Shenggen Fan (樊胜根) is a Chair Professor at the China Agricultural University where he heads The Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy, Former Director-General for the International Food Policy Research Institute (ifpri), he has worked on rural development, poverty reduction, hunger, food security, and nutrition in China, India, and Africa. 

Q: What do you see as the most pressing issue(s) in reshaping the global food system?

Food systems are both victims and contributors of climate change, natural resource degradation, and biodiversity loss. The COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up call that should force us to use all available tools – policies, technologies, institutions, and investments included – to address the pressing need to completely transform our food systems, for human and planetary health.

Q: What would you like to achieve by being a member of the Food Planet Prize Jury?

Help select game-changing Prizewinners with the potential to tackle some of the greatest food system challenges in areas as diverse as policy, institutions, technology and partnership.

Q: What unique experiences or knowledge do you bring to the jury?

As a former Director-General of IFPRI and present Chair Professor at China Agricultural University, I have the unique experience of leading research on- and designing innovative agricultural and food systems policies that improve nutrition and health, as well as support the environment in both developed and developing countries.

More about Prof. Shenggen Fan

Paul Polman works to accelerate action by business to tackle climate change and inequality. As CEO of Unilever (2009-2019), he demonstrated that business can profit through purpose, delivering shareholder returns of 290% while the company consistently ranked 1st in the world for sustainability. Today he works across a range of organisations to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which he helped develop. www.paulpolman.com 

Q: What do you see as the most pressing issue(s) in reshaping the global food system?

The need for a clear shared vision and human willpower.
Never ever have we been so forewarned about what is going to happen but also forearmed with the tools to do something about it. Yet, we seem paralyzed at times. Nature-positive, people-positive, and climate-positive action is what we should aspire to and that starts with people in positions of influence taking ownership of the problem beyond their silos and driving higher levels of ambition. Governments and companies need to align their vision on challenges and opportunities.
The system is broken and needs urgent repair, if we are to feed the world in a sustainable and equitable way for generations to come. We cannot achieve the SDGs without drastically changing our food systems.

Q: What would you like to achieve by being a member of the Food Planet Prize Jury?

We need to catalyze the big ideas to transform our food systems and scale them with speed to achieve the impact needed. The Food Planet Prize can help accelerate the implementation of some of the smartest ideas for people and the planet.

Q: What unique experiences or knowledge do you bring to the jury?

Having run Unilever – one of the biggest food companies – for over a decade, having helped develop the SDGs, and now chairing the Food and Land-use coalition amongst other things, I am convinced that improving our food systems is one of the biggest opportunities to ensure harmony between people and planet earth. I hope to bring in more than the voice of the private sector, as it ultimately boils down to helping the ones left behind.

More about Paul

Gina Hildebrand is a second-generation biodynamic farmer and winemaker. She owns and runs her winery, Lady of the Sunshine, which doubles as an education platform for regenerative farming practices and natural wines, located on the Central Coast of California.

Q: What do you see as the most pressing issue(s) in reshaping the global food system?

The transition from conventional, chemical farming, to regenerative farming and land management at a scalable level. I believe education and implementation will be crucial parts of this process.

Q: What would you like to achieve by being a member of the Food Planet Prize Jury?

Help drive the much-needed shift to a healthy global food ecosystem where regenerative agriculture and land use can bridge the gap between educators, consumers, and policymakers. I want to lift up solutions focusing on restoring and stabilizing our climate.

Q: What unique experiences or knowledge do you bring to the jury?

I am a young, female farmer applying regenerative farming techniques in California – a region severely affected by climate change – and believe my insights on sustainable farming practices will be an asset when evaluating agricultural nominees.

More on Lady of the Sunshine winery

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A leader in the sustainable farming movement, Clara is a second-generation organic farmer, founder of Real Farmer Care, podcast host, farm consultant, writer, TEDx and keynote speaker on four season farming practices, and for the last seven years she led and operated the farm business at her family’s farm Four Season Farm in Maine.

Q: What do you see as the most pressing issue(s) in reshaping the global food system?

First, we need solutions that don’t gloss over the legacy of land theft, colonialism, and slavery that shape our current global food and farming systems, but rather address what’s wrong with the way we grow and share food.

Second, since food and farming are where environmental degradation and social injustice are most intertwined, produce prices should allow for fair wages for farmers and other agricultural workers without excluding low-income households. To produce the so-called “affordable” food, the current system abuses land, climate, and people who grow it but ultimately also those who eat it and are made sick by it.

Q: What would you like to achieve by being a member of the Food Planet Prize Jury?

I am a farmer. I grow and sell excellent food while taking care of the land. And I see how agricultural, humanitarian and environmental disasters occur when solutions are not grounded in practical experiences. I’d like to help ensure that the Food Planet Prize rewards initiatives that take a holistic approach to solving the food system’s problems.

Q: What unique experiences or knowledge do you bring to the jury?

I know the challenges human scale farmers and land stewards face to grow good food, secure their farms’ financial viability, and find a healthy work-life balance season after season. As the Founder of Real Farmer Care, I’ve seen first-hand how important and difficult it is for farmers to take care of themselves. The work is hard on our bodies, our minds, our relationships, and our families, and self-care and community care are critical. This is particularly true for BIPOC farmers who have the odds further stacked against them. I will vote for solutions that take us all into account.

The Four Season Farm