Organizer Profile
Duke Sanford - World Food Policy Center (WFPC)

Duke Sanford - World Food Policy Center (WFPC)

Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Who We Are
Food systems play a critical role in the wellbeing of the world’s population and planetary health, and public policy is the backbone of creating major change across these systems. Improved and expanded food policy aimed to connect issues of major concern around the world - including our own home state of North Carolina - has the potential to improve the lives of countless people, help develop sensible plans for the future, and forestall or prevent catastrophic possibilities such as the world’s inability to feed itself.

Operating within Duke University’s prestigious Sanford School of Public Policy, and under the direction of renowned food expert Kelly Brownell, the World Food Policy Center (WFPC) plays a critical role in catalyzing innovative thinking and coordinated action that is needed to change policy; support strategic, effective solutions and increase investments needed to end hunger, achieve food security, promote sustainable agriculture and impact diet-related disease.

What We Do
By bringing together the top players working in food systems to seek solutions together, the WFPC works to ensure that concern for food policy is at the forefront of local, national and international discourse, policy and action. The WFPC looks at the connection points across four pillars of food systems: Hunger and Malnutrition; Obesity and Diet-Related Disease; Agriculture and the Environment; and Food Safety and Food Defense, to create real-world policy solutions. WFPC identifies critical multi-stakeholder problems and harnesses research, creates an evidence base, convenes change agents and collaborates with policymakers and institutions to improve practices and policies that affect our food system, with positive impacts on public health, the environment, economic development, and social/cultural traditions, with a focus on low-income, marginalized communities.

CONFERENCES AND COURSES