Indiana food and agriculture leaders will come together later this month to help tackle food insecurity across the state.
“People probably don’t realize how big of an issue this is in the state,” says Heidi Spahn, Global Corporate & Community Investment Leader for Corteva. “There are actually 1 million Hoosiers that face hunger.”
And about 300,000 of those are children. Spahn has been spearheading the effort to bring together stakeholders across the food value chain in Indiana to help address food insecurity across the state. That will happen on March 20th with the Indiana Hunger Summit.
Great presentations and activities will take place throughout the day at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, including a keynote from Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America.
“Claire has an amazing personal background and history, and I’ve just been really impressed with the work she’s done there. She was just actually named one of the TIME ‘Women of the Year’, and so we’re excited to have Claire join us for that keynote address and a Q and A session. Martha Hoover is another keynote speaker for us. For those in Central Indiana, you probably know Martha through her restaurant Patachou and the Patachou Foundation and the work that she’s been able to do to address food insecurity here in Central Indiana.”
Also speaking at the Hunger Summit will be Hoosier farmer and former Ambassador to the United Nations for Food and Agriculture Kip Tom. He’ll discuss why food security is national security.
Spahn says farmers are an essential piece of this puzzle to help feeding Indiana’s hungry through donations, but also, “farmers do have, at some point, some waste. Especially when you talk about produce, whether it’s off spec or surplus. How can we make sure that that that’s not left in the field as food waste, that that can get into the hands of people that need it?”
Hoosier Ag Today is involved in the event as well. Along with Spahn, we encourage you to join us on March 20 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in the Purdue Extension Building for the Indiana Hunger Summit.
“If we can all come together, we can be better in helping tackle this challenge,” Spahn says. “Our registration deadline is Monday, March 10, so we encourage people to register sooner rather than later.”
Hear more about the event in the full HAT interview with Spahn below. You can also register for the event here.
