The Future of Food and Beverage Forum USA

27th - 28th May 2026

Minneapolis, USA

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Whitney Mayer

Head of Global Sustainability

The Hershey Company

Whitney Mayer'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
Scaling innovation beyond pilots: How to build sustainability into R&D for long-term strategic advantage 
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? 
Starbucks | Sam's Club, Walmart | Mars | Ceres
Plenary
10:10 - 10:55
Speed Networking and Break
10:55 - 11:45
Opportunity in crisis: How to reframe sustainability as resilience, risk mitigation and commercial advantage 
Sprouts Farmers Market | The Hershey Company | Rabobank | McDonald's | SLR Consulting
Plenary
11:45 - 12:15
The future of US food policy: What does it all mean for food production? 
USDA-NRCS
Plenary
12:15 - 13:15
Lunch break
13:15 - 14:00
Breakout track 1 
14:00 - 14:45
Breakout track 2 
14:45 - 15:30
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
Plenary
17:00 - 18:00
Networking drinks 
Networking
Day 2

Thursday 28th May 2026

Time
Session title
Session type
09:00 - 09:45
The say-do gap: Are young consumers buying more 'sustainable' ? 
Dole Food Company | McCain Foods | The Center for Food Integrity | Fairtrade America
Plenary
09:45 - 10:30
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
10:30 - 11:00
Networking Break
11:00 - 11:45
Investing in resilience: How blended capital, venture funding and partnerships can work together to scale resilience? 
Transformational Investing in Food Systems | SVG Ventures | Danone | Sand County Foundation | The Rockefeller Foundation
Plenary
11:45 - 12:30
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
12:30 - 13:30
Lunch break
13:30 - 15:00
Roundtable sessions 
15:00 - 15:15
Wrap-up and closing remarks 
Plenary

Previous speaker:

Nick Martin

Post Holdings, Inc.

Next speaker:

Jason Bell

SLR Consulting

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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