← Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg (by Food Tank)
Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg (by Food Tank)
537. New Dietary Guidelines for Americans Unveiled, Youth Turn to Agriculture, and a Conversation with Sara Farley on the Visions that Will Lead Us to a Hopeful Food Future
00:44:12
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- [00:00]
Sarah Farley
Like you don't have to work in the food system to know that when you taste something delicious, that maybe your mom or your grandma or your father, your cousin always makes it, it brings a smile to your face and it creates an opening for human connection.
- [00:15]
Rob Pera
Hey, food tankers. This is Food Talk's executive producer Rob Pera. On today's episode of Food Talk, you'll hear about what you'll find in the new dietary guidelines for Americans just released yesterday, predictions on how we'll be eating in 2026, and the young people turning to careers in agriculture. Then Danny sits down with Sarah Farley, vice president of the Global Food Portfolio at the Rockefeller foundation, for a conversation about what's possible for our food and agriculture systems in 2050 when these visions for the future are grounded in hope. Enjoy.
- [00:53]
Dani Nirenberg
Hi everyone. Every week on Food Talk with Dani Nirenberg, I am going to share some updates and news that make me exc. Energized, infuriated, or curious. Today, the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans were unveiled. They're known as the DGAs. They are updated every five years and they influence everything from school lunches to medical advice and you know what people are served at medical institutions, et cetera. The US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Initially promised to have the DGAs done at the end of last year, but that didn't happen. So this is great that they're finally out. During a briefing yesterday with U.S. secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Kennedy said, my message is clear. Eat real food, something I completely agree with. Some recommendations do not depart from previous DGAs such as the prioritization of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, all great things to eat. Looking at the other pieces of the guidelines, the DGA urge eaters to cut back on ultra processed foods. Great. I think that's wonderful because research shows that ultra processed foods can increase eaters risks for certain diet related illnesses. And the DGAs also call for the limit of consumption of sugars, artificial flavors and dyes. While previous guidelines recommended fat free or low fat products, the new GGA has called for ending the war on healthy fats, prioritizing full fat options. They also recommend high quality nutrient dense proteins including red meat. Even though many medical experts, many, many medical experts such as Dariush Mazaffarian, a cardiologist and director of the Tufts Food is Medicine Institute, says that people in the US Already eat enough red meat. And even though previous guidelines recommended that men and women limit themselves to two or even one drinks respectively, the new set are much more vague and it only suggests that people consume less alcohol. Ultimately, the guidelines leave some public health experts worried and some of us in the food and agriculture community worried. Dr. Walt Willett at the Harvard T.H. chan School of Public Health worries the recommendations will be used to promote more red meat and dairy products, which will not lead to optimally healthy diets or a healthy planet. I agree with Walt, like I have most of my career. And what I fear is that the meat industry and the livestock industry had a huge influence on the DGAs. I can't prove that, but I feel like some things are for sale in this administration and this might be one of them. Again, I can't prove it. This is Danny Nirenberg just telling you how I feel. Next, I wanna talk about how many of our neighbors in the United States continue to be hungry. On New year's Eve, the U.S. department of Agriculture released the Household Food Security report, revealing that 47.9 million people, almost 48 million people, lived in food insecure households in 2024, an increase of a half a million people from the previous year. That means one in seven households insecure, with more than 14 million children experiencing hunger. If you're at home right now, I encourage you to go look outside your house and, you know, count like the seven houses and know that one of those houses is experiencing food insecurity. The data is really critical to helping us understand and solve hunger in the United States. The Food Research and Action center calls this a crisis that is set to deepen as households begin to feel the effects of of cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as snap. This will be the final release of this kind of data from the US Department of Agriculture. The Trump Bance administration announced with Brooke Rollins last year that the agency will no longer publish their annual Household Food Security report. Joseph Labrera, the director of food assistance at the center on Budget and Policy Priority, says we are losing a one of a kind data source. As somebody who has worked in this space