Food and Agriculture UChicago Grad School Social @ Farmhouse Chicago

This winter FEAD , the Harris School of Public Policy's Food Policy and Advocacy (FoPo) group, the UChicago Law School Food Law Society (FLS), and the UChicago Grad School Council hosted over 60 graduate students at Farmhouse Chicago for a food and agriculture soiree extravaganza. The issues of food, agriculture, and nourishing a growing global population span business, policy, science, medicine, engineering and more. So why not get everyone together in the same room to discuss their interests in food/ag from diverse perspectives. This can go a long way towards building relationships and multidisciplinary idea generation. 

There is significant interest in this space from the graduate and broader UChicago community. The Harris School of Public Policy has the Food Policy Group, The Law School has the Food Law Society, and Booth has the Food, Environment, Agribusiness, and Development (FEAD ) Group. Additionally, there is the UChicago Environment, Agriculture, and Food (EAF-- http://eaf.uchicago.edu) academic working group and the Feeding the City project (feedingthecity.uchicago.edu), both composed of graduate and undergraduate students. Finally, last year the UofC Center for International Studies hosted a multi-part series on Global Food Security, bringing global leaders and thinkers together to discuss the issues. Oh, and did we mention that Chicago is a global leader in agricultural commodities and conveniently located in the heartland of American food production. Stay tuned for more of these events in upcoming quarters.  

 Upstairs Room at Farmhouse Chicago, owned and operated by TJ Callahan, a Booth Alumni

From Left to Right: Tyler White (FEAD Co-Chair; Business School), Lindsey Haymes (FoPo Co-Chair; Policy School), Phil Caruso (FLS Co-Chair; Law School), Kaci Farrell (FoPo Co-Chair; Policy School), Carolyn Kriss (FEAD Co-Chair; Business School)

How to Ace a CPG Marketing Interview

This past January, FEAD brought Randy Bangs, an expert on Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) food company interviews, to campus to lead a session for FEAD members on how to ace a CPG marketing interview. Sessions like these are invaluable for helping aspiring CPG marketers break into the industry and job function.

Roundtable Discussion on Managing A Global Agribusiness Brand

FEAD was delighted to host Paul Hillen, Vice President of Corporate Brand and Marketing; and Global Growth, Innovation, and Marketing for Food Ingredients and Systems at Cargill. Mr. Hillen joined a small group of students for a roundtable lunch to discuss the challenges of managing a global brand at Cargill and current brand positioning. FEAD regularly organizes intimate roundtables for its student members with leaders in the global food value chain to discuss ideas and explore challenges in the food system. 

ConAgra Visits FEAD

ConAgra Foods visited FEAD members this past Fall to discuss the company and job opportunities for MBAs. Not everybody knows that Booth's campus, the Harper Center, is named after famous Booth alumni and former ConAgra CEO, Charles Harper. He rescued ConAgra from near bankruptcy in the '70s and drove the stock up 177-fold in 18 years. ConAgra has many exciting opportunities for MBAs interested in food manufacturing and famous brands.

FEAD Fall Forum--"The Future of Food"

On the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving over 80 students gathered at the Gleacher Center to listen to expert panelists discuss "The Future of Food" at the first annual FEAD Fall Forum. Dean Stacey Kole welcomed the audience and thanked Booth's newest professional student group, FEAD, the Food, Environment, Agribusiness and Development Group for bringing the community together to discuss one of the world's most important subjects—food.

The conversation was framed with the fact that by 2050 global food production must nearly double to feed the additional three billion people that will join us on the planet, all within the context of land and water scarcity, climate change, increasing food prices, and an obesity epidemic in wealthy countries like the U.S. The panel was expertly moderated by Professor Scott Meadow, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship, and was structured to include a broad group of perspectives including large global agribusiness and the local, sustainable, organic movement.

Kathy Nyquist of New Venture Advisors, a food and agriculture focused venture capitalist discussed how a new business model known as "food hubs" has the potential to vastly increase the efficiency and lower the costs of obtaining local food from small farmers that traditionally sell food at farmer's markets. Dana Benigno, the Director of Chicago's Green City Farmers Market, added that farmers markets are playing important roles in connecting people with "real" food and the farmers that grow it, in addition to providing people who live in "food deserts," places where no grocery stores exist, access to healthy produce and other items.

