By Julie Anna Potts, President & CEO, Meat Institute

This fall, we’re introducing the Solutions Summit, the next step forward for the Meat Institute’s signature conference. The event many of you have known as the Protein PACT Solutions Summit is now the Solutions Summit, reflecting a broader focus on the business challenges shaping meat and poultry today. As those challenges become more complex and interconnected, the Summit is designed to bring key issues, perspectives, and practical solutions together in one place. Here’s what changed, what didn’t, and why it matters for you and your business.

What Changed

The Protein PACT Solutions Summit was built around sustainability and continuous improvement – priorities that remain central to who we are. What has changed is the scope.

The Solutions Summit is a broader, more integrated conference experience designed around the connected issues shaping meat and poultry processing operations today. The name reflects that broader purpose—grounded in the foundation of Protein PACT while expanding the conversation to meet the realities of today’s business environment.

Why This Matters Now

The operating environment for meat and poultry processors has grown significantly more complex. Workforce challenges, regulatory pressure, technology disruption, cyber risk, supply chain strain, and market volatility aren’t separate problems—they’re part of the same reality. That’s why the Summit creates space to examine these issues together and understand how they affect decisions across the business.

Through peer-driven knowledge sharing, trusted regulatory insight, and high-impact education, attendees can compare approaches, evaluate new ideas, and return to their teams with practical perspective on workforce strategies, regulatory shifts, technology adoption, operational resilience, sustainability, and market dynamics.

This year’s agenda will bring that value to life through sessions focused on those issues and the ways they intersect across companies, functions, and the broader protein supply chain.

What Didn’t Change

The community at the center of this event hasn’t changed. The Solutions Summit continues to be shaped by the people, companies, and shared expertise that have made this conference valuable year after year.

The spirit of the format hasn’t changed either—immersive, discussion-driven, and built around the issues members are navigating every day. What has expanded is the range of roles that can benefit from being part of the conversation. The Solutions Summit is intentionally designed to bring together executive perspective, functional expertise, and emerging talent—because the conversations ahead benefit from all three.

Join Us in New Orleans

The Solutions Summit takes place October 7-9, 2026 at The Roosevelt in New Orleans. As the Meat Institute marks its 120th anniversary, the Solutions Summit reflects the same commitment that has guided our work for more than a century: helping the industry meet the moment and prepare for what comes next.

Early bird registration is open through September 9. I hope you’ll join us in New Orleans and bring the team members helping your company prepare for what’s ahead.

Register now at https://meatinstitute.org/solutions-summit