What strikes us about Dr. Goldberg’s passion is his desire to unite the food system, as evidenced in his most recent book, Food Citizenship. It highlights a series of interviews asking pertinent questions to those who think about health, nutrition, sustainability, food safety, and governance. He doesn’t believe there has to be a ‘winner’ or a ‘loser.’ He believes in capitalism which proves that companies can still work together to create value for the consumer and value for themselves. 

Dr. Goldberg understands that most corporations, farmers, scientists, and those who make our food believe in protecting the environment and making the high-quality, cheap food we have come to expect. His comments captured that idea repeatedly – the power of personal contact, real dialogue, and human interaction as the foundation of dispelling mistrust and suspicion and allowing those ‘win-win’ opportunities to proliferate. That, he observed, is a key to dealing with all the demands placed on the ag system – in adapting and evolving to deal with food security, environment, nutrition, better food products, etc. on top of feeding 9-10 billion mouths.

Dr. Goldberg is very proud of his latest accomplishment in creating the PAPSAC organization (Private and Public, Scientific, and Consumer Food policy symposium) which brings suppliers, producers, processors, distributors, consumers, scientists, and government leaders together to discuss how to utilize technology constructively and create a socially, environmentally, and economically-sound food system.

Together with John H. Davis, Dr. Goldberg developed the Agribusiness Program at Harvard Business School in 1955. From 1970 to 1997 he was the Moffett Professor of Agriculture and Business and head of the Agribusiness Program. Since 1997, he has chaired the Agribusiness Senior Management Seminars at Harvard Business School as Emeritus Professor and currently teaches a course on Food Policy and Agribusiness at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also the author, co-author and/or editor of 23 books and over 110 articles on the global food system.

We hope you enjoy listening to our discussion with Dr. Goldberg.