Curtis Hector, Senior Brand Manager at ConAgra Foods, one of the world's largest CPG companies, argued that while there is a place for organic and local foods in developed countries, its not a scalable solution to feed the world, including the millions in the U.S. that go hungry every night. He also discussed the role of large CPG companies in making nutritious and healthy food, saying its been difficult for them to develop foods that taste great, are healthy and affordable so as to be accessible, primarily because of cost and taste challenges.

Geoff Andersen, Director of Global Citizenship and Strategic Planning at John Deere, told the audience that the issue of food production isn't really the challenge. We produce enough food today to feed everyone on the planet and new technology will make it possible to double crop yields over the next 10 to 15 years. The real issue he says are thing such as food waste, nearly half of the food produced in developed and developing nations is wasted due to things such as lack of storage, causing spoilage, and logistical and operational challenges regarding moving food from places of excess to places of need. He says that with the utilization of precision agriculture, which involves using satellites and advanced computer technology to deliver the exact amount of seed, fertilizers, and water based on a farmlands location and unique qualities, the world will have more food than we can currently support with existing infrastructure and systems. The challenge will be to innovate and scale at a level never before imagined, creating tremendous opportunities.

Most panelists agreed that Africa will see the next major wave of agricultural development and production, but the challenge will be balancing the roles of small holder farmers and large corporations in producing food.

The evening concluded with food, drinks, and networking on the top floor of Gleacher overlooking the beautiful Chicago River. A thought provoking evening heading into the food-packed holiday season.

FEAD Summer Internship Panel--Start a Career in One of the World's Most Important Industries

Today FEAD hosted a Summer Internship Panel of 2nd Year Booth students who spent their summers at companies such as Starbucks, Brasil Foods, Empresas CMPC, and Spanish Vines. One of our panelists also started his own Agribusiness, Cerazukar, in Mexico after having gone through Booth's New Venture Challenge. 

The panelists discussed what its like recruiting in the food and agribusiness space and how to be successful in networking, securing an interview, and getting a great summer internship. Topics ranged from the best Booth resources to utilize during your company search, to how to best reach out to alumni and HR recruiters. 

Chicago Booth has over 1,000 alumni in the food and agribusiness space, including many current and former senior executives:

• Charles Harper, former CEO of ConAgra (and namesake donor of the Booth's beautiful Harper Center)
• David W. MacLennan, President and Chief Operating Officer of Cargill
• Hugh F. Johnston, Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo. Inc.
• Robert Mariano, CEO of Roundy’s Supermarkets
• Matt Maloney, CEO of GrubHub 
• Ray Young, CFO of Archer Daniels Midland

What many don't realize is that a career in food and agribusiness is an opportunity to engage in one of world's most important areas--the global food system. Did you know that by 2050 the world needs to nearly double global food production to feed an additional 3 billion people? This needs to be accomplished in the context of land, water and soil scarcity, climate change, and declining crop yields, requiring another giant leap in food and agricultural innovation--from farm to fork. It demands global leaders who can comfortably navigate the worlds of business, government, and non-profits to achieve results. 

There are opportunities for Booth MBAs to have an impact while advancing their career in numerous ways and at many different places. Corporate Food/Agribusiness Leadership Programs, startups trying to reinvent the food/ag industry, local farmers markets, governments, and health and nutrition organizations want MBAs. It only makes sense that Booth, Bloomberg Businessweek's #1 ranked Full-Time business school, is working to prepare students to tackle one of the world's greatest challenges--with business solutions.    

2nd Year Panelists Discuss Their Experience Getting Jobs in the food/ag space

FEAD Co-Chair, Andres Imaz, having too good of a time!

We were happy to host Brasil Foods (BRF) for an evening conversation about opportunities for MBAs at one of Brazil's largest and newest food companies. A now 2nd Year Booth student was one of BRF's pioneering interns this past summer and did such a good job BRF is looking to hire 10 new MBA interns this summer. Go Booth! FEAD is actively working to bring new companies, like BRF, to campus to recruit Booth students. The opportunities in the Food and Agribusiness space are tremendous and the challenges related to the global food system are many.