News & Events
Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health Seminar
Food Rescue Innovation
Winter quarter 2022
Fridays at 12:30 p.m. in Kane Hall 130
Instructor: Alissa Bilfied
Check seat availability: NUTR 400 and NUTR 500
The food and agriculture organization estimates that each year, one-third of all food produced in the world for human consumption is lost or wasted. Not only does this impact global food security and climate change, but it is also evidence of the incredible economic and environmental waste within the food system. Addressing the issue of food loss and food waste has the potential to generate a “triple win”. At the economic level, reductions in food loss and waste can save money for farmers, companies, and households. Wasting less food also means we can feed more people, creating enhanced food security. And reductions in food waste can alleviate pressure on climate change through efficiencies in water, land, and energy use. Recently, there has been a modern movement around food loss and waste reduction, centered around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which calls for halving the rate of food loss and waste by 2030. How can we achieve this aggressive goal? In this seminar, we will learn from experts and innovators in the private, public, and non-profit sectors at the forefront of addressing the real challenges of food loss and food waste at all parts of the food system, while considering creative approaches that harness collective behaviors and human motivation to catalyze change.
Schedule
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
Jan 7 |
Framing Food RescueAlissa Bilfield, Assistant Professor, Nutritional Sciences Program and Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, UW Remote session |
Jan 14 |
Reducing Food Loss and WasteBrian Lipinski, World Resources Institute Remote session |
Jan 21 |
Partnering with Farms to Rescue Ugly Food: Insights from Field to ForkMaddy Rotman, Head of Sustainability, Imperfect Foods Remote session |
Jan 28 |
Big Data and Big Grocery: Streamlining Supply Chains to Reduce Food LossStefan Kalb, CEO and Co-Founder of Shelf Engine |
Feb 4 |
Certifying Upcycled FoodDaniel Kurzrock, CEO of ReGrained and Co-founder Upcycled Food Association Remote session |
Feb 11 |
Creating Collaborative Action for Food Rescue InnovationLiz Fikejs, Seattle Public Utilities |
Feb 18 |
Pedaling Relief: Activating Volunteers to Address Food Insecurity & Food WasteMaxwell Burton, Cascadia Bicycle Club |
Feb 25 |
Capturing Energy from Food Waste to Address Climate ChangeMichael Smith and Peyton Ridland, Impact Bioenergy |
Mar 4 |
Designing Innovations Around Food Rescue and Food WasteLauren Brohawn, Arthur W. Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, UW |
Mar 11 |
Opportunities and Challenges for Food RescueAlissa Bilfield, Assistant Professor, Nutritional Sciences Program and Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, UW |
Land Acknowledgment
The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish people of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.
About the Instructor
NUTR 400/500 for winter 2022 is taught by Alissa Bilfied, an assistant teaching professor of environmental and occupational health sciences and nutritional sciences. Alissa Bilfield received her PhD in Public Health from Tulane University, her Master of Science in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Vanderbilt University. Her interests include sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship, and food certification systems. Her interdisciplinary background includes work and research in the government, nonprofit and academic sectors that has spanned the United States and 14 different countries, ranging from Guatemala to Sri Lanka. Bilfield is also a social entrepreneur herself, having co-founded a food literacy and cooking education nonprofit called The Cookbook Project. When she is not working with farmers, community members, and food entrepreneurs in the field, she is hiking with her dogs, rock climbing, meditating and cooking.
Archives
Session information, speaker schedules, and links to session recordings for past seminars are available here. Visit or subscribe to our YouTube Channel to receive alerts when new recordings are shared.
Autumn 2021
Future of Food Systems
There is growing urgency for our food systems to be more sustainable, resilient, and equitable. But how? Food systems are too-often implicated in perpetuating health inequities, climate chaos, and diminishing biodiversity. Competing solutions to these challenges are being considered locally and globally, across often-complicated supply chains and impacted by various public health, social, ecological, and economic drivers. Should farms and food systems feed regional or international communities; should they be large or small, uniform or diverse? What are the outcomes for our climate, human and ecological health, justice and equity? Which technologies and processes of engagement should be prioritized? While solutions may not be binary, choices must be made to nourish a growing human population on a finite Earth. In this seminar, we will learn from experts and practitioners at the forefront of addressing these challenges and considering different possibilities for the future of food systems.
