Explore Official Dialogue Feedback

1. Who needs to be involved and what actions need to be taken to ensure the involvement and empowerment of women working in the meat sector? The participants noted: • There’s a need to invite women in: The meat industry workforce is made up of 36% women. Women are heavily represented in the most junior roles in the sector and under-represented at every level above junior level, with women holding just 14% of board-level director roles and 5% of chief executive roles (MBW Research 2020). Access to external networking groups such as MBW can provide the support, contacts and encouragement tha... Read moret women in more gender-balanced sectors might normally find within their workplace. Mentoring, and particularly formal mentoring schemes, can play an important role in helping women making key decisions and supporting them in their careers, the MBW mentoring scheme launched in 2021. • The whole supply chain needs to work together in order to attract and retain female talent. • There’s a clear link between increased gender equality and a more sustainable meat industry: Businesses with diverse workforces: o More accurately represent their customer and employee base, meaning they have better access to vital insights and perspectives o Have more diversity of thought, which drives innovation and better risk management o Have access to a wider range of leadership styles, which drives engagement and productivity o Are more profitable and have better share prices. • A global representative body such as MBW is required in order to accelerate change. Read less

2. What are the missing links in the diversity and success of the meat sector and how will better gender equality address this? The participants noted: • The meat industry needs to improve its image: Despite the existence of a wide variety of jobs in a range of environments, many people outside the sector are only aware of a narrow selection of roles, usually limited to farming and butchery. These preconceptions are compounded by an increasingly negative dialogue around the environmental and health impacts of meat production. Examples of best practice within businesses include engaging with ... Read morelocal communities, creating internships and job placements, showcasing female role models on literature and advertising and using gender-neutral language during recruitment. Initiatives such as MBW’s One to Watch prize help showcase female talent in the sector and make role models more visible. • There’s a need to profile female role models: The meat industry has an opportunity to transform public perceptions and increase the diversity of its workforce by crafting, curating and communicating its story and making people aware of the roles and opportunities that exist. • There’s a clear link between increased gender equality and a more sustainable meat industry: Businesses with diverse workforces: o More accurately represent their customer and employee base, meaning they have better access to vital insights and perspectives o Have more diversity of thought, which drives innovation and better risk management o Have access to a wider range of leadership styles, which drives engagement and productivity o Are more profitable and have better share prices. • A global representative body such as MBW is required in order to accelerate change. Read less

3. What impact could gender equality have on producing more sustainable food consumption patterns? The participants noted: • Educating consumers should be a priority: Improving consumer education around healthy, sustainable diets could be a genuine game-changer in terms of the shift to sustainable consumption patterns. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how disconnected consumers in many parts of the world have become from the food they eat. However, the lifestyle changes that have resulted from the pandemic also present an opportunity to address this disconnect as people are spending lon... Read moreger at home and may have more time to devote to cooking and eating. • Influencing women is essential if progress is to be made in this area, as women are predominantly responsible for making decisions regarding feeding their family. In order to have the maximum impact this education needs to begin in the classroom. Initiatives which link consumers to their food, for example LEAF’s Open Farm Sunday in the UK, also have a role to play in achieving this outcome. • There’s a clear link between increased gender equality and a more sustainable meat industry: Businesses with diverse workforces: o More accurately represent their customer and employee base, meaning they have better access to vital insights and perspectives o Have more diversity of thought, which drives innovation and better risk management o Have access to a wider range of leadership styles, which drives engagement and productivity o Are more profitable and have better share prices. • A global representative body such as MBW is required in order to accelerate change. Read less

4. What impact could gender equality have on the productivity of the meat sector? The participants noted: • There’s a need to break down divisions within organisations: Within food production businesses in general, and the meat industry in particular, there tends to exist a division between the workforce who are office-based and those employed in operational areas. This can be compounded by divisions along other lines such as gender and language. Better socialisation of these groups and blending different areas to remove the perceived divisions can help improve communication, ultimately in... Read morecreasing people’s sense of belonging within the workplace and making it a more attractive proposition to new entrants. • MBW’s global mentoring platform, which launched in 2021, will help achieve this within the meat sector by forging strong links between women in different business areas. • Those who attribute importance to physical and financial productivity targets (everyone from industry leaders and financiers to small farm owners) need to be engaged in order to appreciate that what might seem like “losses” to output (such as time invested in training and social activities) will, in the longer term, improve gender diversity and softer productivity measures in parallel. Ultimately this will lead to improved physical and financial performance. • There’s a clear link between increased gender equality and a more sustainable meat industry: Businesses with diverse workforces: o More accurately represent their customer and employee base, meaning they have better access to vital insights and perspectives o Have more diversity of thought, which drives innovation and better risk management o Have access to a wider range of leadership styles, which drives engagement and productivity o Are more profitable and have better share prices. • A global representative body such as MBW is required in order to accelerate change Read less