for a very long time, data is so important for the food insecurity community to make sure that we know how many people are hungry and how they can be helped. This is really, really serious and something that I encourage you to write your lawmakers and representatives about if it disturbs you. It's very disturbing that we're losing critical data about what Americans are experiencing. I want to shift to Senegal. Africa is the world's fastest urbanizing and it's seen cities grow at an average rate of 3.5% per year, according to the Africa center for Strategic studies. But in these rapidly urbanizing areas, a recent article from PBS highlights that the high cost of living and limited job opportunities is pushing more people, more young people, especially into farming. One Senegalese farmer, Philly Mangassa, states that his family initially saw his decision to return to the countryside a step back. But perceptions, thankfully, of agriculture are changing, thanks to new innovations and technologies and programs that are designed to support farmers and help them see farming as something that is respected and something they want to do rather than something they feel forced to do. Mangasa showed his father a clear business plan, and when the help of his family was able to acquire land. Today he grows peanuts, vegetables and fruit. The World Food Program is also helping young people like Mangasa transition into careers in agriculture. A program started in 2019, 2023 has helped more than 61,000 people launch farms and diversify their cropping systems. This past fall, Senegal's agriculture minister told reporters that he's convinced that the only sector that can create the hundreds of thousands of jobs young people in Africa need is agriculture and livestock. Really good news. I've been to Senegal many times and seen sort of the vibrance and, you know, the innovation that's happening there and especially coming from from young people in food and agriculture. I'm going to stay in Africa. In the state of Anidu in Nigeria, the government is set to lead a new initiative to improve agroecology among youth. 75 young people coming from a variety of agricultural organizations will lead efforts to build strong networks of agro ecology groups and improve access to the state's agricultural resources. The announcement came during a capacity building workshop organized by the state and partnership with the South Saharan Social Development Organization and Action Aid Nigeria, who I've had the pleasure many, many years ago of meeting with. I'm sure they don't remember me. The head of programs at the South Saharan Social Development Organization stated that too often these agriculture groups are operating in silos. With the new initiative, they hope to foster communication and collaboration that will scale practices that are better for people and the planet. So I want to end with some predictions for 2026 and the in the food world, if you're curious about food system trends in the coming year, the game has changed, says New York Times national food correspondent Kim Severson, who's a great friend of Food Tank. She spends each December consulting market researchers, food company executives, restaurant publicists and cooks to get their ideas for the coming year. Severson believes that we're in an age of strategic consumption as eaters opt for protein shakes and super full bowls that optimize nutrient intake. But at the same time, people are turning back to traditional and whole foods, the kind our grandparents made. It goes back to what RFK said, eating real food, that is something very attractive to just so many of us who want to eat for better health. Vinegar, Stevenson said, is the food of the year. While the word of the year is value, she says that eaters are likely to be more discriminating, making sure that they feel the dollars they spend are worth it in terms of quality and experiences. She also notes more attention being paid to the senses as chefs and restaurateurs focus on the full experience of dining, including color, aroma and light. All to counteract the rise of automation and obsessive doom scrolling that we are all guilty of. I was just doing it. Increasingly, people are turning to their own backyards for local ingredients from pawpaws. Those are the indigenous to Maryland, where I live. They're very good to juneberries to bison. So that's just a handful of Severson's predictions for 2026, and you can read through all of them in her article in the New York Times that was published a few days ago. Happy 2026 to you all. I wish you a year of delicious eating and improving our food systems together. Thank you so much for listening and please rate, review and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and always feel free to email me@danielleoodtank.com thanks everyone.
- [09:58]
Hey everyone. Welcome to Food Talk with Dani Nirenberg.
- [10:00]
Today I get to chat with Sarah
- [10:02]
Farley, the Vice President of the Global Food Portfolio at the Rockefeller Foundation. Sarah leads initiatives including the Food Systems Vision Prize and drives the Foundation's inaugural Regenerative Food System Strategy. She's also a longtime friend of Food Tank and of me. Sarah, thanks for joining me. This is great.
