“By 2035, I hope sustainability means farms are truly profitable and farmers are respected as essential professionals. Too often sustainability conversations focus on environmental practices without addressing whether the farmer can actually make a living. Real sustainability must include economic viability. Farmers should be able to pay fair wages, steward land regeneratively, and build stable businesses without relying on constant subsidies or personal sacrifice. If we get it right, sustainability in 2035 will look like profitable farms, healthy soil, transparent supply chains, and communities that know—and value—the people who grow their food.”

- Christa Barfield, CEO, FarmerJawn Agriculture

“By 2035, I hope sustainability isn’t a department in businesses anymore. I hope it’s no longer a logo slapped on packaging. I hope it’s not a report that gets printed on recycled paper while the supply chain runs on massive exploitation. I hope it’s operational, mandatory and incredibly boring in the best way!

I hope by 2035 we have all stopped pretending cheap food that lasts forever is normal…. Cheap flights are normal…. Cheap clothes are normal. Nothing about “cheap” is normal it means damage.
Cheap is subsidized by soil loss, exploited labor globally, polluted water, and communities that don’t have a voice or a platform.

In 2035, I hope food has a face again. I want chefs too know the farmers and not because it looks cute on a menu. I want procurement teams visiting the shrimp ponds instead of just reading the spec sheet. I want the word “regenerative” to mean something measurable….

Working with black tiger prawns for example I saw what it takes to do it right. It’s slower. It’s harder. It costs more upfront. You don’t get to hide from the ecosystem when you’re standing in it. That’s the future I want. Less hiding.

I hope by 2035 sustainability professionals are out of jobs because the CFO understands carbon and believes in its reduction, because the chef understands biodiversity and because the operations manager understands water the way they understand labor.

Integrated. Not delegated.

I hope we’ve stopped calling it “sustainable seafood” or “sustainable agriculture” like there’s another option. If it destroys the system it depends on, it’s not business it’s an inevitable implosion.

I hope supply chains are transparent enough that a 16-year-old with a phone can trace where their food came from and who got paid. And if something’s dirty, it can’t hide.

By 2035, I hope we’ve accepted that some things will shrink. Less volume. Less waste. Less blind consumption less I want it now.

I don’t want a future where we’re congratulating ourselves for slightly less bad. I want a future where restoration is normal. Where we measure success in soil depth, water clarity and species return.

And I hope the people leading it aren’t the ones who talk the best. They’re the ones who have dirt under their nails and lived experience.

Sustainability in 2035 shouldn’t feel like activism. It should feel like competence. And if it doesn’t, then we wasted another decade…. I for one refuse to waste more time.”

- Matthew Beaudin ‘05, Chef & Global Sustainability Advocate, Seafood Watch Blue Ribbon Task Force

“I hope we will make choices that sustain us - both our health and our home - because we want to, because they are more economical, desirable, and easy. I wish we can design a system in which the sustainable choice is more norm than the unsustainable choice.”

- Gesina Beckert, Director of Programs, BITE - Building Impact Through Eaters

“Sustainability is 2035 looks like a generation who never knew anything different.
Students raised composting, growing and eating close to the earth and carrying those habits into adulthood. Food systems that are local and seasonal, less waste and single use items. The real shift will be cultural and driven by the children we are raising today.”

- Leah Botko, SNS, Director of Food and Nutrition, Old Orchard Beach School District

“By 2035, I hope sustainability is deeply rooted in blue foods—making oceans and freshwater systems central to how we feed the world. Sustainable fisheries and regenerative aquaculture are the norm, not the exception, guided by science, strong governance, and transparent supply chains. Blue foods are widely recognized as climate-smart nutrition, providing low-carbon protein while supporting coastal livelihoods and food security.

Innovation plays a big role: seaweed farming improves water quality and captures carbon, shellfish aquaculture restores ecosystems, and alternative feeds reduce pressure on wild fish stocks. Communities that depend on blue foods—especially small-scale fishers—are empowered rather than displaced, with fair access to markets and technology.

By 2035, sustainability no longer means choosing between feeding people and protecting the planet. Instead, blue foods show how nourishing a growing population can actively regenerate our blue planet, proving that healthy waters and healthy diets are fundamentally connected.

