The Food Connection hosted the 7th annual Kentucky Local Food Systems Summit May 21st-22nd, 2025 at The 90 and Fasig-Tipton. This annual event brings together local food systems stakeholders, Extension personnel, farmers, chefs, buyers, and community members interested in building a more robust and connected local food system in Kentucky. This year's Summit was offered in partnership with FoodChain's FEAST event which allowed us to attract more chefs and other folks who may not have attended the Summit in the past. We hosted a half day of the Summit on campus at The 90 and featured sessions on local food as medicine, local food system investments, trends, and opportunities, and a cooking demonstration with the Appalachian Forager focused on locally-foraged foods. The day was capped off with a networking reception and the presentation of the 2025 Food Connection awards -- The Bill Best Award, The Food Systems Legacy Award, and the Food Systems Innovator Award. Day two of the Summit was held at Fasig-Tipton and featured a full day of plenary sessions with chefs and farmers, a keynote presentation by Paula Daniels, and breakout working group sessions focused on local food systems issues.

The impact of this event is measured not only in attendance but in connections made and partnerships forged during the Summit.