2023 Food Waste Solutions Summit
May 16-18, 2023 | St. Louis, MO
Field Trips
Get to know your fellow Food Waste Solutions Summit attendees on a field trip! We're partnering with organizations throughout the St. Louis area to introduce you to the local food system and bring food waste and sustainability to life. Transportation and all costs are covered by ReFED.
Spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis and will close as soon as each field trip's maximum capacity is reached. Release forms may be required for some locations and will be distributed once the final group is confirmed.
To sign up for a field trip, you will first need to complete your Summit registration here.
St. Louis Area Foodbank
- May 16, 1-3pm
- 20-50 people
Roll up your sleeves and volunteer at the St. Louis Area Foodbank, a member of Feeding America. Volunteers work in the Volunteer Repackaging Center sorting and packing food for distribution into the community. This can include building various food boxes, sorting food drive donations, packaging produce into individual family size portions, or other relevant projects contributing to the Foodbank mission. This field trip will also include a brief video about their work and a tour of the facility.
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New Earth Farm
- May 16, 1-4pm
- 25 people
New Earth Farm is a community composting operation located in Old North St. Louis, just north of downtown. While at present they are more focused on hauling than processing food waste, they also maintain a small urban farm with an outdoor compost learning lab. Come see a successfully used aerated static bin 10 feet from the neighbor's window! You'll hear about the composting process and different styles of composting, and you'll learn more about the food waste composting scene in the St. Louis metro area.
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EarthDance Organic Teaching Farm
- May 16, 1-4pm
- 25 people
The EarthDance Organic Teaching Farm is the oldest organic farm west of the Mississippi River. Visitors will enjoy touring different types of sustainable gardens at EarthDance, including a rain garden, herb garden, and "7-Generations" garden. Guests will tour two acres of production fields, learning how this local, small-scale, one-of-a-kind organic farm operates. This includes a visit to the greenhouse and harvest house, which will provide a full picture of how food production and processing works before the fruits and veggies make it to restaurants, markets, EarthDance's "Pay What You Can" farm stand, and ultimately your plate.
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A Red Circle
- May 16, 1-4pm
- 15 people
A Red Circle is a local nonprofit organization combating economic segregation in the North County of St. Louis through employment, education, holistic living, policy, and the arts. Based on the idea that all blood is red and that we are all connected by humanity, A Red Circle works with state and regional partners to equip residents with the tools they need to be financially empowered. Field trip participants will tour A Red Circle and learn about their efforts to address food injustice.
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Operation Food Search
- May 16, 1-4pm
- 50 people
Visit Operation Food Search for a tour of the facility and a hands-on volunteer experience sorting food received from recent food drives. Founded in 1981, Operation Food Search (OFS) is a hunger relief organization that provides free food, nutrition education, and innovative programs proven to reduce food insecurity. OFS provides food and services to 200,000 individuals monthly – one-third of whom are children – through a network of 330 community partners in 27 Missouri and Illinois counties.
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EverGrain
- May 16, 1-4pm
- 20 people
Introduced in 2020, EverGrain is a sustainable ingredient company created by Anheuser-Busch InBev to unlock every grain of potential in its barley to make a positive impact on people and the planet. Join them for an exciting tour through EverGrain’s brand new EverPro Facility. Building 20, originally built in 1905, and Building 270 house proprietary processes to produce EverPro, the world’s first Upcycled Certified, Non-GMO Project Verified protein at scale. The group will break up into three smaller groups for an intimate 20-minute tour through the facility.
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Mighty Cricket
- May 16, 1-4pm
- 10 people
Join Mighty Cricket for a tour of their urban cricket and mushroom farm! Learn about how Mighty Cricket turns waste into food and other innovative products and sample Mighty Cricket's top-selling protein products.
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Missouri Botanical Garden
- May 16, 1-4pm
- 40 people
Missouri Botanical Garden seeds sustainable thinking and practices across its broad-spectrum work, from public education to research. Staff of the Garden's EarthWays Center will lead a walking tour of popular features and work behind the scenes, covering rainscaping, composting, biophilic design, edible and native plant landscapes, green building practices, and more. Your tour will include time to explore the Garden on your own during peak bloom season.
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Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
- May 16, 1-4pm
- 60 people
Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is the world’s largest nonprofit plant science research institute. During this field trip, you will walk through a native tall grass prairie, get an inside look at the state-of-the-art labs, step inside a top-tier research greenhouse, and meet scientists and innovators working to feed the world more sustainably.
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Local Harvest Grocery
- May 16, 1-4pm
- 15 people
Local Harvest Grocery is an independent grocery store focusing on sourcing at least half of its inventory from small farmers and vendors within 150 miles of St. Louis. They're always taking steps towards sustainability – minimizing food miles, increasing package-free bulk options, decreasing food waste through donations and composting, and more. On this field trip, you'll meet with one of the managers to take a brief tour and discuss implementation, goals, and challenges of these strategies.
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