52 • URNER BARRY'S REPORTER / VOL. 19, NO. 1 / WINTER 2024
Buyers and sellers from across the supply chain gathered for a marathon weekend
in Chicago for the annual Urner Barry Global Protein Summit, held at the Intercontinental
Magnificent Mile Hotel. The conference caters its content to those in the beef, pork,
poultry and seafood markets, analyzing the biggest events impacting pricing,
and the major pain points in the sectors.
The fourth iteration of the Global Protein Summit came with new faces and innovative market
discussions to cover the gamut of center of the plate protein topics. For one, this year's Global
Protein Summit was the first to be held by Urner Barry in collaboration with Mintec, following the merger of the
An educational and networking marathon…
two companies in early 2023. Mintec provides market intelligence
on commodities foreign to Urner Barry subscribers, such as
grains, weather, dairy, cocoa and more. Some of the Mintec
analysts on hand were able to present on topics such as grain
prices, forecasting into the protein sector, and cost modeling for
the food sector.
Another new edition to the Global Protein Summit was the
inclusion of the Women in Food and Agriculture Roadshow. This
tour of educational sessions began at the FeedInfo Summit in
Vienna and then concluded at our event in Chicago. The Women in
Food and Agriculture initiative is a mentorship program for women
in the sector who are looking to grow professionally through
understanding the pathways of other women in the industry,
while having a mentor who can help them on their journey.
The sessions at the Global Protein Summit highlighted female
leadership, encouraging diverse workplaces, hiring practices
and navigating minority solutions. While primarily attended by
females, some of the men in the audience learned a lot from the
educational speakers. Allan Bean, COO of TradeCafe, one of the
sponsors of the event, took some key lessons back with him to his
leadership role.
"We are in an industry with historically high turnover rates, human
capital challenges, and tend to be laggards in software adoption.
To combat all of these, it's important that we attract a diverse
group of candidates that provide balanced views and varying
approaches to the challenges we face," said Bean. "Individuals
Urner Barry's Global Protein Summit
returns to Chicago