Emissions, nutrition, livestock, and capital: Moving from binary debate to sustainable solutions
Brought to you by the Protein PACT with co-convener UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies
Conversations about meat and dairy are too often framed in binary terms. Debates about what role meat can play in sustainable, healthy diets are often black and white, overlooking nuances related to health and nutrition, interplay of animal- and plant-sourced foods, and livelihoods and experiences of producers who manage land, animals, and food systems on the ground.
This full-day program brings together producers, researchers, investors, innovators, and policymakers to explore a more complete vision of sustainable diets, one that integrates human health and consumer choice, environmental outcomes, and economic viability.
Aligned with the International Year of the Woman Farmer and the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, the event will build common ground and advance real solutions centered on real-world experience, evidence, and systems thinking.
9:15 - 10:45 a.m.
Are Cattle Ready for Capital Markets? Public and Private Investors' Perspectives on Protein
Co-organized in collaboration with Bloomberg
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Measuring what matters - Data, evidence, and impacts
Featuring: Eric Mittenthal, Chief Strategy Officer, Meat Institute; Sarah Klopatek, Owner and Principal Consultant, Klopatek Livestock Solutions; Jason Rowntree, CS Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Director, MSU Center for Regenerative Agriculture, Michigan State University; Marlowe Ivey, Pork Producer, Razorback Farms LLC; Ramsay Huntley, Senior Advisor, Innovation & Strategy, Yield Lab Institute
12 - 1:30 p.m.
Lunch
1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Resilience & Reductions: Implementing innovations and scaling solutions
Co-organized in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund
Featuring: Nicole Jenkins, Manager, Beef & Poultry Sector, EDF; MacKenzie Waro, Sustainable Protein Specialist, WWF; Minnie Ringland, Senior Manager of Climate & Insights, ReFED; Tara McCarthy, Global Vice President of ESG, Alltech; Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, CEO & Managing Director, Food Systems for the Future
2:45 - 3:45 p.m.
Sustainable Production and Trade for Resilient Food Systems
Featuring: Dr. Heather Fowler, Director of Producer and Public Health, National Pork Board; Dana Downing, Senior Vice President, International Programs, North American Renderers Association; David Fisher, President of the Board of Directors, New York Farm Bureau and Owner, Mapleview Dairy; Michael Schumpp, Vice President, International Affairs, Meat Institute; Paul de Silva, Regional Manager North America, Meat & Livestock Australia
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Protein PACT reception