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Kathleen Boomer

Scientific Program Director

Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research

Dr. Kathleen (Kathy) Boomer is the Scientific Program Director for Sustainable Water Management at the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), where she oversees a national research portfolio focused on water in food and agricultural systems. She collaborates across research, industry, and producer communities to identify decision-relevant knowledge gaps, shape research agendas, and translate findings into practical implementation strategies. Her work bridges conservation commitments and on-the-ground adoption, linking research investment, supply chain priorities, and farm-level decision-making to advance water and food security.

Kathleen'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

13:00 - 13:50

Breakout track 1

13:50 - 14:40

Breakout track 2

14:40 - 15:10

Networking Break

15:10 - 15:40

From ambition to ROI with Sustainability Fusion: Measuring the enterprise value of sustainability investments

Deloitte

Plenary

15:40 - 16:10

The ‘’wild west” of supply sheds: Upstream vs downstream, where should you invest?

3Degrees | Therm

Plenary

16:10 - 16:50

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

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

13:25 - 14:55

Roundtable sessions

15:00 - 15:15

Wrap-up and closing remarks

Plenary

Contact

For any questions on this event, please contact:

Hannah Oborne

Senior Project Manager

Anita Thomson

Chief Partnerships Officer

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