The linear food system is ripe for disruption. Between vast amounts of water and land used for food, deforestation caused by clearing land for crops, and heavy reliance on chemical fertilizers, waste free, regenerative and circular alternatives have a lot to offer. In a circular world, food production will improve rather than degrade the environment. Circular food systems are beginning to address this with the goal of protecting biodiversity and human health. For example, regenerative agriculture uses farming practices like intercropping and no tilling to enrich and regenerate the soil. Food companies are turning the byproducts of food production into the primary ingredients of new delicious products. And materials innovators are working to reduce waste created by the packaging our food is served in. This session will explore the potential for a circuar food system, and feature promising solutions being brought to market in the food industry. 

Reducing the billions of dollars of food waste lost every year is a priority for every step in the food and ag supply chain. Not only will it help ensure adequate food for a growing population, but there is money to be made. Internet of things (IoT) devices such as sensors on products, distribution points, trucks and trains have helped gather data that can be used to reduce and even eliminate waste. IoT analytics are advancing quickly, with new technologies designed to bring improvements to food processing, packaging, distribution and retail. This session will review some of the new IoT technologies and how companies are using them.

Water is one of the planet’s precious resources. Its continuous flows from liquid to solid to gas and our ability to use and reuse it make it inherently circular. It is fundamental to human health and to virtually every industry ranging from agriculture to manufacturing. It is used for cleaning, cooling, processing, powering, washing, irrigating and the list goes on. Advancements in technology are enabling better monitoring of water cycles across human and industrial processes, which makes water systems much more efficient. Digital planning and monitoring systems accelerate water’s cyclical nature, making it easier to use wastewater from one process to power another. This session will illustrate how the digitization of water systems can leverage technology to increase water efficiency and re-use, modeling the impacts of water scarcity and providing the data for effective water management.

Water is one of the planet’s precious resources. Its continuous flows from liquid to solid to gas and our ability to use and reuse it make it inherently circular. It is fundamental to human health and to virtually every industry ranging from agriculture to manufacturing. It is used for cleaning, cooling, processing, powering, washing, irrigating and the list goes on. Advancements in technology are enabling better monitoring of water cycles across human and industrial processes, which makes water systems much more efficient. Digital planning and monitoring systems accelerate water’s cyclical nature, making it easier to use wastewater from one process to power another. This session will illustrate how the digitization of water systems can leverage technology to increase water efficiency and re-use, modeling the impacts of water scarcity and providing the data for effective water management.

Maxed-out landfills have led a number of US cities to launch municipal urban composting programs. Dozens of additional cities have composting infrastructure at smaller scale. The benefit of composting is that it has the potential to divert a significant percentage of waste from landfill and reduce methane from landfills.  Applying compost to agricultural land is extremely effective way to revitalize soil, that among other things, sequesters carbon from the atmosphere into the future. Scaling composting infrastructure in cities can be challenging however, faced by issues like low user rates and financing. San Francisco has led the way among municipalities, but big innovations in other urban centers are increasingly making composting the new norm. 

The increased awareness of the food waste problem has attracted a growing number of innovators, from community to corporate scale, to tackle this thorny challenge, plus a slew of technologies to bolster existing food recovery efforts. Hear from companies that have navigated the financial, legal and supply-chain challenges to divert food from landfill and help a wide range of organizations reduce food waste and their carbon footprint.