5. How can the meat sector drive gender equality and drive change? Participants suggested the following solutions: • Enable flexible working: Flexible workplaces are an essential enabler for creating an inclusive working environment. Women are still more likely than men to care for children or elderly parents and therefore more likely to look for workplace flexibility when considering employment opportunities. • Create working models that support those with family responsibilities: This is one of the most important actions that businesses can take to enable women to progress into leadershi... Read morep roles. • Map out clear career pathways: In order for the meat industry to be considered an appealing career option and ultimately attract and retain a diverse workforce, it’s vital to create visible pathways for progression across a range of career options. Stronger graduate programmes, for both university and school leavers, that give a rounded experience of various business functions, are a key part of this, as are clear pathways for internal progression. • Know the data: Understanding how many women are working at all levels within the meat sector and what the enablers and barriers are, using the MBW annual gender representation report, is essential if there is to be genuine change. • There’s a clear link between increased gender equality and a more sustainable meat industry: Businesses with diverse workforces: o More accurately represent their customer and employee base, meaning they have better access to vital insights and perspectives o Have more diversity of thought, which drives innovation and better risk management o Have access to a wider range of leadership styles, which drives engagement and productivity o Are more profitable and have better share prices. • A global representative body such as MBW is required in order to accelerate change. Read less

Participants in this Dialogue were very diverse in terms of their experience, job roles and geographical location, however there was very little opposition in their views. Many had encountered similar challenges during their careers and very similar solutions were identified by the different breakout groups.

The Africa Vice-Chancellors joined the Sustainable Food Systems discourse to ensure that Africa does not only feed itself but feeds the world. The African University Vice Chancellors committed to driving the sustainable food system transformation agenda not just from the faculties of agriculture but university-wide in partnership with governments, development partners, private sector, civil society, consumers and international university partners in order to ensure healthy food, healthy people and a healthy planet. In addition, the Vice-Chancellors committed to reimagining the role of our univ... Read moreersities for transdisciplinary knowledge co-creation and in particular the role of science and innovation in defining the food systems that Africa wants. The Vice-Chancellors emphasized the following: • Seek transformational approaches and solutions for broad societal interest and the common good; • Embrace collaboration and transdisciplinarity, ensuring the right skills and talents are around the table to address the challenges at hand; • Mobilise resources and harness partnerships for greater leverage, innovation, and impact; • Adopt a systems thinking approach to deal with the complexity inherent to sustainable food systems; • Co-design and co-create research and initiatives; • Embrace diversity and inclusivity to enrich research project design and expected outcomes; • Harness technology, ICT and Big Data as critical enablers; • Ensure ongoing relevance of our research, in line with changing societal needs, with appropriate translation into practice for sustainable and resilient food systems; and • Maintain a continuous pursuit of quality and excellence. • Frequently test our guiding principles against the evolving issues (new pandemics and shocks) we need to grapple with. The Vice-Chancellors envision an opportunity to bounce back better through: • Transformed African agriculture and food systems for improved health and livelihoods with shared prosperity. • Sufficient, safe, nutritious, culturally appropriate and consumer-driven food for 21st century Africa. • Empowered graduates, researchers and demonstrated research excellence. Read less

In the food systems within which your university is embedded, what are the key constraints that prevent transformation towards a more sustainable system? - Multi-stakeholder engagement o No organized structures for linkages between the various actors in the food system o Lack of coherent linkages among stakeholders o Youth restlessness not only an African problem, but a global challenge o Silos between universities and other institutions and within our universities between departments agriculture, education, and research institutions due to lack of knowledge on systems as a whole and in their ... Read morediversity. - Political Support o Poor links with ministries. Contributions of universities is seen as not important o Political red tape especially at municipality level, redirecting food waste, include industry in repurposing food waste, food waste at farm level is more streamline but logistically difficult - Capacity Building o Skills gap – we need to train students to address the problems of the past and train them to be practitioners in the food system - need to be trained to address problems of the future. - Resources o Inadequate funding for implementing programs- priorities of funders and government do not merge the major issues that need to be addressed in the food system o Inadequate capital to cope with rising costs of inputs, especially in livestock production o Unsustainable resource mobilization - Knowledge / Information gap o Poor identification of leakages along the food systems – data gaps e.g., what is the scale of food wastage in our region? o Uncoordinated resource mobilization o Poor flow of information, including agricultural advisories - Markets / Infrastructure o Logistics for small-scale farmers to move agricultural products o Limited storage and processing constraints and difficulty in accessing export market as well as lack of knowledge on quality of diet and nature of food regimes. o Economic constraints- poor technology and pricing system; Environmental constraints include poor soils and water system; Social constraints include, poor business networks and Governance constraints include poor policy support, poor market infrastructure and - Shocks o Climate change and unpredictable conditions is a challenge o Negative impact of climate change which has resulted in serious need for irrigation systems Read less

