Food Systems and the Future

The global food system is under simultaneous pressure from AI adoption, climate disruption, trade fragmentation, labor shortages, and rural depopulation. These are not separate problems — they are interconnected stresses on a system that most policy, most technology deployment, and most leadership frameworks treat as background.

Jesse Hirsh brings a rare combination of working farm knowledge, technology analysis, and systems thinking to one of the most consequential conversations of the next decade. This talk is not about precision agriculture gadgets or vertical farming hype. It's about the structural pressures reshaping what we grow, how we grow it, who grows it, and who eats it — and what leaders in agriculture, government, food retail, and supply chain need to understand now.

Who this is for

Agricultural associations, agri-food industry leaders, rural policymakers, food retailers and distributors, supply chain executives, rural development organizations, and investors with exposure to agricultural or food systems risk.

Audience takeaways

• The interconnected pressures — AI, climate, trade, labor, policy — reshaping food systems simultaneously
• What AI can and cannot deliver in agricultural contexts, and where the hype is most operationally dangerous
• How farming operations and rural communities can build resilience without waiting for policy to catch up
• What the coming decade of supply chain fragility means for food security and organizational strategy
• How to engage diverse stakeholders — farmers, governments, consumers, investors — around agricultural transformation

Sample titles

• Food Systems and the Future
• Feeding the Future: AI, Agriculture, and What Comes Next
• What the Farm Knows: Systems Thinking for the Food Transition

Best formats

Keynote; facilitated roundtable for agricultural sector leaders; policy briefing; fireside with Q&A.