A Note from the Director
 

It has been a busy fall semester at the University of Minnesota and especially in The Food Industry Center. In this newsletter you will read more about our fall activities. Soon I can report that I have visited with all of our Sponsoring Members which is something I wanted to accomplish during my first six months. And, I have visited with almost every CFANS club regarding our Student Affiliates program. Finally, the Food Marketing Economics course taught by Professor Senauer had a full enrollment. This course is an important class for CFANS students interested in the food industry.

As part of our developing Student Affiliates program, we plan to establish a Twin Cities Food Price Index administered by students who will visit area grocery stores and record prices on a predetermined cart of groceries. Their price data will be recorded in an index format to help track changing food prices and will be a good learning experience for students. And starting in 2012, the Center will be adding a student worker to its staff. This spring we have several more luncheon events planned for our students, staff, and stakeholders and are working to schedule several plant and headquarter tours for our students. Please visit our Events web page or sign up for our Events email distribution list to learn of upcoming events.

Our graduate students are continuing valuable work on industry issues. Brendan Cooper is working with me to compare corporate social responsibility activities across a wide variety of food industry firms, revealing the breadth of sustainability activities firms are currently undertaking. Corey Risch is researching corporate culture with regard to safety. While this is tangential to TFIC, it has been interesting to look at company policies regarding cell phone use, policies while driving, hands free technology, and similar policies. The research says that a person’s attitude towards safety changes daily or even hourly depending upon personal issues, distractions, and similar activities. Greater questions have emerged asking how to build a corporate culture where personal habits will override unsafe distractions and other cultural issues regarding collaboration and relationships with other firms.

Thank you for your continued support of The Food Industry Center and I hope to see you in the spring semester.

Michael Boland 

Discussing the Food Future

These days, there is much interest and energy around food, the food system, and how if impacts our everyday lives. This energy was obvious on October 7th at the 2011 Learning and Leadership in Food Event: The Future Global Food System event. The event, co-hosted by The Food Industry Center, the Food Science and Nutrition Department, CFANS Alumni Relations, Careers and Internship Services, and the MN Section of IFT gathered over 100 students, industry and university professionals, and food system stakeholders to hold a conversation on what the future food system might look like and how students and current professionals can prepare for their roles in the future system.

Professor Ben Senauer set the context for the afternoon’s discussion by sharing his economic expertise of the global food system. He noted food prices will continue to be volatile due to recent extreme weather patterns, increasing food demand by a growing middle class, biofuel production, and declining production yields. As a result of the rapid and global spread of supermarkets, issues impacting supply and cold chains, like food safety, quality and consistency, and large retailers’ desire for a small numbers of reliable suppliers, have also arisen. Foreshadowing sentiments from following speakers, Senauer noted the growing cohorts of consumers voicing their concerns and interests on how food is produced - reflecting their preferences for sustainable, safe, organic, humane, locally-produced, and affordable foods. There is also a growing global demand for higher-value products (fresh or processed) requiring container and air shipping, sophisticated supply chain management, and technology.
 
As the first industry speaker of the day, General Mills Director of Sustainability Bob Branham lead a conversation on the impact of the 70-80 billion pounds of food waste generated in the US each year. Branham noted that currently, 20-30% of total food production is wasted each year resulting in enormous “environmental churn” (AT Kearney). Looking to capture the economic benefits from a food waste mitigation strategy, the company is initiating efforts to reduce waste and expensive landfill-waste costs, increase donations to food banks, and reduce food production’s demand on natural resources. The company has also joined in a 3 year, cross-industry initiative with other Food Waste Mitigation Coalition companies to achieve these goals.

The second speaker, Solae’s Dan Kennedy, offered the audience a discussion on the impact of the growing population’s demand for protein and the resulting impact on the environment. While environmental concerns are increasingly factored into consumer purchases, Kennedy said the food industry will need to respond by developing more sustainable solutions to feed the population, reduce waste and consumption of resources, and provide provenance and ingredient transparency to attract consumers. Meanwhile, the industry will also need to produce more food with fewer resources. Kennedy also forewarned of the increasing demand for protein, especially animal protein which uses the largest amount of natural resources – 70% of all agricultural land used for livestock production.

