Registration is open and the early bird discount ends on 10 February 2017.
The conference brings together an impressive line-up of speakers, from leading global agrifood companies, academic institutions and NGOs. They will examine what it takes to create innovative and sustainable supply chains, support new product development and increase profits in rapidly changing business environments.
Speakers will share their experiences from companies such as Costco, Bunge, Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, Alibaba, Woolf Farming and Processing and more. Universities including UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Iowa State University, Michigan State University, Rutgers University, University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover and Wageningen University will also be represented.
Sather Tower or The Campanile at UC Berkeley. For nearly 150 years, the University has excelled in environmental research and leadership, integrating biological, ecological, economic and social science perspectives.
The future of sustainable supply chains
With practical case studies, discussions and networking sessions, the three-day programme focuses on innovation in the upstream, midstream and downstream segments of agrifood supply chains, in both developed markets and emerging economies. Drawing from experiences with commodities such as grains, horticulture, livestock, seafood, cocoa and sugar, the programme will also examine the role of new technologies including robotics and gene-editing, financial innovation, big data, agricultural inputs, public-private partnerships and policy in supply chain and product innovation.
Solidaridad will be contributing significantly at the event. Sebastian Teunissen, Solidaridad North America’s managing director, will draw on Solidaridad’s decades of experience to outline approaches to creating fair and sustainable supply chains. Madhyama Subramanian, programme manager for Solidaridad North America, will highlight her research of California’s drought for a panel on innovation in water conservation.
Solidaridad, the International Finance Corporation, and four companies began the largest global sugarcane project in 2012, targeting 229,000 growers who supply 14 mills.
International brands share solutions
The programme is organized in collaboration with Germany's Food Industry Association (Die Lebensmittelwirtschaft), the Giannini Foundation and Mars, Inc.
The conference will have much to offer for leaders and representatives from business, academia, multilateral organizations and NGOs, facilitating a vibrant exchange of ideas and insights.
Here is what a participant of the 2016 conference had to say:
As seasoned business executives working on a food start-up, this programme gave us a framework to create an effective approach for our value proposition. We turned our ideas into a business that stood out to investors, thanks to the experts and industry leaders we met during the programme.
Registration is open and the early bird discount ends on 10 February 2017.
For full conference information, visit the conference website.