The Future of Food and Beverage Forum USA

27th - 28th May 2026

Minneapolis, USA

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Illya Thomas

Vice President Research & Development

The J.M. Smucker Co.

Ilya Thomas's sessionsView full agenda

Day 0

Tuesday 26th May 2026

Time
Session title
Session type
14:00 - 17:00
Pre-event UMN Forever Green Research Field Tour 
Workshop
17:00 - 18:00
Pre-conference Networking Drinks
Day 1

Wednesday 27th May 2026

Time
Session title
Session type
08:30 - 08:55
Risk, resilience and return: How can we place farmer priorities at the heart of the food system? 
CMB Farms | Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative
Plenary
08:55 - 09:25
From ambition to scale: How is collaboration accelerating regenerative impact? 
PepsiCo North America | Walmart
Plenary
09:25 - 10:10
Food security at 2+ degrees: How can leading brands make their supply chains more resilient through adaptation? 
Sam's Club, Walmart | Mars | Ceres
Plenary
10:10 - 10:50
Speed Networking and Break
10:50 - 11:40
Opportunity in crisis: How to reframe sustainability as resilience, risk mitigation and commercial advantage 
The Hershey Company | Rabobank | McDonald's | SLR Consulting
Plenary
11:40 - 12:00
The future of US food policy: What does it all mean for food production? 
USDA-NRCS
Plenary
12:00 - 13:00
Lunch break
13:00 - 13:50
Breakout track 1 
13:50 - 14:40
Breakout track 2 
14:40 - 15:10
Networking Break
15:15 - 16:00
The ‘’wild west” of supply sheds: Upstream vs downstream, where should you invest? 
3Degrees | Therm
Plenary
16:00 - 16:45
A market for regen: Who’s actually going to buy it? 
Meijer | SIMPLi | PepsiCo
Plenary
17:00 - 18:00
Networking drinks 
Networking
Day 2

Thursday 28th May 2026

Time
Session title
Session type
09:00 - 09:30
The say-do gap: Are young consumers buying more 'sustainable' ? 
Dole Food Company | The Center for Food Integrity | Fairtrade America
Plenary
09:30 - 10:15
Unlocking the commercial opportunity in innovation: How to align R&D, agriculture and nutrition 
Post Holdings, Inc. | The J.M. Smucker Co. | Plug and Play Tech Center
Plenary
10:15 - 10:45
Networking Break
10:45 - 11:35
Investing in resilience: How blended capital, venture funding and partnerships can work together to scale resilience 
Transformational Investing in Food Systems | ING | Danone | Sand County Foundation | The Rockefeller Foundation
Plenary
10:45 - 11:35
The Other Room: The truth about biodiversity: Everyone talks about it, but no one knows how to deliver it at scale 
The other room
11:35 - 12:25
From talk to traction: We keep talking about collaboration, what do we actually need to see this in action? 
Lamb Weston | ADM | General Mills | Future500 | JBS
Plenary
12:25 - 13:25
Lunch break
11:35 - 12:25
The Other Room: Not all processed food is bad: How do we have a better conversation about health outcomes? 
The other room
12:25 - 13:05
Break
13:05 - 14:35
Roundtable sessions 
15:00 - 15:15
Wrap-up and closing remarks 
Plenary

Previous speaker:

Sarah Fox

JBS

Next speaker:

Michelle French

ADM

Contact

For any questions on this event, please contact:

Hannah Oborne

Senior Project Manager

Contact Hannah 

Anita Thomson

Chief Partnerships Officer

Contact Anita 

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