Food Tank

Food Tank: A Food Think Tank, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2013 by Danielle Nierenberg and Ellen Gustafson to reform the food system. Its goal is to highlight environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty.

In 2015, Food Tank launched its first Food Tank Summit in Washington, DC. Since then, Food Tank has been holding a series of summits in various cities, each with a different theme of the food system. These conferences gather dozens of experts across all sectors of the food industry, including business, government, nonprofit organizations, farmers, unions, and chefs. In 2016, summits were held in Washington, DC, Sacramento, CA, São Paulo, Brazil, and Chicago, IL.

The organization’s website is a publishing platform for news about the food industry and system, and it also provides research and analysis with the goal of building a science-based foundation for changing the food system. Topics covered include sustainable agriculture, climate change, food waste, urban agriculture, and policy and organizing.

In 2014, Food Tank partnered with the James Beard Foundation to publish an annual “Good Food Org Guide,” a comprehensive directory of nonprofit organizations that are working toward a better food system. Such organizations include those working to combat childhood obesity and malnourishment; protect food and restaurant workers; preserve traditions, culture, and biodiversity with indigenous communities; and educate and inspire individuals to cook their own food.

In 2014, Food Tank was the official North American Partner of the United Nation’s International Year of Family Farming with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).