By 2035, I think we will have made meaningful progress toward a more sustainable food future by fully embracing blue foods as part of the solution. Fisheries are better managed, with overfishing reduced through science-based quotas and improved monitoring, allowing fish populations to recover while still feeding millions. Regenerative aquaculture—especially seaweed and shellfish—has scaled globally, improving water quality, enhancing biodiversity, and creating resilient coastal economies.

Blue foods are more accessible and affordable, integrated into national dietary guidelines and food security strategies because of their high nutritional value and low environmental footprint. Supply chains are more transparent, reducing waste and illegal practices, while innovation in feeds and processing lowers emissions across the system.

Most importantly, by 2035 we have shifted the narrative: sustainable food is no longer land-centric. By valuing oceans, rivers, and lakes as essential food systems, we have taken a major step toward nourishing people while restoring the planet.”

- Jennifer Bushman, Executive Director, Fed by Blue; Reno Nevada

“What I think by 2035 as a society we will have accomplished towards a more sustainable food future is a reduction in food waste and holding industry leaders more accountable to being smarter with their food waste. By using industry data and even AI I think we can use these tools to better project food usage, consumption and waste to better reduce our food waste.”

- Joaquin Cariaso '22, Sous Chef, Manhatta

“By 2035, I envision sustainability as an integral part of hospitality’s DNA—not a separate initiative, but the very foundation of how we operate. The real transformation will come when sustainability shifts from a conscious intention to the default in everything we do. It will be seamlessly woven into how we plan menus, run our galleys, source products, manage energy, and collaborate with ports and communities. Sustainability will be the standard, guiding our daily decisions and shaping a brighter, more responsible future for our industry.”

- Marisa Christenson '06, Associate Vice President, Food & Beverage Operations and Development, Holland America and Seabourn

“I hope in the near future, before 2035, that sustainability means every person has affordable access to nutritious food — grown responsibly on land and sea — and the basic cooking skills to nourish their body, mind, and spirit. By 2035, we will have elevated nutrition — particularly for brain health — as a national priority, building food systems that honor both the earth and the people it feeds, where wholesome, responsibly produced food from land and water is within reach for all.”

- Linda Cornish, MBA, Founder & President, Seafood Nutrition Partnership

“I would hope that we will have eliminated single use plastics completely and food waste itself is at a very base minimum that only includes things we can't actually safely consume.”

- Jennifer Cox, Senior Vice President of Culinary, Levy

“By 2035 I hope the most celebrated dining experiences will be those that taste good, feel good and do good for the planet at the very same moment.”

- Sushanta Das, Founder and CEO of tRetail Labs

“By 2035, sustainability should look like thriving wild salmon runs, healthy oceans, and fishing communities that can pass their livelihoods on to the next generation.”

- Lilani Dunn, Executive Director, Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon

“I think that Gen Alpha will have quite a bit more food literacy than their current adult counterparts because they are growing up with a food centric video library at their fingertips through social media. Ideally, that food literacy will lead to increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, since influencers and content creators will have hit a visual "easy button" on how to buy, eat, and transform any produce item anyone can think of. That will serve to shift the eating patterns and demands of that entire generation to dishes better for people and planet and impact generations to come. And I think we will have cracked the code on increasing pulse consumption - possibly by rebranding.”

- Lisa Feldman, Senior Director of Culinary, Menu Systems & CSR, Sodexo

“It will be stealth and the food industry will be a major drive.”

- Teresa Fung, ScD, RD, Adjunct Professor of Nutrition, Ruby Winslow Linn Professor of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public, Simmons University

“By 2035, I hope sustainability will be less of a niche concept and more of a built-in feature of how our food system operates. Ideally, healthier and more sustainable food choices will simply be the default in places where people eat every day like schools, hospitals, workplaces, prisons, and the military.

By 2035, I hope we will have moved from small pilot projects to large, real systems-level change. Research like ours is helping demonstrate how dietary patterns influence both human health and environmental outcomes and the goal is to translate that evidence into practice at scale.”

- Christopher Gardner, PhD, Director, Nutrition Studies Research Group, Stanford University

“In 2035, sustainability will look like companies and consumers alike choosing primarily foods grown using regenerative methods. Society at large will have a greater understanding of -- and appreciation for -- the way land and sea are inextricably linked, and we will have laws, policies, and cultural norms that support and improve the health of our entire earth ecosystem. (also: kelp will be in EVERYTHING)”

- Sam Garwin, Director of Market Development, GreenWave

“Consumers will have much greater awareness of and demand for regenerative organic food that will accelerate the transition to regenerative organic agriculture - scaling positive environmental, economic, and health benefits.”