- [10:21]
Sarah Farley
So good to be here. Dani, every conversation with you leaves me feeling refreshed and inspired. So thanks for having me on.
- [10:29]
Dani Nirenberg
That's how I feel about you. So I want to start by talking about the idea behind the Foundation's Food Systems Vision Prize, because it's really sort of this, you know, fun idea that turned into a movement.
- [10:47]
Sarah Farley
I feel like it was a fun idea and it was a pretty bold idea, honestly. I think a lot of us are familiar with prize philanthropy that's really been used especially for technological innovation entities like NASA and DARPA and so many more within the philanthropy community. But far more rare is the idea to use a a vision as the thing you're trying to source as Opposed to a specific innovation. This was novel. And really, Roy Steiner had an epiphany as he came into the leadership role of the food team of the Rockefeller foundation, that it's often hard for philanthropies to listen. Well, you know, we have our ideas, we have our strategies, and we need a mechanism to really hear what it is the future could be. What is it that people want? And I think that's even more necessary because, you know, I don't know about you, Danny. I love sci fi. I live in that world. When I turn my brain off, that's. That's where I go. Whether it's Handmaid's Tale or Mad Max, you know, Dark Mirror, you. You pick your. Pick your poison. But there's such dark portrayals of the future, which means as a collective, even through artistic expression, we are putting forward very few promising pictures of a world that isn't dystopian when we go out as far as like 2050, 20, 100. So if we don't visualize it, if we don't dream it, it certainly is not going to happen accidentally. So the idea here was like, let's put a little carrot out there. $2 million prize, not nothing. And let's see what it looks like when communities take the time to answer the question of, for you, in your place, what is a nourishing, regenerative, and equitable food system? And then it just rained. And we really didn't think it was going to succeed because we put this prize out right before COVID So, like,
- [12:53]
Dani Nirenberg
I remember very well, flawless timing.
- [12:56]
Sarah Farley
You were one of our advisors, Jani, and we were like, oh, my gosh, who is sitting around with time on their hands to dream and chart a path that is both scientifically feasible, politically salient, culturally appropriate, and can take us from where we are to where Community X wants to be? And yet it was over 1,370 teams from 119 countries. 4,000 organizations took the time and really, like, deliberately constructed these. I mean, these were tomes. They were so layered in terms of what they were putting forward. And then to bring the judges. And we created an accelerator around storytelling and move movement mobilization. And I think to your point, like, how did it go from a prize to a movement? I mean, it. It really isn't about Rockefeller at all. It is about the fact that real human beings, producers, consumers, activists, policymakers, business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers, they know what they want. They just are given the, like, template. And in this case, to say, let's put it down and let's give you a little support to start to make those first strides to make it happen. So that's, that's a bit of the origin story.
- [14:12]
Dani Nirenberg
No, and it turned out even, you know, Covid was a terrible time, but it turned out to be kind of the perfect time because I feel, going back to your point about listening, what I miss about the pandemic, and there's not much to miss, is that the ability to listen to so many people. And what your point about listening? Well, foundations and organizations like Food Tank can listen, but listening well is a real talent.
- [14:38]
Sarah Farley
Yeah. And it says it's becoming, I think, a lost art with our constant distraction and our just the millions of ways we can be drawn toward other stimuli. And so you're right. Listening well. And it took partnership with groups like IDO and Second Muse and the Guild of Future Architects. We had these like amazing co implementers help us design this. But then we also had strategic advisors like Food Tank, but a whole plethora of really extraordinary organizations, from Slow Food to so many others that brought their perspective. How do you create that safe space? How do you create a space that is not just about like imagining utopia, but is really grounded in realities, is scientifically plausible, and can, can bring forward a community that grows over time? Because really, at the end of the day, this was not a prize for individuals. In fact, you got more points over the process of evolving your vision if you brought in more entities. So actually in our top 10, you'll see they straddle a bit of government, a bit of producer organization, civil society, business. They're really nicely rounded and diverse in terms of like the faces in the organizations and their stories since have only been stories of network growth. Because at the end of the day, right, these visions are a network of network story. You've got to build that mycelial web through trust and hope and a shared sense of vision. And then you start to activate so many unexpected players. And that's really what we're seeing in many of these visions today, five years on, which is so heartwarming and so affirming that this really was helpful in its way.
