The Center for American Food Power, a nonpartisan think tank supported by U.S. agriculture and policy leaders, launched Tuesday to advance a domestic agrifood strategy aligned with national security priorities.
Brett Sciotto, who originally founded Aimpoint Research and now serves as CEO of Idealyst Innovation, co-founded the initiative with Ray Starling, general counsel for the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce and an ag policy adviser in the first Trump administration.
“All this begins with the discussions around the importance of agrifood to Americans and to America in general, and food security being foundational to our national security,” Sciotto said in an interview with Agri-Pulse. “If you believe that, then it makes sense to take the time to establish a common vision and a national strategy in a way that we can collaboratively work together to advance.”
“When you consider objectively all of the dynamics that are structurally straining today's system,” Sciotto went on, “what they mean for tomorrow is paramount to understand.”
The think tank will be looking at three primary areas:
- What are the future needs and requirements for America's agrifood system?
- What are the strengths, constraints and vulnerabilities that keep us from achieving that?
- What transformation, empowerment and innovation are required in order to enable it?
The initiative aims to develop collective recommendations to these questions, with the center taking a collaborative look at the issues from the ground up.
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Sciotto said the group is “not coming into it with any presuppositions,” but instead will take an objective look at future needs, existing constraints and vulnerabilities, and the innovation required to address them. That innovation, Sciotto said, can come in the form of both market and policy innovation.
“When you start to look at how America can not only meet our domestic needs for food, fuel, and fiber but to compete in the world, I think the environment is changing and that merits some careful consideration,” Sciotto said.
The group will spend most of this year studying both the current and future needs of the system to develop a “unified view” of the playing field. The group then plans to release a national agrifood plan at the end of 2027.
“While challenges and complexities will evolve as the world changes, we must not let short-term disruptions prevent us from establishing a long-term plan that preserves American food power and strengthens our industry for the future," said Starling.
Starling served as chief of staff to then-Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue and principal agriculture advisor to the president during the first Trump administration. He also wrote Farmers Versus Foodies, a perspective on who will call the shots for the future of the farming and food system both domestically and abroad.
The initiative will be driven by input from the Food Power Council, a group of agriculture industry and policy experts. Sciotto said they’re actively adding members to the group.
“It's important for us to have broad perspectives not only from agriculture and food, but from national security and from adjacent industries to make sure that we really have a comprehensive view,” Sciotto said. “This is about providing a strategic vision and that is, I think, what is the real opportunity so that we can compete and win and be resilient in the future.”
The council's initial members:
- Chuck Conner, former CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
- Gregg Doud, president and CEO at the National Milk Producers Federation
- Bill Even, commissioner at the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development
- Devin Fuhrman, chief agriculture and sponsor relations officer at Nationwide Insurance
- Joel Leftwich, chief strategy officer at Kansas Farm Bureau
- Julie Anna Potts, President & CEO at the Meat Institute
- Mark Schweitzer, ag Investor and former corporate VP of Global Economic Research at ADM
- Adam Sharp, executive vice president at Ohio Farm Bureau Federation
- Greg Somerhalder, partner and executive adviser for Idealyst Innovation, Former Farm Credit executive
- Dave Spears, long-time ag policy adviser, former CFTC commissioner, and chairman of Agricultural Retailers Association
- Carter Williams, CEO and managing principal, iSelect Fund
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