- Christopher Gergen, CEO, Regenerative Organic Alliance

“By 2035, I see the sustainability profile of the CIA elevated greatly. We should be leading the charge in culinary education regarding this topic. I envision us using green energy at our facility. I hope that we will be utilizing at least 50 % of our usable trim rather than composting. Having our own composting plant on campus as well as a productive agricultural area that feeds the school.
I believe that we can accomplish 10 food waste by 2035 if we are proactive.”

- Lynne Gigliotti '88, Chef Instructor, The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY

“By 2035, I hope we see multiple land-based aquaculture companies operating successfully at scale, proving that sustainable salmon production can be both biologically sound and economically viable. For this industry to move forward, it’s not about one company getting it right—it’s about many teams executing consistently across fish health, system design, operations, and product quality. If we can demonstrate repeatable success, we’ll shift perception from “emerging technology” to a trusted, scalable solution for producing high-quality protein with greater control, transparency, and environmental responsibility.”

- Brandon Gottsacker, Chief Executive Officer, Superior Fresh LLC

“Regenerative agriculture is the norm.”

- Jean-Xavier Guinard, Professor, University of California, Davis

“It will have even more urgency than today. Significantly more awareness in the industry; significantly better tools to assess sustainability footprint of individual / business decisions; some progress in actually acting sustainably.”

- Thomas Harter, Nora S. Gustavsson Endowed Professorship for Groundwater Resources in Agriculture, University of California Davis

“I hope in 2035, consumers will expect sustainability as a baseline standard of the products they buy. It will become a more normalized product attribute across menus and retail.”

-Nira Johri, Former Chief Sustainability Officer, KFC (Yum! Brands)

“By 2035 sustainability will read like a well-composed tasting menu: AI-enabled, interoperable knowledge systems inking molecules-to-markets and soil-to-soil, transforming wonky data details into clear decision signals. For farmers this means locally rooted soil and molecular intelligence to grow more biodiverse, resilient crops with fewer chemical inputs. For chefs and processors it means process and recipe guidance that cuts waste while protecting flavor, nutrition and cultural integrity—so sustainability literally tastes better. For institutions, purchasers and consumers it means affordable, machine-verifiable claims at the point of procurement and purchase that make healthy, equitable and delicious choices simple; for regulators it means auditing outcomes instead of paperwork, lowering costs and rewarding stewardship. Simply put: the future of sustainability is delicious.”

- Matthew Lange, CEO and Chief Science Officer | International Center for Food Ontology Operability Data and Semantics (IC-FOODS)

“By 2035, I hope we stop asking people to choose sustainability over deliciousness. The most sustainable food should be the most irresistible food—winning on flavor first, planetary benefit second. When regenerative agriculture consistently produces food that tastes demonstrably better, sustainability becomes a selfish choice, not a sacrifice. That's how we get everyone on board, not just the already-converted.”

- Mike Lee, Principal Futurist, The Future Market & Mise; Detroit, Michigan

“I hope that sustainability in 2035 will be utilizing AI to improve farming and sourcing in order to localize purchasing of products and food.”

- Ryan Luttrell, Assistant Professor, The Culinary Institute of America

“By 2035, I believe we will have made real progress toward a more sustainable food future by redefining value in food and beverage. Sustainability will be reflected not only in what we source, but in how we design experiences and serve people.

Non alcoholic beverages will play a meaningful role in that shift. Applying a zero waste or low waste lens to beverage programs will become more common, using culinary techniques, byproducts, and thoughtful preparation to create drinks that are intentional rather than excessive. Alcohol free menus will help reduce waste, expand creativity, and allow operators to build more flexible, resilient programs.

As the industry continues to prioritize experience, inclusivity will become a core measure of sustainability. Creating spaces where everyone can fully participate, regardless of how or what they drink, will be central to what a sustainable future in food and beverage truly looks like.”

- Christopher Marshall, Founder, Sans Bar

“We're supporting small-scale producers to fill our plates and bellies with oysters, seaweed, silvery fish, and other nutritious, low-impact blue foods”

- Julia Mason, Senior social-ecological systems scientist, Environmental Defense Fund

“If fiber consumption average increases from 15 grams per day to 35 grams per day by 2035.”