Our third speaker, Brian Knudson from Cargill, offered his advice on food system leadership and challenged students to think about their personal effectiveness in a changing global food system. Knudson identified future food system leadership skills as being curious and learned-driven, the ability to work with people, courage and integrity, a practitioner of digital platforms, and possessing an ability to drive change. Fortunately, he also provided the future leaders in the audience with some ideas on how to get started. His ideas, among others, included visualizing the 2050 food system to get a better understanding of its trends, drivers, and demands. He encouraged fluency in bio and digital technologies, taking advantage of experiences that will create a unique approach to one’s work, and a thorough understanding of the food system’s infrastructure, distribution, efficiencies, and economics. While leaders create value and make impact, he also noted their ability to translate ambiguity into practical next steps, their fluency in strategic and financial skills, and their acute understanding of diverse cultures. Finally, he encouraged students to “get on the playground” and reflect on what “winning looks like” for themselves as they begin their careers.
 
Students and the rest of the audience participants had the opportunity to follow up with the speakers during and Q&A panel session moderated by Ben Senauer as well as the post-event reception. If you would like to see the speakers' presentations, they are available on our Past Events page. It will come as no surprise that all three of the talented industry speakers are alumni of the University of Minnesota. 

    
Panel Speakers                                                       Audience Q&A During Panel Discussion 
Photo Credit: Brynn Olson                                          Photo Credit: Brynn Olson

The Food Thought Blog has a New Voice

For many of us, discussions about food, the food system, and the role it plays in our lives is a daily discussion. To bring the latest research and context to this discussion, Sadie Dietrich has joined us as the new part-time blogger for the Center’s Food Thought blog. Sadie is a graduate student in the Department of Applied Economics studying issues of consumer economics in relation to food and eating behavior.

Sadie’s posts will cover a wide variety of current food industry discussions and supply the conversation with the latest research and findings from academic and trade literature. She will also report on food related events from around campus and provide insight on the many food systems conversations around campus.

Check out Sadie’s inaugural post “What’s happening at the local grocery story?” and "Lunch Money" on the Food Thought blog. Want to add Sadie’s posts to your RSS feeds? Sign up for the feed at blog.lib.umn.edu/tfic/foodthought/atom.xml. 

University of Minnesota Student Team Heading to Las Vegas

Congratulations to the 2012 University of Minnesota students who have been selected to represent the University of Minnesota and The Food Industry Center at the 2012 NGA University Case Study Competition and Student Intern Program in Las Vegas. Students Angelica Almanza, Brendan Cooper, Andre Gordillo, Megan Lovejoy, Andrew McBride, and Dustin Nelson will participate in the NGA Intern Program and Alamanza, Gordillo, Lovejoy, and McBride will also compete in the Case Study Competition.

If you plan to attend the NGA Convention in February, wish them luck as they offer their case recommendations to the independent grocery sector and compete against Universities from across the nation.

Professional Development Opportunity for Students
 

The College Conference on Cooperatives will be held February 16-19,2012 in Minneapolis, MN.  The conference, hosted by the National Farmers Union Foundation with support from the CHS Foundation and other partners, features presentations by cooperative leaders and tours from all across the cooperative spectrum, and is beneficial both to beginning students of co-ops and to students with some previous co-op education. The University of Minnesota is allowed to nominate two students to the program which is a lot of fun. Previous participants have ranked this program very high. Please contact Dr Michael Boland (boland@umn.edu) for more information.

Upcoming Events

James P. Houck Lecture on Food and Consumer Policy

The Food System and Public Health
Dr. Laurian Unnevehr
Food Economics Division Director
Economic Research Service
Friday, February 24, 2012
2:00 pm
Room 105 Cargill Building, St. Paul Campus

Register

Dr. Unnevehr will discuss how growing health care costs and rising rates of obesity have focused public policy attention on the role of diet in health outcomes. Public health advocates have identified “best practices” for reducing obesity, but many of these entail substantial costs. Economic research is emerging that provides insights into diet and health related behaviors, some of which calls into question public health approaches. This lecture will review what is known about the economics of obesity and diet-related disease, and the economic evidence base for public policy interventions.

Dr. Unnevehr is recognized for original contributions in measuring the consumer benefits from agricultural research, the changing structure of U.S. food demand, and the cost-benefit trade-offs in food health regulation. She is a member and past president of the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA), and a member of the International Association for Agricultural Economics (IAAE). She also serves on the Editorial Boards of the journals Food Policy and Review of Agricultural Economics.

The annual James P. Houck Lecture on Food and Consumer Policy honors the late Dr. James P. Houck who was Head of the Department of Applied Economics from 1990-1998, a department where he received his Ph.D. and taught price analysis and trade theory for 33 years. He also led the faculty team that established The Food Industry Center. The event is co-hosted by The Food Industry Center and the Department of Applied Economics.