FAPC Conference Focused on Going Green in Food Industry
By Mandy Gross
FAPC Communications Services Manager
As a result, the FAPC created a biennial Food Industry Trends Conference to cover important topics and issues affecting the industry.
Sponsored by the FAPC, Oklahoma State Department of Health, Made in Oklahoma Coalition and Charles B. Browning Endowment, this year’s conference held May 20, 2010, focused on “going green” in the food and agricultural industries.
“We hear a lot about the importance of sustainability these days,” said Christina DeWitt, FAPC food chemist and co-chair of the conference. “The conference was designed to introduce people to some of the important topic areas that are relevant to sustainability and provided them with some insight on how sustainability issues are and will impact the food industry.”
Cashion East of the Sustainability Consortium was the keynote speaker of the conference. The Sustainability Consortium is an independent organization of diverse global participants who work collaboratively to build a scientific foundation that drives innovation to improve consumer product sustainability through a product’s life cycle.
“I am happy to say that food and agriculture is leading the charge within the consortium,” East said. “Food and agriculture is the clear front leader.”
A partnership with Arizona State University and the University of Arkansas, the consortium works with farmers, manufacturers and retailers to develop the scientific methods to measure sustainability in supply chains.
“Our main goal is to produce standard methods for gathering and analyzing life cycle data,” East said. “Sustainability helps us mitigate risks. It is a way to control, mitigate and profit from the things we cannot control.”
Other speakers during the Food Industry Trends Conference included C. Brad Williams, Oklahoma deputy secretary of energy; Bud Patterson, Trinity Building and Construction; Wouter Moormann, PURAC; Damian Adams, OSU department of agricultural economics; Rodney Holcomb, OSU department of agricultural economics and FAPC; and Mike Smolen, OSU department of biosystems and agricultural engineering.
The speakers discussed carbon credits, regional energy issues, regional water issues, building envelopes, and green and environmentally responsible food sanitation.
“We were fortunate to have such a variety of speakers discuss many of the areas important to sustainability in the food industry,” said Erin Early, FAPC business and marketing client coordinator and co-chair of the conference. “We had more than 50 people attend the conference, and each received valuable information that will help them implement ‘going green’ practices within their companies.”
J.K. Evicks, environmental manager for BAMA Companies in Tulsa, Okla., said he decided to attend the conference because it was relevant information to assist him in his job of being responsible for environmental compliance and sustainability efforts for U.S. operations. Evicks also said he attended because it was local and inexpensive.
“The conference did benefit me,” Evicks said. “Sustainability is becoming more important every day from environmental, social and financial perspectives. The information presented addressed these impacts and helped to give industry partners a glance of what is coming on the horizon.”
This was the second year the FAPC has held the Food Industry Trends Conference. For more information about the subject matter discussed during these conferences, please visit http://www.fapc.biz/fitconference.html.
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Oklahoma State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, State and Local Governments Cooperating. The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, or status as a veteran, and is an equal opportunity employer.
