On Saturday, Blue Sky ski lodge, part of the Auberge Collection, became host to the fifth-annual All Things Food and Environment Summit held by Food Tank, an all-day event centered on conversations regarding food and the farmers who grow it. The decision to host the events during the 2026 Sundan ce Film Festival in Park City is meant to call attention to the needs and achievements of the food and agriculture movement amid the multi-day celebration of art and culture, said Food Tank president and co-founder Danielle Nierenberg. “I think they’re so aligned in so many ways,” she said. “Especially right now with what’s happening in Minneapolis and across this country, we need these kinds of gatherings more than ever before because they really bring people together, and they show the humanity and what we’re all trying to do.” There’s overlap with the festival’s programming, too, like the documentary “Food 2050,” screened during the summit, which follows the next generation of innovators in sustainable food efforts. Or the work of actor and producer David Moscow, soon releasing his eighth season of “From Scratch,” a series where he travels the world to discover how food actually gets made.  Food Tank, a research and advocacy organization, is dedicated to highlighting and uplifting stories of the climate and of the people involved in today’s food production. Through her work, Nierenberg said she’s talked with thousands of farmers around the world, and still, their stories aren’t told enough. It’s why she decided to include a “Voices of Farmers” discussion as part of the one-day summit, where seven farmers were invited to talk about their life and experience. “What I am continually surprised by is that not enough of us, not enough governments, not enough international institutions, really honor farmers the way they need to be honored,” Nierenberg said. “At the end of the day, it’s people producing our food. It’s not just farmers; it’s farm workers, it’s fishers, it’s foragers. … It goes back to honoring and respecting them and making sure that they know they are valued.” Based in the Wasatch Back, Lynsey Gammon, the farm director of Gracie’s Farm at The Lodge at Blue Sky, opened up the event with her story, inspired by her Italian grandmother’s garden and motivated by an ancestral connection to farming. At Gracie’s Farm, Gammon leads a team of all-women farmers, something that she described as a return to their roots. “From hunter-gatherer societies to the small family farms to growing food through World War II with the Women’s Land Army, women have sustained growing food and sustained their families and communities from the beginning of time,” she told the room of attendees. Industrialization changed that, and it wasn’t until recent years that women began returning to the practice of growing. “The barriers to entry for women are really high, and they have been for a long time,” Gammon said. “Because of cultural and structural and financial barriers, women have a disproportionately harder time starting a farm business than their male counterparts, and it’s in that gap between possibility and passion that I found my place.” To close, Gammon shared how now, her two daughters help plant snap peas in their garden, the same task she first learned with her grandmother in Lake Tahoe. “In those moments, I hear my Nani speaking to me, and she’s reminding me that this work, the work of growing food, of growing community and growing women, is exactly where I belong,” she said. Nierenberg returned to the microphone, wiping tears from her eyes, and continued to welcome up each next guest speaker in succession. Albert Betoudji, a New Roots farmer based in Salt Lake City, told his story of moving to Utah in 1999 from his home in South Sudan, eventually learning to farm the land and crops that he grew up growing as a child. Paula Swaner Sargetakis, co-owner of Salt Lake City’s Frog Bench Farms, spoke about the importance of involving youth education in her farming work in the valley. AJ Kanip of Ute Tribal Enterprises and Ute Bison Meat Company talked about the efforts of his community to raise bison on reservation lands, following traditional practices that honor the spirit of the animal.  President and co-founder of Food Tank Danielle Nierenberg, left, facilitated a Park City summit along with actor and producer David Moscow. The two, both passionate about the importance of farmers and food producers, spoke about their experiences working with growers around the world. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Between each talk, Nierenberg and Moscow came up to chat as a brief transition. Moscow, over the years of filming his show, said he’d learned so much about the integral role of farmers across the world. “We meet with food producers and farmers, and what you realize is they are the canary in the coal mine for all of us, global climate change, economic issues. They are front and center dealing with it,” he said. After Betoudji spoke, Moscow talked about how, as a kid, he would visit grandparents in Salt Lake City and how much the city has developed over the years. “Today, with immigrants and refugees coming in here, it’s transformed this city. You can go and get amazing food and amazing vegetables that you could never get years ago, and you really see in food how diversity is strength and how we need to support that,” he said. The importance of diversity in the food and agriculture world is another value that Food Tank is built around, and Nierenberg said having diverse voices on the Saturday panels was one way to remind Utahns or Sundance visitors of the true fabric of the state’s growers. While the conversations were light, stories of hope and success, and teasers of Moscow’s upcoming “From Scratch” season, the political unrest in the country created a sense of urgency for those advocates in the room.  Nierenberg pointed out how recent ICE raids and policy changes have a direct, negative impact on the farming community, and gave attendees a call to action. “Across the United States, many communities, especially our food and farming communities, are experiencing fear and uncertainty because of ICE. The relationships and trust that help us thrive are being strained,” she said. “This is happening to all of us. We need to speak up and stand up for one another. We need to tell all our lawmakers that we will not abide the murder of poets and nurses in this country.” The post Local farmer tells her story at Food Tank summit in Park City during Sundance week appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less