans, Manager, S3 Legacy Ranch; Kat Taylor, President, TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation; and Jeff Tkach, CEO, Rodale Institute.

“Nourishing the Future” will feature a special musical performance by Madison Claire Parks, a Broadway actor and singer who recently completed nearly two years as the Glinda understudy on the Wicked National Tour. She will be joined by Broadway Music Director Noah Turner.

This summit 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 At Climate Week NYC, Farmers Look Toward a Stronger Future appeared first on Food Tank.

For Paula Swaner Sargetakis, co-owner of Frog Bench Farms in Salt Lake City, Utah, farming began with curiosity. She grew up on her family’s ranch, spending countless hours exploring the natural world. The first time she saw tree frogs, she recalls falling in love with the animals and collecting them in a bucket with leaves, rocks, and water to take home.

“There were no frogs left in the pot by the time we got home, because there was no lid on the pot,” says Sargetakis, joking that “we did have to get rid of that car.” Experiences like this, and generations of family gardeners before her, planted the seeds for what would become a career in farming.

Today, Sargetakis and her husband co-own Frog Bench Farms—a name inspired in part by her lifelong love of frogs. Using regenerative practices adapted to an urban setting, the small, 1.5-acre farm grows produce for local markets, community programs, and 22 restaurants in the Salt Lake City area.

When Sargetakis and her husband searched for land to build a farm, they looked near schools, knowing they wanted their farm to also serve as a classroom to teach students where their food comes from.

“They’re always surprised that there’s a farm right next door,” says Sargetakis. “But there’s joy in it, and they will ask questions, and they learn.”

When children visit, they are sometimes very nervous to taste unfamiliar vegetables like microgreens, she adds. But like in her own childhood, curiosity usually wins, “and most of them like it.”

Alongside education, reducing waste is central to Sargetakis’s work at Frog Bench Farms: “Everything we grow on site, we don’t waste anything.”

The farm donates surplus produce to the University of Utah’s student pantry and the Utah Food Bank. Crops that aren’t sold fresh are made into teas and other value-added products, while visitors learn how to preserve food using affordable tools available at local hardware stores.

That philosophy reflects Sargetakis’ broader understanding of sustainability—not simply protecting natural resources but strengthening local food systems and sharing knowledge. At the farm, she collects water, sources ingredients locally for value-added products whenever possible, and continually looks for ways to keep resources circulating within the community.

Running a small farm, however, comes with difficult financial realities. Frog Bench Farms is committed to paying employees a living wage, even though doing so adds another layer of economic pressure to an already challenging business.

“You don’t make money farming, you make it in other sides of the product,” says Sargetakis.

Sargetakis says diversification, education, and community partnerships make it possible to continue farming while staying true to the farm’s values. Ultimately, though, she hopes more people come to understand what farming truly requires, and why it matters.

“I’m hoping one day… [that] people understand and appreciate the hard work that goes into farming and how much fun we have doing it,” says Sargetakis.

On a small urban farm surrounded by classrooms and city streets, Sargetakis aims to show that agriculture doesn’t need large acreage to make a lasting impact. For her, all it takes is an acre and a half, a handful of curious students, and someone willing to keep getting their hands in the dirt.

This article is part of Food Tank’s ongoing Farmer Friday series, produced in partnership with Niman Ranch, a champion for independent U.S. family farmers. The series highlights the stories of farmers working toward a more sustainable, equitable food system. Niman Ranch partners with over 500 small-scale U.S. family farmers and is committed to preserving rural agricultural communities and their way of life.

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 Paula Swaner Sargetakis

The post Growing Food, Community, and Curiosity in Salt Lake City appeared first on Food Tank.

In his latest book Abiding Hunger: An American Paradox, author and journalist Roger Thurow asks why hunger persists in the world’s wealthiest country.

“Throughout our history, we’ve abided hunger,” Thurow tells Food Tank. “It’s essentially become part of our national fabric, our national character. We’ve accepted it. We tolerate it. We’ve grown comfortable with it. It’s a stain on our collective conscience.”

The book had been on Thurow’s mind for years. As a foreign correspondent, he spent decades reporting on hunger and famine around the world. But he knew he wanted to report on what was happening at home, in a country that instinctively sweeps the crisis aside.

The United States “deploys the most efficient commercial agriculture system and the most productive farms and farmers the world has ever known,” Thurow writes. Yet the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that nearly 48 million people live in food insecure households. And many of the counties facing the highest levels of hunger lie in regions with the richest soils.

Abiding Hunger explores how this came to be, going back to the starvation endured in colonial Jamestown. From there it looks at how hunger was allowed to persist, from the weaponization of food during the genocide of Indigenous communities to the effects of systemic discrimination Black farmers have faced from the USDA.

The second half of the book brings readers closer to the present, exploring the repercussions of COVID-19.  Thurow then turns to the impacts of the Trump-Vance Administration’s policies and funding cuts, which have deepened the country’s hunger crisis. 

“You can draw a line through all this history through [Hurricane] Katrina, through COVID, through today and see how our history of injustice, inequality, inequity bears today and manifests in this abiding hunger that we have in America,” Thurow tells Food Tank.

Today, lines at food pantries are already longer than ever as millions of families grapple with the recent loss of nutrition assistance benefits. And Thurow worries this is just the beginning.

He argues that this reality should inspire horror, but it should also spur action. And as the midterm elections approach, he sees an opportunity. “It should be that every person who cares about this—and hopefully that’s all of us—doesn’t allow any encounter with a candidate to end without somebody asking: What are you doing about this hunger issue in this country?”

Listen to the full conversation with Roger Thurow on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” to hear about the smallholder farmers that bear the brunt of this crisis, the politicization of these issues, and the small family farmers giving him hope.

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 Roger Starnes Sr, Unsplash

The post ‘Abiding Hunger’ Examines the Paradox of Hunger in America appeared first on Food Tank.