Southern Dirt’s Future of Food Conference is shaping up to be this year’s must-attend event on the Western Australian Agri-Food calendar, with an impressive array of speakers and sponsors already confirmed. The conference is being held at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre on the 23rd September 2021.
The aim of the conference is to bring future focused individuals and organisations together to explore where the food industry is heading, with a focus on new food technologies, retail and trade, conscious consumers and the latest research in food for health.
Mike Lee will kick off the event with a keynote address. He is the founder and CEO of Alpha Food Labs, a food innovation company that helps organisations to create strategies and products that are better for people, the planet and profits. Mike will discuss food innovations and consumer trends and how it is essential to rethink the way food is made. He will stay for a Q&A session to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on food markets and the need to pivot in times of change. Other speakers will be announced in the coming months.
Attendees will choose from a range of breakout sessions to attend, which will cover our four major themes.
Technology breakout sessions, will discuss value-add technologies such as sustainable and small batch packaging products and equipment, innovative processing techniques that extend shelf life and the latest methods for protein extraction in grains and legumes. Trust, traceability and transparency within our supply chains will be another hot topic covered during the food technology sessions.
Attracting investors for small businesses can be a time-consuming task and often people don’t know where to start. With this in mind, a panel of experts will discuss the realities of attaining investors and will be joined by a number of food businesses who will provide an insight into the most effective ways to do this successfully. This will run as a breakout session under the theme of retail and trade, with other session topics covering trends in food markets and online marketing.
A range of topics will be examined under our theme of conscious consumers, including the benefits of sustainable food networks, zero waste in the food and beverage industry and a panel discussing what ‘premium produce’ actually means.
Within our health and nutrition topic, panels of experts will discuss how food choices can have a profound effect on overall health. They will look at how certain foods can improve health outcomes and the latest research into the benefits of having a healthy gut microbiome, the factors that can influence it and how the microbiome can impact human health and disease.
The Future of Food conference will also host an exhibition on site, which will showcase the latest in sustainable packaging, demonstrations of innovative food technologies and give small and large organisations a platform to display their products and services.
Do you have an exciting, innovative product or service set to revolutionise the future of the food industry? We’d love to hear from you. Email Hannah to discuss opportunities in this space for your organisation: hannah@southerndirt.com.au.
We would like to thank the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development for their support as our conference partner and Peel Development Commission for the ongoing commitment to the Peel Growers Hub and the agri-food industry in general through their support of events such as the Future of Food Conference.
To register for updates or to find out more, please visit the Future of Food website: www.futureoffood.com.au
