Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Registration Fee: FREE (included with trade show admission)

Regulations are constantly changing – make sure your operation is prepared. The American Feed Industry Association's free Feed Education Program provides timely updates on the latest federal regulatory and compliance requirements impacting feed manufacturing. Hear directly from industry experts on evolving expectations from the U.S. Department of Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration and Occupational Safety and Health Administration, while gaining practical strategies you can implement at your facility. Whether you're responsible for production, safety or regulatory compliance, this program delivers the knowledge and connections needed to stay ahead of industry changes.

Sanitation Essentials: Building the Foundation for Food Safety
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Registration Fee: FREE (included with trade show admission)

Proper sanitation is the cornerstone of food safety in meat and poultry processing. This free educational session, hosted by the Meat Institute, provides a practical overview of sanitation fundamentals—perfect for those new to the industry or looking to reinforce their understanding of best practices.

Participants will learn the core principles of effective cleaning and sanitizing, the importance of sanitation in regulatory compliance and public health, and how a strong sanitation program supports product quality, worker safety, and operational success. Whether you're on the floor or in a support role, this session will help you better understand how sanitation contributes to a safe, efficient, and responsible food system.

From Disruption to Continuity: Strengthening Operational Resilience
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Registration Fee: FREE (included with trade show admission)

As USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service expectations remain part of the operating environment for meat and poultry processors, organizations continue to balance food safety, product quality, inspection readiness, and rapid response to supply chain disruptions. From HACCP verification and Sanitation SOP documentation to recall procedures, supplier interruptions, and potential adulteration or misbranding events, organizations need greater visibility across their operations to protect business continuity and customer trust.

This session will explore how leading meat and poultry companies are building operational resilience through end-to-end traceability, real-time visibility, and integrated quality management. Drawing on industry best practices, attendees will learn how digital technologies and connected operational data can help identify risks sooner, support HACCP and sanitation verification, strengthen recall readiness, improve supplier oversight, and enable faster, more confident decision-making across the value chain.

Participants will gain practical insights into creating a more agile and resilient operation capable of maintaining continuity during disruptions while meeting baseline expectations for inspected meat and poultry establishments. Whether responding to an agency inquiry, managing a supply shortage, documenting corrective actions, or executing a targeted recall, organizations that can quickly access accurate information and connect processes across production, quality, sanitation, inventory and supply chain functions are better positioned to reduce risk and protect profitability.

Extended Producer Responsibility 101 for Meat & Poultry: What It Is, Why It Matters and What to Do Now
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Registration Fee: FREE (included with trade show admission)

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging has quickly moved from an emerging policy issue to a business reality for meat and poultry companies. As states implement new packaging EPR programs, processors are facing practical questions: Who is considered the "producer?" Which packaging is covered? What data must be collected and reported? How will fees be determined? And how could EPR affect packaging decisions, supplier relationships, food safety, operations and cost?

This introductory session will bring together three perspectives to help meat and poultry companies understand both the fundamentals of EPR and what implementation looks like in practice. Attendees will hear from an EPR implementation expert who will explain how these programs work and the evolving state landscape; a protein packaging expert who will address the unique challenges associated with meat and poultry packaging, including recyclability, product protection, food safety and packaging performance; and a meat processor who will share the practical realities of preparing for EPR within a complex organization.

Together, the speakers will move beyond the regulatory basics to identify the questions companies should be asking now—about their packaging portfolios, data, suppliers, internal responsibilities and future packaging decisions. Attendees will leave with a practical understanding of EPR, why it matters specifically to the meat and poultry industry, and steps their organizations can take now to prepare as implementation expands across the United States.

Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit
Wednesday, Jan. 26, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Registration Fee: FREE (included with trade show admission)

An ever-increasing population coupled with a changing agricultural workforce has compelled the animal agriculture industry to make sustainability its top priority. Each animal agriculture sector has initiated an industry driven program to define sustainability and measure its commitment to become more sustainable. Representatives of the meat, poultry and animal feed industries will share details on the development of industry programs or tools to advance their aspirations of producing more protein in a sustainable fashion.

The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, American Feed Industry Association and the Meat Institute will share details on opportunities for animal agriculture to advance food supply chain sustainability goals. In addition, the USPOULTRY Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award winners will be announced.

Poultry Market Intelligence Forum
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Registration Fee: FREE (included with trade show admission)

A leading industry economist and industry experts will provide insights into how the domestic and global economies are continuously improving performance and how regulatory issues impact the poultry and egg industries. They will identify challenges facing the industry and discuss how the U.S. and International poultry industries are positioned to move forward.

Your Personal Board of Directors: Building a Network of Mentors, Sponsors & Advocates
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Registration Fee: FREE (included with trade show admission)

No one builds a successful career alone. While having a mentor can provide valuable guidance, the most effective professional networks often include a diverse group of people who play different roles in your career journey—from mentors and sponsors to coaches, advocates, peers and connectors.

In this interactive session, participants will explore how to intentionally build their own "personal board of directors"—a network of trusted individuals who can provide perspective, challenge assumptions, open doors, advocate for opportunities and help navigate career transitions. Panelists will share real-world experiences about how these relationships developed, what made them effective and how they evolved over time.

Attendees will learn how to identify the types of relationships they need at different stages of their careers, find potential mentors and sponsors both inside and outside their organizations and move beyond simply making connections to developing meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of who is currently in their professional circle, who may be missing and how to intentionally build relationships that support both their immediate goals and long-term career growth.

Secure By Design: Intersection of OT and IT
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Registration Fee: FREE (included with trade show admission)

As meat and poultry processors continue to connect production equipment, plant-floor controls, data systems and enterprise networks, cybersecurity is no longer only an information technology (IT) concern, it is a shared operational responsibility. This session will help explore how the convergence of operational technology and IT changes customer expectations, risk management and the design of connected processing solutions.

The session will translate cybersecurity concepts into practical actions suppliers can take before, during and after equipment deployment. Discussion will include secure remote access, software and firmware update practices, visibility into connected assets, segmentation between plant-floor systems and business networks, incident preparedness and the information processors increasingly need from suppliers to support resilient operations.

Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how supplier decisions can reduce cyber risk across the protein supply chain, support safer and more reliable operations and strengthen trust with customers as automation, AI-enabled systems and connected equipment become more central to processing environments.