Leanpath’s CEO Andrew Shakman recently spoke on a panel at GreenBiz ‘26 - an annual meeting of the minds in the world of sustainable business - about how to effectively adopt new technologies for positive food system change, from agriculture and manufacturing to foodservice and end consumers.

Every year, there are a few clear themes that emerge as common topics of concern across industries. This year, one of those was undoubtedly the use of AI and other digital technology for sustainability.

Despite coming from different backgrounds and positions within the food system, panelists from Conagra, PepsiCo, Mill, and Leanpath, moderated by Global Impact Collective, shared important lessons for the successful adoption of new technologies - from AI to precision agriculture to climate modeling - as tools for sustainable food systems change.

First, leading with empathy and empowering users, especially those on the front lines like chefs and farmers, who are the ones collecting the data and ultimately making operational changes. Understanding where they’re coming from in terms of adopting something new on top of their existing responsibilities and challenges, demonstrating clear and immediate value (and ideally, win-wins), and empowering them with ownership and visibility to their own data and information. Being aware of different stakeholders’ needs, speaking their language, and getting in the weeds with them builds trust and mutual respect. When it comes to tracking and preventing food waste in kitchens, it’s important to share why it matters, but also making it relatable - tapping into their personal “why” - and positive - using carrots rather than sticks to address potential concerns around data being used against them.

Second, making the solution intuitive to use and fitting it into existing workflows to avoid creating extra work and disrupting operations. There will inherently be some initial adjustments as with incorporating anything new, but if the learning curve is short and use becomes second nature quickly, the better the chance of success. Beyond workflows, overall timing is crucial - making sure program decisions and operational changes are made during the right planning, growing, or budget cycles. One of the things AI is particularly good at is integrating systems and data which creates less friction, saves time and money, and adds unique value.

Third, building multiple champions so tech solutions are more deeply embedded throughout operations, are more resilient to staffing changes, and benefit from peer pressure and a sense of shared responsibility and stronger commitment. Incentives that compensate for outcomes rather than purely for data collection or arbitrary targets avoid simply box-checking or perverse incentives that unintentionally perpetuate the problem (e.g. setting a goal where the result comes in right on target when it could have gone beyond, or suspiciously close to the goal).

Finally, gleaning insights from the data to make better operational decisions is where the magic happens between humans and technology. Translating theory and automation to actual practices and behavior change increases the impact that would happen with one and not the other.

The use of technology for sustainability was pervasive beyond our panel throughout the conference. Some other major take-aways from the diverse agenda of speakers and sessions were:

• Having a clear business case and multi-pronged approach to sustainability is more important than ever given the current state of US federal policy.
• While brands are still implementing their sustainability programs, the ongoing trend of “greenhushing” - communicating less openly about their initiatives for political reasons, the opposite of greenwashing - is of particular concern to NGOs and consumers.
• Circularity, water, nature, biodiversity, and scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions are garnering the most attention from companies expanding sustainability commitments beyond climate and their direct operations.

If we missed you at GreenBiz or this post sparked an idea and you’d like to connect, feel free to reach out. We hope to see you there next year!