Introduction

The Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota was founded in January 1995. We are one of several Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funded industry centers and the only one that studies the food industry. The Food Industry Center is a community of scholars made up of faculty, students, and industry leaders from across the nation and the world. We have faculty from the Carlson School of Management and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, with participation from other units in the University. The Center develops and disseminates data and analysis focused on how food moves from farm to fork and how well the industry serves consumers and treats employees.

Strategic Initiatives for Our Second Decade: 2005-2010

1. Food Defense: Defending the food supply chain from terrorism
   
   
2. Healthy Foods and Healthy Lives: Helping the Industry to become part of the solution to the obesity crisis and helping Americans adopt healthier diets and lifestyles
   
   
3. Develop leaders for tomorrow through education, internships, and knowledge about the food industry
   
   
   

Director
	Jean Kinsey, Ph.D Director of The Food Industry Center and      Professor of Applied Economics 317 Classroom Office Building 1994 Buford Avenue St. Paul, MN 55108 (612) 625-2744 jkinsey@umn.edu

Our Goals

• Provide forward-thinking identification of major issues that have the potential for profound change in the industry
• Educate contemporary and future food industry leaders through instruction and outreach
• Provide a venue in which industry participants, policy makers, and the University community can collaborate
• Produce research, that collects data on business practices and performance, provides benchmark reports, and evaluates ways to measure and improve productivity
• Produce research that identifies basic social and economic forces that drive change in consumers' preferences for various types of food and food delivery systems
• Produce research that clarifies how the food industry contributes to overall economic well being and how well it meets consumers' needs for safe and affordable food

History

Founded in 1995 as an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Industry Center, The Food Industry Center (TFIC) has an illustrious ten year history of conducting primary research on the food industry and offering forums on current topics and best practices. TFIC is now one of twenty Sloan industry centers situated among elite academic institutions. We bring the benefits of this association to the University of Minnesota and the food industry. The overall goal of the Sloan centers is to help make their respective industries more effective global competitors and to better serve the needs of the U.S. economy. The successful achievement of the Center's mandate was rewarded by the Sloan Foundation with their renewal of three, three-year grants to support the Center; the maximum any Sloan center can receive. More TFIC History...

Impact

More than 27 faculty and 30 Ph.D and M.S. graduate students from the University of Minnesota have been, or are currently, conducting research projects about the food industry with the Center.

Our faculty and students come from:

• The College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Sciences
  • Department of Applied Economics
  • Department of Food Science and Nutrition
    
• The Carlson School of Management
  • Department of Marketing & Logistics Management
  • Department of Operations & Management Science
  • Department of Strategic Management & Organization
  • Industrial Relations Center

Since 1995, more than 60 journal articles/publications, 34 book chapters, 30 working papers, 5 special reports, and 20 trade journal articles have been published. Faculty continue to present papers at professional meetings and speak at industry conferences. More than 30 graduate students have completed degrees have accepted positions with the USDA, academic institutions, and private sector businesses.

Food Industry Careers

Few industries are as critical to America and the world as the food industry. Few industries reach as many consumers on a daily basis or are as fundamental to their lives as the food industry.

Americans spend more than $1 trillion annually for food, accounting for nearly 10 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The food system employs over 16.5 million people, and holds opportunity for an incredibly wide range of people with different managerial and technical skills. Promising young professionals are needed throughout the industry from basic sciences to manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing, and foodservice. Many prospective food industry recruits are surprised to learn that careers in Management, Retailing, Product Design, and Marketing offer salaries and global opportunities for advancement that are highly competitive with other industries.

• The University of Minnesota's College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences, Carlson School of Management, and the Department of Food Science and Nutrition provide areas of study for students interested in food industry careers.
  
  
• The St. Paul Campus Career Center provides career planning services for students interested in food careers and employers interested in University of Minnesota students.