What’s one of the biggest things a large, international conference can deliver? To me, it’s connection.  

Of course, learning new things, exchanging ideas, and gaining practical skills are all critically important. But a good conference is one where people leave the venue feeling more connected to other people—with a deeper understanding of how other people around the globe think and work, but also with a sense that they are all moving in a common direction. 

By that measure, I believe the GFN Global Summit 2024 was a success. 

Last week, around 350 food bankers, food system leaders, and partners gathered in Sydney for the Summit. The event was filled with high-energy conversations, thoughtful plenaries, and many lively breakout discussions, as well as hands-on learning opportunities that included visits to local food banks, markets, a cooking demonstration, and even a trip to the zoo. In all, we had representatives from over 50 countries in attendance, reflecting the diversity at the heart of the Network. 

As attendees arrived in Sydney, a super typhoon bore down on East Asia, an ominous and a visceral reminder of the real-world urgency of our conference theme, the intersection of climate change and food banking. The conference captured the various challenges that climate change poses to food production, food access, and supply chains, as well as the innovative ways that food banks can and are responding, whether on the local, national or global level.  

From my conversations with conference participants throughout the week, a few big ideas emerged. These were discussed in sessions and the hallways, and hopefully they will be carried forward as participants return to their respective homes.  

4 BIG IDEAS

Here are four ideas that stood out to me: 

Agriculture Recovery: In many discussions about how food banking fits into the broader food system while providing people with healthy food, agriculture recovery was a recurring theme. 

Over the past couple of years, food banks in the Network have been expanding their work to collect more food that would otherwise go to waste from farms. This approach has several benefits, including expanding the supply of healthy food (since fresh fruits and vegetables tend to be nutritious) and supporting local farmers through bartering and trade. Collecting food from farmers is a big opportunity for food bankers, especially as food donations from some large food retailers, traditionally the top suppliers of surplus food, have decreased in recent years. We are seeing the expansion of agricultural recovery in many food banks, including Banco de Alimentos Honduras, Banco de Alimentos Quito, Food for All Africa (Ghana), Food Banking Kenya, and Rise Against Hunger (Philippines), just to name a few. GFN also recently added a full-time staff member, Phenny Omondito oversee the organization’s global agricultural recovery work. Expanding agriculture recovery is an area to watch in the coming years. 

Innovation: Innovation is admittedly a broad category, but it’s also at the heart of food banking. It was exciting to talk to so many food bankers who are carrying out food collection and redistribution in so many different ways. Some are following a more traditional model, collecting from retailers with warehouses and trucks, as exemplified by our visit to Foodbank NSW & ACT during the conference. In other regions, food banks are developing new models to collect and distribute food via apps and other technology. Online tools, like FoodCloud and Foodiverse, are becoming more common and having a greater impact connecting surplus food directly to communities.

Food bankers are entrepreneurs by nature, even beyond technology. Faced with rapidly evolving circumstances and challenges, they constantly adapt to find ways to get food to those who need it most. School feeding programs, partnerships with hotels and restaurants, barter systems with farmers, and other innovations are essential to their success. 

This focus on innovation was also captured by the GFN’s Innovation and Excellence Awards that were unveiled at the Summit. The awards were given in three categories, with 13 finalists and three winners. The first two awards were selected by a panel of jurors, and a third was voted on among conference participants. The winners were: 

1) Community Impact Award: FoodCycle Indonesia for its Food Rescue Warrior project. 

2) Outstanding Partnership Award: BAMX Nuevo Leon de Caritas de Monterrey for its Zero Hunger Strategy. 

3) Innovation Award: Food Banking Kenya for its Solar Dehydrator program. 

Methane: One of the potentially most impactful recent developments at GFN has been the launch of a new methodology to measure methane emissions from surplus food collection and redistribution. The methodology was developed by GFN, through funding from the Global Methane Hub and in partnership with the Carbon Trust, among many others, and it represents a major step forward in accurately measuring methane emission reductions through food banking and similar activities. 

The methodology and its associated tools will help food banks, companies, governments, and other groups that are looking to build the evidence for the effectiveness of food collection and redistribution to avoid emissions, as well as to set policies and strategies in this space. The methodology was piloted by food banks in Quito and Mexico, and GFN is working with food banks to expand its use in the coming months. 

GFN released the methodology ahead of the Summit, and it was a frequent topic that emerged in the plenary and side sessions.  

“Working to [show] the carbon footprint of the work we do will really go a long way, and I believe that’s what I will be sharing with the team [after the conference],” said Elijah Amoo Addo, founder of Food for All Africa in Ghana. 

Policy: Another topic that I heard mentioned frequently at the Summit was the role of food banks in advancing government policies that can spur more food donation and redistribution. This work builds on one of GFN’s flagship projects, the Food Donation Policy Atlas, which is a partnership with Harvard’s Food Law and Policy and Clinic. The Atlas team has conducted research in 24 countries to identify best practices for policies that support food donation.  

We had several sessions to explore this work, which featured reports from countries that are seeing progress, whether it’s a new law passed, for example in Singapore or Colombia, continuing efforts in South Africa and Australia, or breakthroughs in Ecuador or Thailand. Advancing policy is one of the most important ways to spur progress in food collection and redistribution and is clearly an area where food banks are having an impact. 

A SPIRIT OF GOOD WILL 

Beyond these ideas, many of the participants remarked on the spirit of collaboration that permeated throughout the conference. There was a genuine spirit of goodwill in the rooms, where people wanted to learn, share, and support each other. This spirit was paired with a deep sense of respect among the participants.  

“The collaborative spirit, and knowing the deep connections we made will be followed through long after this conference has finished,” said Suzanne Mooney, founder of The Lost Food Project, via social media. “Food banking is truly a special industry because we all have the same goal. So getting together to share ideas and help each other is so vitally important. This is how change happens.” 

In a world where differences and divisiveness are often front and center, the sense of shared goals and connection stood out.  

I left Sydney feeling grateful to all the participants who engaged with an open spirit; the generosity of our in-country hosts, Foodbank Australia; our generous sponsors who made it possible; and a great team of planners and organizations who looked after all the details. 

I am hopeful that all the attendees left Sydney buoyed by a shared sense of connection as well as a firm commitment to continue to advance our goal of nurturing people and the planet together.