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Title:

E-Food Revolution: Interactive Tools to Feed the World

Your vote:
Yes No
Organizer:
Elizabeth McVay Greene, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Description:
The internet could transform transactions across the global food supply chain, from farmers marketing their own produce, to merchants making virtual trades, to consumers choosing products based on highly personalized criteria. This panel explores how the web can coordinate information and facilitate a more transparent, inclusive, and sustainable food system.
Questions
Answered:
  1. Why are interactive tools for the food system important and relevant?
  2. Who is active in the e-food space?
  3. Will web-based tools really be able to reconfigure a centuries-old trading relationship?
  4. Who benefits from tools like these?
  5. How do organic, local, and sustainable agriculture fit into this view of the food system?
  6. How can tools like these be disseminated across the food supply chain?
  7. What kind of information is shared through systems like these?
  8. How will the developers of these tools establish a large enough network to make these systems influential in the food industry?
  9. Are there quality, health, or safety reasons not to start trading food and agricultural products with interactive tools?
  10. Will tools like these reduce the environmental impact of agriculture?
Level:
Beginner
Category:
Branding / Marketing / Publicity, Business / Entrepreneurial / Monetization, Community / Online Community, Green / Environmental, International
Type:
Panel
Event:
Interactive 2010
Santolina Savannet
on 19/8/09
Sounds very interesting!

Jim Johnson
on 19/8/09
Use of the Internet could go a long and astounding way to realize the dream of Economist Barbara Ward (Lady Jackson) for an agricultural-based economy to first "boot-strap" itself and then to thrive. The sooner the better. Great panel!
adrienne Baranowicz
on 19/8/09
So many interesting issues! This sounds like an excellent panel!!!!!
Christiana Obiaya
on 19/8/09
Great panel idea...and some interesting questions raised above.
Elizabeth McVay Greene
on 19/8/09
Hello Everyone!

Thanks for checking out this panel proposal. I have included more detailed information about the panel in this comment, but feel free to email me at elizabeth.greene(at)sloan.mit.edu if you have questions or suggestions.

Content: This panel will move the food conversation beyond niche markets and consider how interactive tools can be used to improve the food system that the majority of the people on this planet depend on. Topics will include how the internet can broaden market access for agricultural producers and consumers at a global level, how environmental and social criteria can be incorporated into companies’ and individuals’ sourcing decisions, and how mobile and web applications can integrate information and improve the efficiency of transactions in the food and agriculture industry in a way that has the potential to shift the industry standard.

Proposed panelists (subject to change): Representatives from The Seam (an online trading platform for cotton, peanuts, and other staples, including for USDA-sponsored programs), FreshDirect (an online grocer that markets and delivers food to New York City consumers), Good Guide (a website that provides many layers of information about consumer products), and Historic Futures (supply chain management software that allows traceability of products and incorporates sustainability metrics).

About me: I am a graduate student at MIT, where I focus on how technology can advance the food and agriculture industry. I have experience with both multinational commodity trading firms and start-ups in the organic sector, and enjoy consuming food products that meet my environmental, social, and nutritional preferences.
Ayusman Sarangi
on 20/8/09
Great topic connecting tech to real world issues affecting billions
Mia Greene
on 20/8/09
All are important questions to ask in an age of increasing and intensifying competition for resources around the world. It's about time someone started thinking outside the box and promoting an alternative way of thinking about food and the global need for access to healthy food and clean water.
Mahogany Plautz
on 22/8/09
I believe this is the kind of thing the internet was made for. Fantastic!
Malcolm McVay
on 30/8/09
Great panel idea! These are very important and timely issues.
kita mcvay
on 31/8/09
This approach is particularly intriguing because it has the potential to bring benefits not only to knowledgeable, well-informed consumers and producers but also to consumers, producers, and their intermediaries in systems where basic sustenance remains a major challenge. I can envision some powerful ancillary impacts in these markets, such as movements to take simple technology to producers in developing countries in order to help them serve their own and the world's needs.
Patrick Martin
on 31/8/09
I think the agricultural business could greatly benefit from better dissemination and sharing of information since transportation is a major cost component of agricultural goods not to mention the obvious negative impact on the environment. A widely used electronic exchange designed around local sellers and buyers of produce would be phenomenal. The local markets could be tied regionally as well to create the most efficient distribution of goods.
on 1/12/09
This sounds like a wonderful, timely topic.
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