- [16:30]
Dani Nirenberg
Sarah, can you tell me about, you know, turning these from stories and visions into sort of a bigger storytelling component with the documentary?
- [16:40]
Sarah Farley
Yeah. You know, I think for so many of us, seeing is believing. And I'll say, you know, these visions when you just read them and you know, I read hundreds of them, they are incredibly dense. Right. These are 70, 80, 90 page tomes full of like a multidimensional portrayal of what the future will be, how we're going to get it. That's not for everybody's reading list, for sure. Whereas movies have the power to ignite and inspire and help us kind of relax into conversations that maybe feel too intense for a weeknight around the kitchen table.
- [17:21]
Dani Nirenberg
Yeah.
- [17:22]
Sarah Farley
And. And so it was a wonderful team called Media Red who said, you know, I think you've got an opportunity here to celebrate and bring these stories to anyone with access to, you know, a television or a streaming service. If we can go around the world and portrayal, portray what they're doing and make it cinematic and make it. Make it delightful. And that's what they did. They went around the world. We actually thought it would just be the case that we'd have like a very short, like a documentary short. But there was so much footage and there were so many stories in there that it ended up seeming like we had a feature length, so like a hour and a half film on our hands. And so it's really been guided. Guided first by the visionaries and guided by this desire to bring their stories forward, which then kind of opens up a space where all that Rockefeller is doing on our food team, in fact, is inspired. The seeds were planted with these visionaries. And so there's a whole story of, I would say, manifestation that's happening on the other side of the film. But the first step with the film is to get the film out. So we're going to be celebrating the film and having visionaries and conversation with you, of course, here in the coming days, which is going to be so, so exciting.
- [18:44]
Dani Nirenberg
Yeah, I can't wait to talk more about that later. I do want to say that one of the things I appreciate Most about food 2050 is it does. It conveys that urgent for food and agriculture, systems transformation and the fixes that need to happen in so many ways. But it balances that message with one of hope and love and bringing people together. We need more of that. But it is very difficult to communicate, and it can be very difficult in this current sort of environment to communicate, bringing people together. And so can you talk about how you and the filmmakers developed that narrative that is balancing these different messages?
- [19:28]
Sarah Farley
Yeah, there are a lot of tensions in the food system inherently. We want to get food that we can afford, which is really driving toward cheap. And we want food that is quality, that is grown in a way respectful of the producers, regenerative for the planet. That can feel like a real tension. There are other tensions in terms of we want food again, that can be Shelf, stable and get to everywhere. That has, I think, spawned a lot of the globalization of the food system. But we want culturally appropriate foods that make sense for people's identities and. And draw from their place and their customs. That, again, feels like attention. So what does it all look like? I mean, we certainly, as the foundation or the advisors behind this prize, didn't want to superimpose that. We wanted to ask, like, what does it look like for you? And, you know, a first vision that comes to mind, Danny, with your question here would be a vision called 7Gen, as in seven generations. And this comes from the Sichongu community, which is an indigenous community on the Rosebud Indian reservation in the Dakotas. And, you know, their whole premise of the 7 gen vision is that decisions made for their food system are made to honor and empower children's children's children's children's children's children. Seven generations out. So you imagine, like, every choice being made for that future grand, grand, grand, grand child. Right. And so what does it look like? It looks like bringing back food culture to a reservation that has really been stripped of its food identity and its cultural identity, which happened with the suppression of genetic people across this country and in others. And so it's really a story of food sovereignty and of reclaiming food traditions. And at the very heart of that is the buffalo. And what was so extraordinary with the vision, they really wanted to bring buffalo back to the Sicongo. And at the time of the filming of that vision, there were about 50 head of bison that were being released, and it was such a celebration. Today, five years out, they're at over a thousand, and tribes from across the country are coming and learning. So it's a story of cultural sovereignty, of food, sovereignty of dignity, of reclamation, of identity. All of that is woven together with food as medicine and with so many other dimensions of indigenous identity that are really, I think, at the heart of what it means for a full and total suit system to regenerate.
