The University of Guelph’s Arrell Food Institute is hosting an inaugural Arrell Food Summit this Tuesday, May 22 – Wednesday, May 23 at the University of Guelph, with the final day of the Summit and the Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards Gala to follow at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto on Thursday, May 24.
The Summit will be host to a number of high-profile speakers discussing their influential research in sustainability, innovation and the future of food.
“From policy that will affect all Canadians to the latest in soil science, all of the sessions will cover issues that will impact farmers and those working in the food and agriculture industry now and in the future,” Alison Duncan, Co-Chair of the Summit, tells us. “The Summit speakers will bring ideas for the big challenges like lack of supply chain transparency and systemic food waste, as well as encourage participants to contribute their own insights on how innovation can help tackle these food problems.”
The Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards Gala in Toronto will then celebrate some significant contributions made toward building a more sustainable, nutritious global food system, particularly as the population is set to exceed 9 billion people by 2050.
The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, will speak at the awards dinner, where the two recipients, Solidaridad and Dr. Samuel S. Myers, will each receive $100,000 in recognition of their achievements.
“Each of the award winners’ work is especially impactful because they considered the challenge from a new angle and used innovative approaches to find solutions,” explains Duncan.
“Solidaridad Network led the way for fair trade certification but has continuously evolved and is now an international network allowing for solutions to be discovered at the local level while supporting access to global opportunities. Dr. Myers’ work is groundbreaking because it brings several disciplines together to consider how human and planet well-being are linked. This holistic perspective allows for questions and answers to emerge that may never have been considered before.”
For more on the Summit and registration, visit the Arrell Food Institute website here.