OSIFT 2025-26 Season Kickoff — Dinner + Town Hall @ OSU Food Innovation Center

This season, OSIFT will host an eight-event dinner series (Sept 2025–May 2026) to explore the history, current state, and future of Oregon agriculture and food processing—and ask: what can food technologists and Oregon’s broader food community do to strengthen the state’s processing ecosystem?

Join us for the first event in this series. This season's kickoff is a Dinner + Town Hall at OSU’s Food Innovation Center (Portland). We’ll share a brief season preview and introduce your 2025–26 OSIFT Board, then use a town hall–style format during dinner to gather what people are seeing across Oregon’s food and agriculture—especially processing. Participate at your comfort level—listening is welcome; speaking is optional. We’ll track discussion themes and post a short summary after the event.

Why attend: get a clearer picture of what’s happening in Oregon, connect with peers across the food sector, and spot practical places you and your organization can contribute. As always, OSIFT remains the statewide networking hub for food technologists—with space to learn about food safety, R&D, quality, innovation, and sensory science.

Schedule

• Social: 5:00–6:00 pm

• Dinner + Town Hall: 6:00–7:30 pm

What to expect:

• Participate at your comfort level. Listening is welcome; speaking is optional.

• Short, guided prompts during dinner (10–12 minutes each).

• We’ll track discussion themes and share a brief summary after the event.

Who it’s for:
Open to anyone working in or supporting Oregon food & ag—producers, processors, food scientists/technologists, operations, retailers/foodservice, agencies, educators, and community partners.