Countless hours of media monitoring – tracking top-tier consumer, industry and global media outlets covering agriculture and food – has culminated in an arduous week of reviewing articles, categorizing trends and finalizing data books. This meticulous research is often an unrecognized aspect of public relations and strategic planning, but it’s an incredibly crucial step. Only after assessing all aspects of a business environment can we draw conclusions and make recommendations to our clients.

In this case, all this legwork was part of NST’s own labor of love – Food Foresight. NST partners with the California Institute of Food and Agricultural Research at the University of California, Davis to develop this annual trends intelligence system for anticipating, planning for and managing trends/issues likely to impact the agri-food chain. Months of monitoring more than 20 issue categories result in data books that are shared with a blue ribbon panel of experts. In December, a roundtable meeting will convene and after days of discussion, implications are validated and organized into a report.