A People’s Forum on Food, Land, Forests & Finance
Description
Doors open at 10:00 AM.
Please register today to save the date and your spot.
Climate Week is full of conversations about transforming our food system. But very few ask who is paying for the system we have now—or listen to the people already fighting to build something different.
Last year, more than 150 people joined us at The People’s Forum to talk about food, land, forests and finance from the perspective of grassroots civil society movements. This September, we’re returning for a second year.
Central to this year’s forum will be the public launch of the landmark report Food, Land & Money: The Case for Dismantling the Agribusiness Financial Complex and Funding the People’s Food Web.
Co-authored by a dozen civil society organizations from across the globe, the report follows the money behind our industrial food system and names, for the first time, the 100 corporations bringing in the largest revenues from agrifood.
But the conversation will not stop at what is broken. We’ll also ask what should be funded, protected, and allowed to grow in its place.
Other sessions throughout the day will explore:
The ties between fossil fuels, agrochemicals, and war
What it takes to make the human right to food a reality
How philanthropic endowments can support community-controlled food infrastructure rather than investing in systemic harms of industrial agribusiness
Land rights, food sovereignty, and the experiences of communities facing land grabs and destructive investments
WHAT TO EXPECT
This won’t be a day of back-to-back panels. Expect teach-ins, lightning talks, interactive discussions and space to meet people working across these struggles. Come ready to join the conversation and leave with new ideas and quality connections.
CO-HOSTED BY
Friends of the Earth U.S., Foodrise, LIFE (Liberating Investment in the Food & Farm Ecosystem), Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network International and ActionAid USA.
Sessions are being organized alongside the Center for International Environmental Law, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Community Food Funders, North Star Fund, Kataly Foundation and others.
Register now to save your spot and stay updated!
Agenda and participating speakers are subject to change.
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PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO, AUDIO AND PERSONAL STORY RELEASE
By registering for and attending this event, I hereby irrevocably grant permission to Friends of the Earth and Friends of the Earth (Action), Inc. and any individual or entity acting by, through, or under it, (collectively the “Releasees”), without payment of any compensation to me and without further notice, consent, inspection, or approval by me, to create photographs, video recordings, and/or audio recordings of me, and to make a record of personal stories I may communicate to them, either as recordings or by written record. The Releasees may use such photographs, video recordings, audio recordings, and personal stories worldwide in perpetuity, as edited, cropped, or retouched, for any purpose, including education and advertising, and in any medium.
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I have read and fully understand this entire document. I am over the age of 18 and have the power to execute this release. Or, if I am under the age of 18, my parent or legal guardian is executing this release on my behalf.
Agenda
- All day
Doors Open
- 10:15 am - 10:30 am
Welcome and Opening Session
We’ll begin with a collective opening grounded in culture, connection and the lived experiences behind the issues we’ll explore throughout the day, acknowledging those that shaped this movement before us.
- 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Fossil Fuel Dependence Is Breaking Our Food System
From agrochemicals to geopolitics and conflict, this interactive session will examine how fossil fuel-dependent industrial agriculture affects human health, wildlife, ecosystems, food security and agricultural producers. Lightning talks and a fishbowl conversation will highlight solutions already helping to build healthier, more just and climate-resilient food systems. Featuring: Manon Rouby, PAN International Co-coordinator; Tadesse Amera, Director of Pesticide Action Network Ethiopia; and Taylor Hodge, U.S. Agrochemicals and Fossil Fuels Campaigner at the Center for International Environmental Law.
- 11:30 am - 11:45 pm
Break
- 11:45 am - 12:30 pm
Making the Human Right to Food a Reality
Right-to-food experts working closely with social movements will examine the barriers preventing the United States from fully realizing the human right to food, followed by an opportunity for audience discussion. Featuring: Doug Hertzler, Senior Policy Analyst at ActionAid USA; Sophia Murphy, Executive Director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; and Alison Cohen, Director of the National Right to Food Community of Practice.
- 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm
Regionally Sourced Lunch
A plant-based lunch will be provided from City Beet Kitchens! They create job opportunities for New Yorkers who have experienced homelessness and former incarceration by training and employing them in the culinary industry.
- 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Endowing a Just Food System
How can philanthropic endowments move more resources, assets and decision-making power into community control? This interactive gathering will bring together funders, movement leaders and community-led institutions to explore what becomes possible when communities have meaningful authority over philanthropic resources. Featuring: Melanie Allen, Co-Director of LIFE, with partners from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Community Food Funders, North Star Fund and Kataly Foundation.
- 3:00 pm - 3:15 pm
Break
- 3:15 pm - 4:00 pm
Land Justice and Land Rights
A conversation about the role of land rights and community control in advancing food sovereignty—and the experiences of communities confronting land grabs and destructive investments. Featuring: Hansika Agrawal, Legal Researcher at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment; Gaurav Madan, Senior Forests and Lands Campaigner at Friends of the Earth U.S.; and Erika Xananine Calvillo Ramirez, Youth Ambassador with the Stop Financing Factory Farming Coalition.
- 4:00 pm - 4:15 pm
Break
- 4:15 pm - 6:00 pm
Launching Food, Land & Money
Join report authors and contributors for the public launch of Food, Land & Money. The session will introduce the Agrifood 100, follow the money behind industrial agribusiness and make the case for redirecting resources toward the people and systems building a different food future. Featuring: Jeff Conant, Deputy Director of Food, Forests & Finance at Friends of the Earth U.S.; Sunita Ramani, Senior Campaigner at Foodrise; Errol Schweizer, food-industry expert and consultant; and additional report contributors.
- 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Food, Land, Forests & Finance: A Climate Week NYC Rooftop Reception
A reception will follow the forum at a nearby location. Details will be shared with registered attendees.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity

