BERKELEY, CA-- On April 18 and 19, 2018, the College of Natural Resources, at the University of California, Berkeley, in collaboration with Solidaridad North America, will hold its third annual training workshop on “Innovation in Agrifood Supply Chains: People-Planet-Profitability.” The program will examine innovation in the agrifood sector, from business, social and environmental perspectives.

The global food and beverage industry is facing some of the most pressing global challenges of our times including water scarcity, resource depletion, food insecurity and climate change. Companies face risks in securing quality inputs for their business, even as they need to adapt to rapidly changing market preferences. Growing attention, by consumers and investors, to food safety, transparency and sustainability is adding a new dynamic to the industry. Employing millions people globally, the agrifood sector is also addressing challenges such as poor labor practices and human rights issues.

Creating a more sustainable food production and consumption system will require holistic solutions that encompass the entire supply chain. Innovation is key to unleashing the transformative potential of supply chains, to increase profitability, sustainability and social wellbeing.

The two-day workshop that will bring together business leaders, practitioners, researchers and innovators to present the best of theory and practice in supply chain innovation and sustainability. The sessions will offer concepts, strategies and practical case studies. The agenda also includes hands-on case working sessions to facilitate shared problem-solving and consolidation of concepts covered in the program. A certificate of completion from the University of California, Berkeley, will also be provided at the end of the program. 

This training is targeted at emerging and senior leaders, scholars, policy makers and professionals associated with the agrifood industry. Members of the non-profit and public sectors who are engaged with the sector will also greatly benefit from the program.

The program will be led by Dr. David Zilberman, Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Berkeley and Dr. Tom Reardon, Professor, Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University. The workshop has been developed together with Solidaridad North America, an international non-profit organization with over 45 years of experience in facilitating the development of socially responsible, environmentally sound, and economically viable commodity supply chains.

A stellar international lineup from industry, academia, civil society, and government will be coming together as speakers. Speakers from international corporations, US-based companies and entrepreneurs will represent the business sector. These will include serial entrepreneur John Scharffenberger, Stewart Lindsay of global agribusiness Bunge, Dennis Hoover, formerly of Costco and presently co-founder of the Organic Coup, Kannan Pashupathy of Google, Naty Barak of drip irrigation pioneer Netafim and others.

Nico Roozen, executive director of the Solidaridad Network, Paul Rice, CEO of Fair Trade USA and others representing international organizations will discuss civil society interests in developing resilient agrifood supply chains.

Bolstering the programme with “real-world” academic perspectives, Michael Boland and Marc Bellemare of the University of Minnesota, Julia Christensen Hughes from the University of Guelph, Max Auffhammer from UC Berkeley and others will present insights from their work with universities, companies and global organizations such as the World Bank. The agenda also includes a session on the emergent bioeconomy and its linkages with agrifood supply chains, especially given UC Berkeley’s pioneering advances in this field. Speakers will be addressing topics such as gene editing, intellectual property and technology transfer in agriculture, and human health.

The program is being organized by the International and Executive Programs at the College of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley and Solidaridad North America. It is part of the Global Food Summit, Germany and is supported by the University of Guelph, Canada; the Giannini Foundation, California; Michigan State University; the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); the UC Davis World Food Center; Mars, Incorporated; and the Energy Biosciences Institute.

For more information on the program, registrations and price discounts, view the program website. Official registration is closed. For any inquiry, please contact iep@berkeley.edu.

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