Tapping into thought leaders​​ at the Foodtank Summit

At the Food Tank Summit 2016 in Washington, DC. L to R: Bill Bolling, Food Well Alliance Chairman; Ellen Macht, Food Well Alliance Innovation and Strategy; Alice Rolls, Georgia Organics Executive Director; Bobbi de Winter, Food Well Alliance Executive Director.

Food Well Alliance's Executive Director, Bobbi de Winter, blogs about ideas and information captured at the Food Tank Summit in Washington, DC. See what she says about thought leaders and uncommon collaborations below. 

Yesterday Food tank held their summit in Washington, D.C.  I arrived filled with enthusiasm to learn from national thought leaders’ ideas to reinvent the food system. Danielle Nierenbergh, Food Tank’s President highlighted the goal to share existing and potential solutions to solve complex issues.  The venue consisted of a series of panels to discuss the need for greater collaboration, nutrient dense diets, challenges for the planet and protein production, food security and food recovery.

The discussion about uncommon collaborations, a topic core to Food Well Alliance’s mission, validated that Atlanta is not alone. There is a nationwide quest to build trusting relationships, and partnerships to strengthen a network of leaders necessary to reinvent the food system. Other cities across the US are working to create a place, a container, where organizations can collaborate, find shared value and common intersections to reorder our food system. There was a shared value that no one can do this alone. There is no “I” in building a sustainable food system.  It is still perplexing that this idea of partnerships is considered ‘uncommon.’