Last week, the 5th annual UVM Food Systems Summit drew 300 scholars, students, farmers, and representatives from business, nonprofit, and government sectors. The 2016 theme, “What Makes Food Good?” prompted provocative presentations and conversations during a packed two days, during which participants heard from three keynote speakers and participated in over 35 concurrent sessions.
Videos of the keynote talks will be available on the UVM Food Systems YouTube channel in the coming weeks.
All photos by Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist (Instagram @iantom /@everydayasia, Twitter @itjlphoto), unless otherwise noted.
Doug Lantagne, director of the UVM Food Systems Initiative, welcomes the crowd on Tuesday morning.
Keynote speakers Jahi Chappell and Rachel Ankeny chat before their talks.
Keynote speaker Charlotte Biltekoff sets the stage on Tuesday morning with her presentation “Beyond the Science: Thinking Culturally and Contextually about What Makes Food Good.”
Participants chat during a break.
Lunchtime! Featuring shortcakes with strawberry rhubarb compote and VT whipped cream.
A rainbow flag hung at half mast outside the Davis Center. (Photo by Alison Nihart)
UVM Dining catering staff take the stage to a round of applause from the crowd.
Keynote speaker Jahi Chappell during his talk “Political Economies of Good Food: Sustainable Food without Justice is Sustained Injustice.”
Participants chat during a break.
Keynote speaker Rachel Ankeny during her talk “Can GM Food Ever be ‘Good’ Food?: Asking the Right Questions and Hearing Multiple Voices in Debates Over Food Policy.”
Jillian Fry of Johns Hopkins University presents on “Whats Good to Feed Farmed Fish?”
Concurrent session organizers Stephanie Kupferman and Vanessa Zboreak.
Participants decide which concurrent sessions to attend.
Participants in a concurrent session.
A table describes the value of using imperfect produce and the food recovery hierarchy as outlined by Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law. (Photo by Alison Nihart)
Jake Claro of Vermont Farm to Plate leads a session on “Scaling Up While Staying True.”
Eric Garza of UVM describes how systems analysis can be applied to food systems issues.
Ernesto Mendez of UVM coordinates activities during a session on Participatory Action Research.
Participants in a workshop on Participatory Action Research discuss a small group activity.
The keynote panel begins.
The three keynote speakers during the keynote panel on Wednesday afternoon.
Rachel Ankeny shares her thoughts during the keynote panel.