- [22:17]
Dani Nirenberg
Yeah, absolutely. Dignity, identity. Food is medicine, reclaiming, you know, these. These traditions. One thing this film did not forget either. And I think this is very important because most of us who work in food and ag can forget this, that there's joy and there's deliciousness. And I think this film portrays a lot of joy and deliciousness. And I'm sorry I'm chasing the sunbeam from the winter, but that is a very important part of this that needs to be communicated more.
- [22:49]
Sarah Farley
Yes, yes. And you feel it with the 7gen team, with the team in Dali, China, where they're bringing this regeneratively grown food through restaurants that are entirely infused with this kind of ethic and vibrancy and the joy, you see it in the film, of the women collecting these very traditional kinds of flower petals for a certain kind of ingredient, for a certain kind of special culturally appropriate dish. I mean, it just, it's something we all know, like you don't have to work in the food system to know that when you taste something delicious, that maybe your mom or your grandma or your father, your cousin always makes it, it brings a smile to your face and it creates an opening for human connection, whether that's to talk about, you know, a breakup or a wedding, what's on your mind that day. Food often creates permission and you see that in the film over and over again, like food is connection.
- [23:47]
Dani Nirenberg
Absolutely, absolutely.
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I think people who might be listening or viewing might think that this prize and the documentary focused on high tech solutions. But you talked about 7gen and there are so many sort of not exactly low tech, but not as technology focused solutions. And I wouldn't call them low tech because I do think there's a lot of innovation and technology. But something that's happening in Lima, where one of the top visionaries is using low tech solutions to save water and scale urban food production, is really exciting. And I'm wondering if you can talk about that project.
- [24:26]
Sarah Farley
Yeah, I mean, it's one where, if you've ever been to Lima, Peru, or are familiar with the country, you're at the high altitude in what today is one of the largest deserts of any urban environment in the world. And you think that that's the way it always was. But as the visionaries remind us, that was not the case. And going far back in geologic and anthropological time, we can see through fossil evidence that it actually used to be a green Eden and that it was an exploitation of the land that removed the trees and really sort of denuded the landscape which is today such a desert. And it's a desert that ex exist with a fault line which happens in so many of our cities. One side of the railroad, the poorest of the poor, on the other side, the opulent mansions with their, their swimming pools. And so in Lima, this group of visionaries was looking at that extreme inequity through the lens of water security, food security, dignity, really. And so one of the really exciting innovations is effectively a. A fog catcher. So Lima does get a lot of fog. So how might we pull that precipitation from the air itself, collect it for drinking water. And so they've made this just incredible progress toward bringing water security to a community that really is without in many instances. And that is coupled with urban gardening and rooftops and this really wild idea that even the archaeological riches of Peru, which can be vulnerable to neglect if there's not financing for them, you could reimagine those archaeological sites as sites for farmers markets and cultural connection and bring the experience of food as community into a cultural site, which also makes it frankly, more of a tourist attraction as well. So it's like this really beautiful marriage of trying to tackle the inequity challenges, the food security challenges, but even the treasuring of cultural heritage, which I think is just such a beautiful angle on that vision. Not like EMA 2035 vision.
- [26:51]
Dani Nirenberg
Yeah, yeah. That idea of honoring the past and using this idea of going forward by going back. You kind of see that throughout the film. Remembering those traditions, but bringing them forward in a new and different way for where we are right now in the world.