Recorded Sessions
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
Oct 5 | Framing Future Food Systems Session RecordingYona Sipos, Assistant Teaching Professor, Nutritional Sciences Program and Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington |
Oct 12 | Learning from Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Grow Future Food Systems Session RecordingPolly Olsen (Yakama Nation) Tribal Liason, Burke Museum, University of Washington |
Oct 19 | Unpacking the Dialogue on Sustainable Diets: Evidence, Translation, and Action |
Oct 26 | Food Justice in Washington State: Increasing Community Access and Ownership |
Nov 2 | What's at Stake with the Right to Food |
Nov 9 | Irrigation Water Quality in Agricultural Production Systems |
Nov 16 | Assessing Washington State Food Systems During COVID-19Session RecordingAssociate Professor Jennifer Otten and Assistant Professor Sarah Collier, Nutritional Sciences Program and Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington |
Nov 23 | Indigenous Food Sovereignty: Challenges and SuccessesSession RecordingDevon Mihesuah (Choctaw Nation) and Cora Lee Beers Price Teaching Professor in International Cultural Understanding, Humanities Program, University of Kansas |
Nov 30 | Carbon across biomes: Agricultural applications for PNW resilience Session RecordingEli Wheat, Lecturer, Nutritional Sciences Program and Program on the Environment, University of Washington |
Dec 7 | The Future is NowYona Sipos, Assistant Teaching Professor, Nutritional Sciences Program and Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington |
Winter 2021
Food Supply Chains During the COVID-19 Pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, images of dumped milk and plowed-under crops, empty grocery store shelves, and lengthy food bank lines shocked the nation. While there are no nationwide shortages of food, inventory and availability of various staples have been affected, and food prices and food insecurity are on the rise, especially impacting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Many food system laborers are from BIPOC communities and continue to be adversely affected as farmworkers, meat plant workers, and long distance truckers face compromised work environments. The food service industry has been crippled, and food packaging and distribution has shifted to accommodate household servings instead of restaurant and bulk orders.
“Food supply chains” have now become part of everyday conversations as the stress of the pandemic raises questions about the sustainability, resilience, and inequities of our food system. Food supply chains include the sectors and labor supporting food production, processing, transportation, distribution, and access. Linear representations of supply chains often belie the extended, complicated realities of interconnected national and global food systems. As food supply chains continue to be impacted by COVID-19 among other global challenges, it is essential to learn about opportunities to increase sustainability, resilience, and equity. This winter seminar brings a systems perspective to these questions and discussion.
Recorded Sessions
| Date | Title | Speaker(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 8 | Introduction to Food Systems During COVID-19 | Yona Sipos, Assistant Teaching Professor, Nutritional Sciences Program and Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, Core Faculty for Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health, UW | Watch video |
| Jan 15 | Food Supply Management: A Technological Approach and COVID-19 impact | Joe Heim, Health Services and Industrial & Systems Engineering, UW; Christina Mastrangelo, Industrial & Systems Engineering and Center for Healthcare Organization Transformation, UW | Watch video |
| Jan 22 | The Power of Local Food Systems - Why You Should Buy Better Eggs | Donnie Wilcox, Supply Chain Manager, Wilcox Family Farms Inc. | Watch video |
| Jan 29 | Resource Mobilization Advocacy for Global Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health | Shelby Wilson, Consultant | Watch video |
| Feb 5 | Impacts to the Potato Supply Chain Due to COVID-19: Insights from the WA State Potato Commission | Chris Voigt, Excecutive Director, WA State Potato Commission | Watch video |
| Feb 12 | From Canned Goods to TP: Managing Grocery Supply Chains Under the Strain of COVID-19 | Senior Grocery Buyer Scott Owen, PCC Community Markets | Watch video |
| Feb 19 | COVID-19 Food Access Among American Indian/Alaska Native Tribes in WA State: The Value of Food Sovereignty | Speakers from the Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center, Northwest Portand Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB): Victoria Warren-Mears, Director and Nora Frank-Buckner, Food Sovereignty Initiatives Director | Watch video |