- Andrew Mayne, Senior Associate Director of Culinary Strategies, Stanford University

“By 2035, I hope that sustainability will no longer be an aspiration — it will simply be how things are done. Food, packaging, supply chains and dining concepts will be designed with climate and health in mind as a default. We will have made major progress toward a diet that is good for people and planet, not through sacrifice, but because delicious, climate-conscious choices will be the easiest, most enjoyable and affordable ones. If we do this well, sustainability in 2035 will feel less like a revolution and more like common sense — quietly embedded in the food experiences we love.”

- Thorsten Merkle, Professor and Head of the Expert Group for Hospitality & Service Management at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences

“By 2035, we may look back and realize that the most radical changes to our food system didn’t arrive with fanfare, but through a quiet accumulation of small, deliberate choices. Farmers adopting regenerative practices one field at a time. Chefs rethinking waste not as an inevitability but as a design flaw. Scientists turning proteins into something we can grow with precision rather than extract with consequence. Communities rediscovering the power of sourcing food from places they can actually point to on a map.

Add these shifts together and a pattern emerges: a food system that becomes lighter on the planet, smarter in its use of resources, and more resilient in the face of climate and supply-chain disruptions. By 2035, we won’t have solved every challenge, but we will have rewritten the operating assumptions of how food is grown, distributed, and valued—setting the stage for a future where sustainability isn’t a goal, but the default.”

- Colin Milner, CEO of the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) and founder of the active-aging industry in North America

“By 2035, I hope sustainability is no longer framed as an aspirational add-on, but as the default operating logic of the food system. Not something we brand or perform, but something embedded in policy, infrastructure, labor practices, and cultural norms. Success looks less like perfection and more like alignment between environmental limits, economic viability, human dignity, and cultural relevance across regions.

What I hope we’ve accomplished by then is a meaningful shift from fragmented, reactive efforts to durable systems that are harder to undo. Food policy understood as climate policy. Chefs recognized not just as advocates, but as translators turning global goals into everyday action through food that resonates emotionally and culturally. I hope we’ve reduced the most extractive practices, strengthened regional food economies, and made real progress on equity and access.

The 2035 horizon marks a critical midpoint between the urgency of the Sustainable Development Goals and the longer-term 2050 climate and food system targets. Reaching this moment with integrity means we’ve translated ambition into systems, shifting from isolated initiatives to shared belief, cross-sector collaboration, and infrastructure capable of sustaining change at scale.”

- Sammy Monsour '03/'20, Chef, Author, Educator, Food Activist

“My hope is for no more silos. Sustainability, longevity, cultural humility, equity - feeding these values leads to the same plate: one as deeply rooted in tradition as it is in soil.”

- Maggie Moon, MS, RD, Brain Health Nutrition Expert, MIND Diet Meals

“Our food system will be transformed to focus on food for people, rather than feed for animals and fuel for cars.”

- Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University

“By 2035, I hope sustainability is no longer a separate conversation or a buzzword, but simply the way we do things. It looks like food systems that support farmers and workers, nourish communities, and help restore the planet. Most of all, it means practical, hopeful solutions shaped by the people most affected.”

- Danielle Nierenberg, President and Co-Founder, Food Tank

“My hope is that sustainability is no longer something we aspire to achieve, but simply the way we operate. It becomes foundational—embedded into every aspect of a foodservice operation, from sourcing and production to service and waste management. At that point, sustainability isn’t a differentiator; it’s table stakes. The easier, more natural choice is to operate sustainably, and opting for non-sustainable products or practices becomes the exception rather than the norm.”

- Thad Parton, Assistant Vice President, Food & Beverage, Mather

“What we need to accomplish is move toward a healthy ocean, filled with healthy food. Indigenous-led initiatives and ways of doing will become essential in healing our relationship with the ocean.”

- Ken Paul, Principle/Owner, Pokiok Associates

“By 2035, I believe sustainability will be defined less by compliance and checklists and more by creative intelligence; the kind the Chef Brain naturally excels at. I hope we will see a shift from reactive problem-solving to an integrated, intuitive way of thinking where chefs, operators, technologists, and communities co-create solutions that regenerate rather than deplete.

