Hosted by the Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC), the Agri Food 2050 event is the next step in the AAC’s broader Agri Food 2050 Initiative—a multi-year effort to identify and act on long-term priorities for Ontario’s agri food sector. With the year 2050 as a focal point, AAC says the initiative explores the big-picture trends shaping the industry’s future: land use pressures, climate change, evolving technologies, labour and demographic shifts and more.
“Ontario’s agriculture and agri-food stakeholders have unique insights and talents to help society collectively respond to disruption and create a future for our next generation,” says AAC Board member Ruth Knight, chair of the Agri-Food 2050 committee. “The Agri-Food 2050 initiative is an invitation to all members of our industry to come together proactively and help create a vision of what we’d like that future of our sector to be.”
The September 17 event will feature:
• Sector-wide dialogue on the most pressing long-term challenges and opportunities
• Interactive sessions to help shape future programming and policy
• Cross-sector networking to spark collaboration and innovation
• Launch of vision-to-action working groups that will continue the conversation well beyond the event
To lay the groundwork, the AAC established a Foresight Working Group to envision three possibilities for how the agriculture and food sector might look in 2050: an optimistic future outlook, a future that maintains the status quo, and a pessimistic future scenario. The Working Group also identified five key change drivers that will influence how the future unfolds: economics, environment and resources, social factors, innovation and technology, and policy and capacity for change.
This year marks AAC’s 30th anniversary and since its founding in 1995. With over 60 member organizations, AAC said it continues to bring together diverse voices to share knowledge, shape solutions, and deliver impactful programs.
Through the Agri Food 2050 Initiative, which is supported by an investment from AAC’s Strategic Initiatives Fund, the organization is using its unique position in the industry to facilitate future-focused conversations, capture key insights through workshops and surveys, and launch working groups to put ideas into action.
As an industry association serving the entirety of Ontario’s agri-food value chain, AAC Executive Director Melanie DiReto said AAC is “perfectly positioned to connect our sector, create space for meaningful conversation, and champion change by bringing diverse voices to the table and building a shared vision for Ontario’s agri-food future. AAC’s identity of collaboration and adapting to change is a good fit for leading this initiative and deepening our commitment to working on behalf of a thriving agriculture and food sector.”
AAC encourages Ontario agri food stakeholders to take part in a pre-event survey to help shape the agenda, and to register early to secure a spot. More details, including the event program and speaker lineup, will be shared in the coming weeks. Learn more and get involved: www.adaptcouncil.org/agri-food-2050-event

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Thompson has been with AAC for 23 of the organization’s 26-year history, first joining in a financial management capacity in 1998 before becoming Executive Director in 2010. In 2020, he was instrumental in the development of Canlead Solutions, an organization formed as a complement to AAC for program delivery. 

DiReto first joined AAC as Finance Administrator in 2006 and has progressed through various finance and administrative management positions. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and played a key role in the establishment of Canlead Solutions in 2020, where she provides accounting and organizational leadership to clients. 

More recently she was essential in the development and launch of the new Canadian Food Innovation Network, where she will continue to serve as Chief Financial Officer.

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