- [27:08]
Sarah Farley
That. That's totally it. You know, another of the visions that I think does that so beautifully in. In the film, but as we've got to know them over the years, is called Arakunomics. Araku is a region in India and they've really focused on the regenerative transition. How do we depart from the synthetic input, fossil fuel derived chemical input, agriculture, to a form of agriculture? We're using biological input. So think compost and biological amendments so that you can still have high productivity, but you do so without that fossil fuel reliance, without the toxic health effects for farm workers, and with so many other benefits for biodiversity and soil health, et cetera. There's lots of names for what that is. They use the name regenerative. So it's this like really beautiful regenerative story, but it's also fueled by indigenous women who live in that part of India. And there's a piece of it which is an income generation approach, which is around specialty coffee. And I have to say, having tried the Araku coffee, it is magnificent coffee. And since the film. Actually the Araku brand is. Is gone completely global. They'll be opening a shop in New York City shortly, actually. So it's just. Yeah, it's just amazing that it's. They've managed to mainstream this idea that regenerative production can deliver a higher quality product and at the same time benefit what have been some of the most marginalized and overlooked producers.
- [28:50]
Dani Nirenberg
Right. So important. Sarah, this might seem like a simple question, but what was the most surprising thing to you about the film and you know, you knew, you talked about reading these visionary stories but seeing them sort of come to life, what surprised you the most?
- [29:07]
Sarah Farley
I loved seeing children be involved in these visions like that. To me is the proof that it wasn't just whoever actually had to hold the pen and sit there and type out these giant descriptions that no doubt emerged from countless meetings of so many participants behind each other vision. Once you see children involved, then it's like, okay, this is actually gaining hold. This is important enough a parent to spend time with their kid on the execution of this challenge like that, that removes some of the cynicism that like it's good for now, but if those acolytes of this idea turn to other passions and pursuits, it's going to die on the vine. Children are the next generation. So any. And you see that in the film. So I think I was. It didn't come out in the written word, but you see it in the film and it just. Oh my gosh, like that's, that's the proof we need. That's the proof it's a movement that's coming about, right?
- [30:09]
Dani Nirenberg
And that there is that hope there, that it is not that dystopian world that we are all so sort of afraid of in so many ways because we, you know, it's good to read about, you know, when you're in bed at night and end up with a glass of wine, but it's not that fun when you're thinking about the real world and looking outside.
- [30:26]
Sarah Farley
Totally, totally. I think for me it was a true privilege and a luxury that in Covid a time of such fear and isolation. I mean so few of us had been through something like a pandemic before in its global encompassing reach and, and sense of dread and doom and unknown. And I got to be in this like bubble during it in the sense that I was like with my mind going into all these visions and engaging with them virtually. You know, I wasn't getting to see them for a couple years before I actually got to meet any of these humans in the flesh. But that, that really buoyed me and it reminded me that like even as somebody who does love sci fi, but someone who's plugged into the new and is doing this work of trying to serve humanity and improve the well being of humanity, which is the Rockefeller Foundation's mission. It's, it's heavy work. And I know you, you live in that work, Danny. And you, you are connected to so many in the food system who are struggling right now. And you cannot look away. You will not look away. But somewhere we have to give ourselves the oxygen to let keep going. And hope is what gives you that. And when it's. It's real people in the real food system giving you that hope. Like, what a beautiful salve for what feels so paralyzing on so many other fronts.
- [31:56]
Dani Nirenberg
Yeah. And that's why storytelling, the storytelling that the Rockefeller foundation, that Media Red does and did with this film is so, so important.