My vision is that sustainability becomes woven into the daily mise en place of every food system. It will not be a department or an initiative; it will be a mindset shaped by data, AI-driven insight, and deeply human values. I imagine kitchens that operate with precision and empathy, farms and producers connected through transparent digital ecosystems, and decision-making guided by augmented intelligence that amplifies our senses, not replaces them.

In the future, sustainability will be smarter, simpler, more relational, and more rooted in stewardship than ever before. Chefs and extended culinary professional world will lead the movement, not from behind a stove, but from a place of holistic, five-dimensional awareness.

By 2035, I believe we will have built the foundation for a truly regenerative food economy. We will have moved beyond “less harm” toward net-positive systems that give back more than they take. Food waste valorization will be normalized. Circularity will be embedded into procurement, menu development, operations, and technology design. And AI will serve as a creative partner that helps us see patterns and opportunities we could never have recognized on our own.

We will also have elevated the role of culinary professionals as strategic thinkers. The Collective Chef Brain...our instinctive blend of sensory intelligence, spatial awareness, creativity, and adaptability, will finally be recognized as a powerful leadership asset in solving global challenges.

I believe we will have measurable progress in K-12 nutrition reform, scalable models for healthier institutional dining, stronger local food networks, and new partnerships between industry, academia, and government that drive innovation at the speed this moment requires. These processes are in place now...

Most importantly, I think we will have rekindled something essential: a shared belief that the future of food is both hopeful and human. And we will have proved that when chefs are empowered with technology, creativity, and community, they do not just cook better; they design better futures.”

- Tiffany Poe, CEC CHE MGT, Principal Consultant and CEO, Tiffany Poe Consulting

“By 2035, I hope the majority of society will hold the belief that convenience is the bane of survival. I hope to see more agrovillages centered around community strength and sovereignty.”

- Mavis-Jay Sanders ‘12, Chef, A Sanders Thing

“I hope that we reframe the conversation to be about intention rather than specific outcomes. By speaking in relatable, human terms, we shift sustainability from being a conversation about biological outcomes to being one about biographical outcomes.

Given the current trajectory of our country, I hope by 2026, let alone 2035, that we have decided that we see our well being as intertwined with that of the broader populace.”

- Barton Seaver '01, Chef, Author, Sustainable Seafood Expert, Seafood that Matters

“Substantially reduce chemical use to grow food. We must.”

- Andrew Smith, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Rodale Institute

“By 2035, I hope we’ve made transparency the norm in food, not the exception. Through science-backed data and clearer storytelling, I believe we’ll be making food decisions that are better for human health, farmers, and the planet—and holding ourselves accountable along the way.”

- Jessica Student, Senior Marketing Lead, Edacious

“By 2035, I believe we will have fundamentally reshaped how food is understood, valued and operationalized across senior living communities—a rapidly growing and influential sector of our food system. We will have moved decisively away from institutional “senior dining” models toward integrated restaurant ecosystems that champion sustainability, nutrient density, human connection and deliciousness as core measures of success.

We will see widespread adoption of plant-forward, climate-smart menus grounded in Menus of Change principles and supported by transparent sourcing, regenerative agriculture partnerships and measurable waste-reduction strategies. Sustainability will no longer be positioned as an aspirational add-on, but as an operational standard tied to healthspan, resilience and wellness outcomes for adults 50+.

Most importantly, by 2035 the dining experience in senior living will be recognized as a driver of public health and environmental stewardship. Culinary teams, dietitians and wellness professionals will collaborate routinely, using evidence-based strategies to nourish people in ways that also nourish ecosystems. Community restaurants within senior living will stand as hubs of culture—places where residents, families and neighbors come together around sustainable food practices that model what the future can be.

If we succeed, we will have demonstrated that sustainability is not only compatible with aging well—it is essential to it.”

- Sandy Todd Webster, '24, MPS, Journalist, Educator, and Consultant, International Council on Active Aging

“Routinely, more plant-based options on menus.”

- Walter Willet, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

“I hope that in the next ten years, we will continue to work toward creating more with less. Maybe that's less packaging or less ingredients or less labor or less equipment - just a overall simplification of our processes, our diets and our lives in an effort to provide more sustainability for our communities.”

- Rachel Wyman ’05, MBA, CMB, Faculty, The Culinary Institute of America