Welcome to the Breakout Session Submission Site for the Sustainable Agriculture Summit

Summit Theme

During a period of rapid change and innovation, farmers are pursuing tools, technologies and practices that help to improve productivity, profitability and environmental outcomes. Collectively, U.S. agriculture can create a roadmap for how global food and agriculture production will meet the challenge of the 21st century — producing more with less while staying economically profitable and preserving finite natural resources in a changing climate. The 2019 Sustainable Agriculture Summit, Accelerating Progress: A Roadmap for Sustainable Agriculture, will explore key drivers in defining and advancing sustainability across the industry, and surface innovative pathways and solutions to scale up our positive impact like never before.

Considerations for Selection

Proposals will be evaluated based on alignment with the conference theme and selection criteria, with emphasis on their appeal to our diverse audience of food companies, government agencies, academics, conservation groups, and farmers. Additionally, the ability to drive the sustainability conversation forward for the food, farming, and agriculture industries’ value chains will be considered. Preference will also be given to unique proposals that otherwise conform to the session formats as outlined below and/or compelling speakers or panelists. Only presentations offering a vendor-neutral session will be considered. Selection and scheduling for breakout sessions will be at the discretion of the Summit organizers.

The Summit organizers request proposals that: 

• Directly connect with the theme of this year’s Summit 

• Creatively showcase how challenges can be turned into opportunities 

• Consider the natural resource, economic, and human challenges and opportunities from which we can craft the sustainable supply chains of the future 

• Feature projects, collaborations, and successes that shine a light on possible sustainable futures for agriculture and the food industry 

• Are interactive and have given thought to different methods for involving the audience (see example session formats below) 

• Are engaging, with preference given to sessions that do not include lengthy, text-heavy PowerPoint presentations, with most interactive formats or photography rich presentations preferred 

• Include multiple, diverse perspectives (including supply chain segment, commodities, geography, experiences, etc.)

To promote a more engaging, interactive, and dynamic environment, the following session formats are included as examples: 

• Story Session- speakers will be asked to share authentic experiences from their sustainability stories, including challenges, successes, and aspirations 
• Technology Session- discussing current technology that is redefining the industry, with an eye towards what is on the horizon 

• Creative Session- discussing a theme or research question from an out-of-the-box perspective

Breakout Themes

This year the Summit organizers will be looking for submissions that will fall in to one of the themes outlined below. Tracks and themes are subject to change based on the quality of submissions. Please click here for a full list of this year's themes. 

Please click here for speaker responsibilities and submission requirements.

Proposal deadline has been extended to September 10th.