Farm to Globe: Transforming Our Food Systems presents:
Innovation on the Farm
The agricultural industry has emerged as an epicenter of innovation and collaboration. From robots programmed to pick fruit in urban greenhouses to revolutionary e-commerce platforms, agriculture has proved itself as a hotbed of creative technological and practical solutions. While we often think of these innovations occurring in a laboratory far away, our panelists will prove they’re happening right on the farm. Join us for a discussion on how we can hone our technology and grow our collaboration to create sustainable, everyday solutions that start in the soil.
About the Presenters
Neil Currie’s 37 year career in the agriculture industry has provided broad-spectrum experience in analysis, operations management, trade policy, advocacy and governance. His work has included government and public relations campaigns, strategic planning, finance, facilitation, human resource management and communications. Most recently, Neil managed the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, developing and advocating for farm and food policy at all levels of government. In this role he also co-Chaired the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s development of the National Food Strategy. Neil was CEO of the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency (now EFC), managing the national egg supply, including procurement and sales of $100 million annually and award winning marketing campaigns. He is well versed in trade and regulatory issues at both the national and provincial levels.
Chris Hildreth is a young social entrepreneur taking a systematic approach to help increase local food production in the heart of Victoria. His vision for TOPSOIL is to improve every aspect of our current industrialized food system from production, packaging, transportation, distribution and waste. Chris has a natural ability to inspire passion and enthusiasm when it comes to the benefits of local food production. His knack for bringing together people from a diverse range of disciplines and specialties has been a pillar upon which TOPSOIL is built. A pioneer of urban agriculture in Victoria, Chris is breaking new ground to help build a vibrant local food economy Victorians can be proud of.
Kevin Cussen joined the LiteFarm team in 2020 as product lead. His goal is to put LiteFarm in the hands of 10,000 sustainable farmers worldwide by 2023. Before joining, he occupied roles across the technology sector from helping entrepreneurs integrate technology into their businesses as a Peace Corps volunteer, to building a “campus-in-a-box” for use by educational partners of the US National Parks system, to employing blockchain technologies to ensure responsible sourcing of goods. Kevin holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Texas and an MBA with a focus on Global Business from the University of Washington.
Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh holds the BC Ministry of Agriculture Endowed Professorship in Food and Beverage Innovation. Dr. Pratap-Singh’s research group explores novel technologies for obtaining sustainable improvements in food quality and nutrition. Dr. Pratap-Singh has authored more than 50 research articles on novel thermal and non-thermal processing, encapsulation of plant-based ingredients and food fortification technologies. Dr. Pratap-Singh and his research group works with various BC-based plant-based food processors, berry growers and processors, and nanotechnology based companies and is currently leading the academic planning for the UBC Food and Beverage Innovation Centre.
The Farm to Globe: Transforming Our Food Systems series is brought to you by the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS), the BC Food Web, the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (LFS), and the Royal Bank of Canada. This webinar series focuses on what needs fixing in our food systems and the innovative solutions which could affect change for the better.