November 1, 2019
Food System Spotlight: Agrifood
A conversation with Dr. Joseph Scimeca, Vice President Global Regulatory & Scientific Affairs at Cargill and industry advisor for the IFSL Program at the University of Minnesota.
What are the top challenges you see for the agrifood industry in 2020 and beyond?
I see three major challenges in agrifood that currently exist and that will only continue to grow in the coming years.
By far, the top challenge is rebuilding and maintaining consumer trust. This trust has been eroding for a number of years, and it's really vital for the long-term interest of our industry to regain confidence and trust in our food supply. This includes the areas of food safety, quality, and how the food is produced.
However, understanding the intricacies of our modern agricultural system is not easy. As with any global and vast industry—such as finance or telecommunications—consumers are put in a position where they, to some extent, have to accept how it's being governed and managed, and hence having concerns or uneasiness about the process is understandable. This makes it even more important that we provide more information and are transparent in how our food is produced and how it reaches a consumer’s plate.
Along with wanting more information about how food is produced, consumers must be made to feel that companies and the government alike are accountable in ensuring the production of safe food. Consumers can forgive occasional mistakes, but they want to see accountability. That includes taking ownership of what has happened and providing assurances that corrective actions are in place so the same mistakes won’t happen again. Consumers expect and deserve this.
The second big challenge in our modern food system is our long global supply chains. Although we refer to the supply chain in a linear fashion, a much better term would be ‘the food supply web.’ Our food supply is a vast network, with many interconnections and dependencies, which makes it imperative to ensure good food safety systems and oversights are in place at each connection in the web.
One challenging part of our vast food web is that fact that much of what the US eats is not produced in the US, especially food that is seasonal or not available near where consumers live. For instance, I am a big fan of raspberries and enjoy them all year around, even when its minus 20 degrees in Minnesota and impossible for them to be grown locally. As long as a good food system is in place, I’m comfortable consuming my raspberries.
The third major challenge is the task of feeding 9.5 billion people by 2050. Food is grown where it’s most economical and feasible relative to land usage, water usage, and other inputs for food production. The reality is, a large percentage of the population does not live where food is most productive to grow. If you look at the high-density areas of our world—1.3 billion in India, 1.4 billion in China, 327 million in US—we have to grow and produce food and then move it to where people live.
On a side note, it’s worth mentioning that the trend of wanting to only eat locally grown food can only work for a small portion of population at certain times of year. In the Minnesota Twin Cities area, on summer weekends I visit a farmers’ market and am able to buy certain produce that was grown within a 60-mile radius. But the fact is, a large portion of what I and other consumers rely on regularly isn’t possible or simply doesn't grow locally—coffee, bananas, spices to name a few.
How should we be addressing these challenges?
The complexity of the food supply web is a challenge for both consumers, and the professionals trying to improve it. So how do we address these challenges? The answer is we have to elevate cooperation amongst all stakeholders in our food system. This is the only way we can begin to get our arms around such a complicated system.
Cooperation that goes across sectors, a true public private partnership, is the only way to make progress in improving food safety and rebuilding consumer confidence in the system. Still a lot of work to be done on this, and we can point to some successes, though key to reaching our goals is establishing trust between government and industry.
If you think about it, government and industry have the same goals for a safe food supply chain. The concept that the food industry is only out for the bottom line and will cut corners and not do the things that are needed to ensure safety is a myth. Every single person that works in the food industry is also a consumer, as are their families, friends, and their community. Thus, this notion of not being out for the best interest of consumers from a food safety standpoint does not make sense, and does not work from a sustainable business model standpoint either. Every business needs a strong, loyal consumer to buy their products, and in order to develop and maintain that loyalty they must deliver a safe, quality product.
The food industry has to collaborate more with regulators and view regulators as partners rather than adversaries. And while there may be a few examples of this ‘gotcha’ concept, regulators are truly out to protect public health and recognize that the best way to do that is by collaborating with the food industry. Academia also plays a vital role in all this, as they are needed to develop a capable food professional workforce needed to fuel both the private and public sectors.
What do you see as the biggest need from a knowledge and leadership skills standpoint both within your industry, and within the food system as a whole?
Based on my experience, what I see as most important is strategic thinking: being able to see the broad horizon and not have blinders on. Being able to focus on tasks ahead and completing them in a timely manner, yet still understand their relevance against the bigger picture. A real cliché, though very relevant to this point, is the concept of being able to think globally and act locally: the ability to do your tasks, your job, but in the context of the bigger picture.
Another key area of deficit in both the private and public sector is the ability to assess food safety risk and to manage and communicate about this risk appropriately. It’s easy to go with a zero-risk approach. Yet this zero-risk approach is just impossible—life is risk. How you prioritize and manage risks, and then mitigate the greater risks by driving them to an acceptable level are critical skills. Thus, you have to be comfortable in a risk-based environment and understand how to compare and prioritize to ensure your focus is on mitigating the highest risks.
To help foster leadership skills, what is your advice for industry professionals and organizations?
By far, have a high degree of learning agility. The food industry is very dynamic and fast paced, and science moves quickly. To operate effectively in our industry, you must be willing to learn new things every day, be comfortable having a learning mindset all the time.
Second, be a team player. My generation’s training and higher education was more traditionally based on individual learning from classes and books with minimal interactions and discussion. Academia is recognizing the need for collective and cooperative learning among the students.
Work done in the food industry is generally done in teams, with decisions being made on collective input, analysis, and judgment. The systems are too complicated for one person to have a handle on all the relevant information. It is really important to be a team player and be comfortable contributing to the success of the team. And if you are going to lead teams, it is critical to be inclusive in the team’s approach and thinking. Teams need a broad base of individuals to ensure diversity in thinking and to get the best inputs into the decisions that need to be made.
Third, the industry needs individuals with good problem solving and judgment skills. It needs leaders who can make logical evaluations of multiple disparate but interconnected points of data, information, and/or concepts in order to reach a solution. Historically, the food industry has fostered this type of skill through on the job, real-world training. Now, the academic system has gradually been teaching students and fostering this type of synthesis skill set, going beyond just memorizing facts and regurgitating the information.
Lastly, as an IFSL program advisor, can you share why you’re involved with this program?
The food industry is an exciting and dynamic industry, yet it is under appreciated by many entering the workforce or those professionals considering different job paths. It offers incredible opportunity for advancement, and to learn on the job, though it may not come across that way. Food is not as sexy as technology or some other industries, but it is a great field for scientists from many different disciplines. You may have opportunities to travel, experience new cultures, and work with people all over the world that are all collectively dedicated to improving the safety of the food system.
I’ve found my career to be very rewarding, and I want to expose other people to what our industry has to offer and help people grow within the industry. That is why I’m involved with the IFSL program. The IFSL’s systems thinking model provides the opportunity to build a strong foundation of both knowledge and critical thinking skills in just 13 months, versus the gradual learning and development over the course of 10, 15, or even 20 years.
Dr. Joseph Scimeca, Vice President of Global Regulatory and Scientific Affairs for Cargill, provides leadership for ensuring company food and feed products are safe and compliant with relevant laws and regulations. He has held a number of leadership, regulatory and scientific positions in the food industry including with Kraft, Pillsbury, and General Mills.
For more information about the University of Minnesota’s IFSL Program, visit https://ifsl.umn.edu. IFSL Program applications are accepted on a rolling basis for the next cohort. Download a program brochure or schedule a consultation call for more information.