- [32:05]
Sarah Farley
Yeah. Thanks. Thanks, Danny. I think Roy. Roy had it right that we are. We are struggling to find hope. And without hope, the people perish. And so I. I hope for everyone that comes in contact with the visionaries, either by reading about them or by seeing the film or if you're lucky enough to engage with them directly, there's that exhale that comes from like, it's. It's gonna be okay. There's people like this. And I will say those visionary. You know, when they came through the Vision Prize, it wasn't because they were so well healed and well funded, and it was all thought out. Like some of these were like on. On the piece of a shoestring, they had pulled this together, you know, the nub of the shoestring and what's cool. You know, actually, I just read an email yesterday, actually, from a team that didn't make the top 10. They're not in the. They're not in the film. They were a team in Oregon, and they bring together Fishers and producers and community, government and business. They weren't knocked down by not winning the prize. Power of articulating the vision has so fueled them. They did an accounting of all the grants they got from the federal government, all the ways that this has actually fueled real reform in Oregon for these producers. It was just so awesome. I know another story actually down the road in New Jersey. Similarly, they didn't make it to the top 10. But it's a group around something called Ethos Pharm that brings regenerative production and Food is Medicine. Together with an actual physician and a bunch of medical interns, residents who are learning the power of utilizing beautiful regenerative grown food to treat chronic conditions, metabolic conditions, especially diabetes, heart disease, et cetera, and created this massive movement around it in Jersey. And they also point to the Vision Prize as a way that they consolidated, sharpened their vision and brought together a movement that is just growing so beautifully. So there are. There are people like you, Danny, that bring hope to others. And I think this process put so many more of them on my radar and I hope it does the same for everyone who encounters it. Yeah.
- [34:24]
Dani Nirenberg
And having a little, you know, food tank had such a small part in helping, you know, be evaluators as part of this. Reading those visions and, and seeing how people sort of strung everything together was really cool and inspiring. And at a time during the pandemic when I needed more hope than usual, it was really cool to see how like, oh, this is how it works. This is how you create this type of food system that can transform people's lives. And I found that the process of it so interesting and so sort of nourishing in many ways.
- [34:59]
Sarah Farley
Yeah, yeah, that's right. And you know what was so cool too, because we got this bounty, you know, and again, because of COVID we thought we're going to get 100 submissions if we're lucky. So so many more than we got. We actually worked with a big data team and we put all the submissions into, you know, a pot and they stirred it to try to just tell like what's in there. Like are there trend lines? Like what do you see when you zoom out and look at, at 1370 of these visions? What does it tell you about the world? Because they are quite site specific, you know, stone barns here in the Hudson Valley. Very different vision than Dali China, so different from Lima, Peru. Is there any trend line that you can distill? And, and there are these significant universal themes. And you know, one of the universal themes is like food as resilience, that if we alter our production systems to incentivize producing in a way that builds back soil health, biodiversity, water quality and the well being of producers, we can in fact ensure greater resilience to climate shocks and frankly to the crippling economic insecurity that is increasingly a reality for producers. We also saw a theme, a ubiquitous theme of food is medicine. That in the future, really the way we grow our food can be a source of increased health. You know, it's, it's this question of, you know, let's take diabetes. Do you want to treat diabetes with a lifetime of medication or by altering the diet? More fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, can you decrease your A1Cs and do so at a much lower price point and frankly have all these other health benefits. So that's the food is medicine piece. There was a food as sovereignty and really this kind of storyline that when we get it right in the voice of these thousands of visionaries, when we get it right, it's about reconnecting this, you know, Necessary bond between humanity, each other and place and culture. And that, you know, food is not the only thing that can do that. Right, sure. It can't do it alone, but it can be this powerful, powerful force. And then food is love, which kind of was at the top of your, your interview, Danny, that food itself and the way we steward the food system and the way we embrace each other within the food system can be an act of love. It doesn't have to be an act of exploitation of inequity, which it so often is. It can be quite the opposite. And we know that when we sit at a table for a collective community dinner, whether that is a thanksg giving or a birthday or another special holiday, we know what it can be. Can it be that for more people? It can be that more often?
- [38:03]
Dani Nirenberg
Yeah, absolutely. So you talked about resilience, you talked about, you know, not being able to meet the visionaries until, you know, several of them really came together at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow at COP26. That was one, that was the first time I, I think you, you met them. I could be wrong, but while there, you said there needed to be a dedicated food day at future cops. And that's something we've seen come into fruition in recent years and it's been so exciting. And so I'm wondering if you can talk about what that progress means to you, because the Rockefeller foundation, you and Roy have been such a huge part of pushing that, that forward, that climate agenda, making sure that food and agriculture is seen as part of the solution.
