Speakers at NABC 22 addressed the science linking agriculture, food, and nutrition to health, with the goal of informing both research priorities and government policies that seek to improve human livelihoods.

Agriculture and conventional food systems have provided the basis for long and healthy lives, which have improved dramatically over the last century, and much of that improvement can be traced to healthier diets. At the same time, we are faced with a growing critique that conventional food systems are a significant contributor to the health crisis that developed countries are facing, particularly related to obesity and diabetes. With this dichotomy—agriculture and diet being both the problem and the solution to an increasing health crisis—NABC 22 was framed, focusing on research strategies to better promote health through food and diet as well as on how governmental regulatory systems are providing oversight of the relationship between food and health.