{"id":57256,"date":"2025-12-11T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodtank.com\/?p=57256"},"modified":"2025-12-10T00:25:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T06:25:24","slug":"food-systems-transformation-will-be-powered-by-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodtank.com\/news\/2025\/12\/food-systems-transformation-will-be-powered-by-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Systems Transformation in 2026 Will Be Powered by People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout this year, whether I\u2019ve found myself in some of the world\u2019s largest cities or small farming communities in Ethiopia and Guatemala, one thing is clear:\u00a0We achieve meaningful food system transformation one person at a time.<\/p>\n

The kind of systemic transformation\u00a0we need to see is made possible by meaningful relationships between people, where we make decisions with other people\u2019s well-being in mind. It\u2019s made possible by broad societal collaboration between individuals, where we can break down silos and share knowledge.<\/p>\n

This is certainly true here at Food Tank! As an organization powered by grassroots support from members around the globe, everything we do is made possible by you.<\/p>\n

THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, to the community of members who have helped us uplift food system solutions all year long. If you\u2019re not yet a member, I hope you\u2019ll consider joining us by going to\u00a0foodtank.com\/join<\/a>. Here\u2019s a taste of what we\u2019ve been able to do over the past year thanks to our global family of members:<\/p>\n

In 2025, Food Tank has celebrated the intersection of food and the arts in major ways. During Summits at the\u00a0Sundance Film Festival\u00a0in Park City, UT, and\u00a0SXSW\u00a0in Austin, TX, creative folks like chefs, filmmakers, farmers, advocates, and more convened to shine a spotlight on the power of environmental storytelling.<\/p>\n

And at\u00a0Climate Week NYC, each of our unprecedented 15 packed-house Summits began with a performance from Broadway stars\u2014which injected much-needed beauty and hope into urgent discussions of climate action! We also staged a workshop reading of \u201cCatalyst Coffee,\u201d an original musical about labor organizing in the food service industry.<\/p>\n

We were honored to bring success stories both to food-focused events\u2014including\u00a0Stop Food Waste Day, the annual\u00a0National Food is Medicine Summit, and by hosting\u00a0the official North America World Food Day celebration\u2014and to discussions across disciplines. At symposiums around the world focusing on wellness, social justice, legal studies, and more, we showcased how food systems can connect the dots between unexpected and complex topics.<\/p>\n

We also continued bringing food policy conversations directly to the places they matter most. In May, we headed to Washington, D.C., for\u00a0a Capitol Hill luncheon event on how Food is Medicine can transform healthcare, convened the inaugural\u00a0Food and Agriculture Policy Summit\u00a0in October, and returned just yesterday ago\u00a0for\u00a0a luncheon exploring ultra-processed foods.<\/p>\n

On the global scale, Food Tank brought nuanced discussions of food systems and policy to the U.K. for\u00a0London Climate Action Week, to Ethiopia for the\u00a0UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake, and to Brazil for\u00a0COP30, the landmark UN Climate Change Conference. There, we organized a robust lineup of programming to engage agricultural ministers, negotiators, farmers, climate journalists, civil society and business leaders, funders, and more to ensure that these decision-makers recognize the importance of food and agriculture action.<\/p>\n

In addition, we have also continued to\u00a0publish daily articles, deliver this\u00a0newsletter straight to your inbox, and release\u00a0weekly episodes of our podcast \u201cFood Talk with Dani Nierenberg.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no food system without the individual farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, food processors, factory workers, packagers, truck drivers, seed savers, chefs, business owners, food justice advocates, and countless other hardworking, passionate folks up and down the food chain.\u00a0It\u2019s also no exaggeration to say that Food Tank wouldn\u2019t be Food Tank without each and every Food Tanker like you!<\/p>\n

Food Tank members receive exclusive access to Food Tank Summits, even when they are sold out to the public; invitations to special virtual members-only discussions with food system luminaries; and other tokens of our appreciation throughout the year. Your support also means that\u00a0we can continue to make most of our programming completely free to attend\u00a0and livestream these events for our global audience. I hope you\u2019ll take a moment to check out our accessible membership options\u00a0HERE<\/a>\u00a0to launch or boost your support.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Kemper, Unsplash<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The kind of systemic transformation\u00a0we need to see is made possible by meaningful relationships between people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":57270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[888,878,915,306],"tags":[7836,8897,1934,1134,976,6239,9657,10568,8653,2138,983,8615],"class_list":["post-57256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-food-tank","category-food-tank-lists","category-policy-and-organizing","tag-arts","tag-capitol-hill","tag-culture","tag-events","tag-food-policy","tag-food-tank-member","tag-food-tank-newsletter","tag-food-tank-summits","tag-play","tag-podcast","tag-research","tag-theater"],"yoast_head":"\nFood Systems Transformation in 2026 Will Be Powered by People – Food Tank<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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