- [38:51]
Sarah Farley
Well, you've held so much of that responsibility yourself, Danny, and so many have. Right. It's been, I think, a growing chorus recognizing that it is absurd to think that we are going to solve the climate crisis and draw down 1/3 of GHGs which comes from the food system, meanwhile have less than 8% of climate finance plants go to food. And what that requires is a significant presence inside of the world's Global Climate Summit and the structures around it, the unfccc, UNCBD and the biodiversity cop. And so finally, you know, and I take no credit, this community, I think, made the case and made the noise and put out our elbows and got in the room. Exactly, exactly. And now, now it's, now it's just part of the structure, I think shouldn't take it for granted. And we still don't have parity between percentage of GHGs, percentage of climate finance. I mean, that is still. We're four times off. So we got a lot of Work to do. And the money. The money needs to come. But I think partly it comes when people see, oh, my gosh, it works. It isn't. Systems change isn't so complicated that it's impossible. No, we're seeing the Sichangu do it. We're seeing the indigenous women in Iraqu India do it. We're seeing little girls on rooftops in Lima doing this.
- [40:22]
Dani Nirenberg
That's so great. I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about how the prize has shaped what Rockefeller continues to work on. How have all of these visionaries sort of changed what you prioritize?
- [40:35]
Sarah Farley
Yeah, it's. It's so awesome to actually look back over the seven years since I've been at the foundation and the food team, because it really is the case that seven years ago we put forward a food system strategy to our board, and in it, like a center piece of it was this food system vision prize. And we said, we are going to listen and learn to then refine the contours of the strategy. And, and, you know, I just spoke to what these. Drawing out these key themes showed us. Food is resilience, food is medicine. What do we have now? $220 million. We have now committed, going forward for the next five years on one food is medicine million dollars to a beautiful kind of big bet that takes the regenerative transition and the power of procurement and a focus on children, the next generation, and bonds it together in something that call regenerative school meals. We've just committed $100 million to that. And because understanding the relationship of cultural sovereignty to very specific types of food that grow at specific places and what that means for our physiological needs requires deep science. We have our Periodic Table of food initiative with $20 million initiative. So that's $220 million. And I would give credit to every one of those 4,000 organizations for teaching us, us that that is the direction of travel that we are now committed to taking.
- [42:07]
Dani Nirenberg
Oh, that's. That's so beautifully put and such a great way to sum up what you're doing. So we're going to be in LA next week for the premiere of Food 2050. What do you hope the audience takes away from it?
- [42:19]
Sarah Farley
Hope. Hope with a side order of hope. You know, let's. Let's leave feeling jazzed. When was the last time you watched anything or heard anything on the news where you're like, like, yes. Can't remember, can we? Let's dance out of there. And I hope that the people in a position to kind of think about where this film will go next, will realize how powerful it will be to put it on platforms that can be shared with children, in classrooms, with influencers of all types. That's what I really hope people take from the film.
- [42:58]
Dani Nirenberg
Absolutely. And we have more information on the Food Tank website about the premiere. Where can people find more information about you, Sarah, and the film?
- [43:07]
Sarah Farley
They can find more information on the Rockefeller foundation website. I'm on LinkedIn as well, so, yeah, you'll. You'll be able to find me easily.
- [43:15]
Dani Nirenberg
And the. The URL for the film is food2050film.com
- [43:21]
Sarah Farley
thank you so much, Dani, for this conversation. It's just talking about this and these visionaries, just even the mention of them gets me excited and energized for the rest of my day.
- [43:32]
Dani Nirenberg
And I know you're so happy.
- [43:35]
Sarah Farley
I know.
- [43:36]
Dani Nirenberg
Thank you so much. I will see you next week.
- [43:39]
Sarah Farley
Sounds great. Can't wait.
- [43:43]
Rob Pera
Thanks for listening. If you're not a Food Tank member yet, what are you waiting for? Go to foodtank.com join to become a member today. There's a membership level that's just right for you.