
Photo: MIF 2009 Cambadu retailers, Uruguay.
Last month, the Cracking the Nut Conference on Sustainable Sourcing for Agricultural Supply Chains brought together more than 180 representatives of financial institutions, multinational food companies, technical assistance providers, and donor agencies to discuss some of the challenges and new approaches related to sourcing agricultural products sustainably. Over two days there were more than 20 sessions organized according to three themes: Ensuring food safety and sustainability, Facilitating traceability and certification, and Creatively financing supply chains. The conference raised many interesting questions and offered a number of cases and models that have the potential for scale and replication in our region. While it’s impossible to summarize everything that was said, here are a 3 take-aways gathered from my interactions with fellow nut crackers: