Friday, October 16, 2026 · World Food Day · Hershey Hall, UCLA
Closing the Circle 2026:Roots, Remedies & Rescue
Three Conversations. One Food System.
A one-day convening for the people who grow, prescribe, recover and redistribute food across Los Angeles County, and the funders and agencies who decide what happens next.
- Date
- Friday, October 16, 2026
8:30 AM to 5:00 PM - Venue
- Hershey Hall, UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095 - Included
- Breakfast, lunch and
afternoon coffee - Admission
- Free. Register now
Registration details
Opening keynote & afternoon plenary
Katherine Miller
Author, At the Table: The Chef's Guide to Advocacy; Founder, Table 81.
Founding executive director of the Chef Action Network and former vice president of impact at the James Beard Foundation. The first food policy fellow at American University's Sine Institute, a Distinguished Terker Fellow at George Washington University, and adjunct professor at the Culinary Institute of America. Named one of the most innovative women in food and beverage by Fortune and Food & Wine.
The content architecture
Three tracks, one loop
Grow, eat, recover, return. The breakouts sit on the three arcs of the same circle, and the schedule is colour-coded so you can see the shape of the day at a glance. Plenaries and cross-cutting sessions bring the three together.
TRACK ONE
Roots
Urban and regenerative agriculture: growing food in a county of four thousand square miles.
- Regenerative & Urban Agriculture
- Urban Agriculture
TRACK TWO
Remedies
Food as medicine: the clinical and public health evidence, and what it takes to deliver it.
- Food as Medicine: From Research to Practice
TRACK THREE
Rescue
Food recovery, waste and equitable access: closing the gap between surplus and need.
- Food Recovery, Access & Equitable Distribution
- Closing Session: how Angelenos think about food waste
Schedule subject to change
The day at a glance
8:30 AM to 5:00 PM: a keynote, two plenaries, a storytelling panel and six breakouts, bookended by breakfast and a closing session. Full agenda →
Getting there
Hershey Hall, UCLA
612 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon coffee are included.
On the day
- Arrival
- Doors and registration open at 8:30 AM. The keynote starts at 9:40 AM, and the conference adjourns at 5:00 PM.
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and afternoon coffee are provided and included with registration.
Before you come
- Venue details
- Arrival and session locations will be shared with registered attendees before the day.
- Questions
- nancy@foodcyclela.org · 323-646-4362
Accommodations & accessibility
Hershey Hall is wheelchair accessible. Need an interpreter or other accommodation? Tell us when you register or email nancy@foodcyclela.org.
Partners
Thank you to our sponsors
Give up a Friday. Leave with the people who can move it.
Registration is open and admission is free. Last year's conference was overbooked, so book early.