| Feb 26 | Insights from the Washington Food Policy Forum | Laura Raymond, WSDA Regional Markets Program Manager, Small Farm Direct Marketing Assistance and Farm to School | Watch video |
| Mar 5 | Findings from the Washington State Farm Resilience Survey: Impacts and Adaptations During COVID-19 | Anna Fogel, MPH and GCPD student in the Nutritional Sciences Program at UW, and Sarah Collier, Assistant Professor, Nutritional Sciences Program and Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, Core Faculty for Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health, UW | Watch video |
| Mar 12 | Reporting Back From the COVID-19 Farmworker Study (COFS) | Dianna Torres Angulo, CIELO Organization, Mason and Thurston Counties |
Autumn 2020
Growing Resilience and Equity: Food Systems Amid the Dual Pandemics of COVID-19 and Systemic Racism
Recorded Sessions
- Growing a More Sustainable, Equitable Future for Communities of Color: The Black Farmer’s Collective and Yes Farm – Presented November 10, 2020. Director Ray Williams and Program Manager Hannah Wilson from Yes Farm with the Black Farmers Collective
- Why Voting Matters to Food Systems – Presented November 3, 2020. Navina Khanna, Director of HEAL Food Alliance
- Codeveloping Culturally Relevant Messages for Farmworker Safety and Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic Project – Presented October 27, 2020. Elizabeth Torres, Research and Project Coordinator for El Proyecto Bienestar (EPB) and Research Coordinator, Northwest Communities Education Center/Radio KDNA, and PNASH, UW
- Examining the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Systems, Food Security, and Food Access in Washington State – Presented October 20, 2020. Adam Drewnowski, Professor of Epidemiology and Director of Nutritional Sciences Program and Center for Public Health Nutrition, UW
- Food Systems Shock and Stresses and the Need for Food Systems Analysts: the IFSTAL Response – Presented October 13, 2020. John Ingram, Leader of Interdisciplinary Food Systems Teaching & Learning (IFSTAL) and Associate Professor, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
- Intersections of Racial Equity and Food System Resilience – Presented October 6, 2020. Yona Sipos, Assistant Teaching Professor, Nutritional Sciences Program and Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, Core Faculty for Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health, UW
Winter 2020
Food Systems in the Age of Climate Change
Recorded Sessions
- Food on Campus: UW Sustainability Plans and Initiatives – Presented on March 3, 2020. Project and Purchasing Specialist Casey Crane and Assistant Director for Residential Life Clive Pursehouse, UW.
- Closing the Loop: Regenerative Animal Agriculture and Meat – Presented February 25, 2020. Nicole Witham, the statewide coordinator for the WSU Food Systems Program (moderator); Matthew Cox from Green Bow Farm in Ellensburg, WA; Mericos Rhodes from Spoon Full Farm in Thorp, WA; David Haakensen from Jubilee Farm in Carnation, WA
- Growing for Change: Agricultural Adaptions for Urban to Rural Systems – Presented February 18, 2020. David Montgomery, Earth and Space Sciences, UW; Julie Johnson, Landscape Architecture, UW; and Yolimar Rivera Vazquez, Food & Farms Coordinator, Ecotrust
- Labor & Climate: Climate-Related Occupational Impacts on Agricultural Workers – Presented February 4, 2020. Maria Blancas, PNASH Center and Environmental & Forest Sciences at UW.
- From the Ground Up: Climate Impacts of and on our Soils – Presented January 21, 2020. Sarah Collier, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Nutritional Sciences Program, UW; Brittany Johnson, College of the Environment.
- Oceans and Cliate: Understanding Impacts on Aquatic Food Systems – Presented January 15, 2020. Jan Newton, Applied Physics Laboratory, Washington Ocean Acidification Center, UW
- PNW Food Systems in the Age of Climate Change: Mitigation, Adaptation, and Resilience. Presented January 7, 2020. Jeremy Hess, Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, Global Health, Emergency Medicine, CHanGE, UW
- Autumn 2019 – Food Justice: Intersections of Identity & Place
- Winter 2019 – Aquatic Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health
- Autumn 2018 – Cultivating Sustainable Food Systems to Improve Nutrition, Health, and Equity
- Winter 2018 – Aligning Food Systems with Nutrition and Health
- Autumn 2017 – Water, Food, and Nutrition Security
- Winter 2017 – Food Equity and Population Health
- Autumn 2016 – Feeding Nine Billion: Climate, Nutrition, and Population Health
- Winter 2016 – Food Entrepreneurs
- Autumn 2015 – Food, Culture, and Society
- Winter 2015 – Global Nutrition and Food Justice
- Autumn 2014 – Sustainable Food and Nutrition Security
- Winter 2014 – Marketing Food, Nutrition, and Health
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