In the food systems within which you university is embedded, what are the key opportunities for transformed, sustainable food systems? - Infrastructure / markets o Leverage on ICT infrastructure that is already in place to develop solutions to community problems o During Covid-19 many lessons were learnt. Food tunnels at universities were used to feed students and teach them that sustainable food systems start at home. Food gardens are an important component. o Displaced people during Covid started food gardens successfully o Look at foods that are lacking in the diets such as fresh fruits and... Read more vegetables. More fruits and vegetables are needed to increase nutrients of concern in the diets of the continent. Production, processing, distribution and education integration to achieve solutions in the future o Innovation and digitalisation to increase resilience and productivity of small-scale farmers o The Covid19 crisis indeed could be an opportunity to think of more locally rooted food systems (what foods I can get from my environment?) - Stakeholder engagement /collaboration / partnerships o Opportunities for change through forums such as this dialogue o High percentage of young people in the region. They are creative and yet have not been given the opportunity to explore in sustainable food systems o A critical mass of people interested in business o Identify where the main leakages occur along the food system, which will create opportunities for research, collaborations as you fill the leakages. o There is immense opportunity for collaboration locally, regionally and internationally to advance understanding, strategize, build capacity and harness opportunities o Invest in diversification of agricultural production and consumption to curb the double burden of malnutrition o Emerging structure to break silo's between institutions but also within an institution. Often the focus is on a particular commodity - rather than on a food system including all multidisciplinary aspects and all stakeholders - Resource mobilization o There are opportunities for funding - Research opportunities / Capacity Building o Transdisciplinary research teams from different departments within Universities Public health problem is a problem that needs to be solved in real life and not only by research and academics, focus on production to consumption, include all the different departments to work on food system o Universities can share and learn from each other in regards to developed online courses and resources o Global nutrition summit is important as research is needed from higher education systems o Opportunities for business, research and collaborations o Availability of skilled and unskilled labour for farm activities; abundant fertile land, tropical ecology and grass lands and huge local markets due to adequate population, which translates into potential demand for all foods from agriculture o Emerging attempts at new forms of cross-disciplinary training focused on food supply chains & production systems together, so that agricultural extension and marketing, processing and digital innovation can be brought together. o Some attempts to link universities with agricultural colleges and ATVETs so that innovations will flow through the whole system and have impact Read less

What partnerships are needed to unlock these food system transformations? • Partnerships o Sustainable partnerships that have equal engagement and benefits –Partnerships should be mutually beneficial to all o Partnership with private sector, government (at national, regional and global level) community and academia– to ensure sustainable food systems (Mess problems require multiplicity of partnerships to get solutions) o strengthen our partnerships for better and richer learning and knowledge creation across global regions (North-South) as well as strengthen the south-South collaboration... Read mores o Public private partnerships with support from government o Partnerships with civil society o South-South-North partnerships o Partnerships with all stakeholders in the FS, including policy makers local institutions- they would have to develop policies based on evidence and have strong political commitment and be more coordinated o Universities should balance, population increase, which is at a progressive rate whereas food increase is at an arithmetic rate o Partnerships in the 'green education column': university - colleges – ATVET; there is a need for Universities to build synergies and multi-disciplinary approach to solving problems o Universities need equitable partnerships with a training focus as well as research o Needed Partnerships are in the areas of research and innovations so as to increase agricultural productivity; mechanization and technology-driven value chain • Stakeholder engagement o Universities must leave the ivory tower mentality - universities to should connect with communities to address food system challenges o Universities (in the cities) must connect with farmers in rural areas to ensure relevant research • Research / ICT o Linking research, extension and the end users o Leverage technology to enable connection Read less

Given that food systems are typically comprised of many different actors, what are the challenges to traditional university governance systems? - Political / Socio responsiveness o Slow to respond – have culture that they are not to provide solutions for community problems o Most universities are public institutions; therefore, their policies are aligned towards the political agenda of the sitting governments therefore have no absolute academic freedom o The structures are generally not responsive to food system challenges o Interference by government o Lack of/weak policies on partnership, ... Read morecollaborations and linkage building. o Civil societies can be helpful in unlocking governance systems o Supportive policies for farmers as they are the providers of food, economic incentive for farmers, how universities approach policy agendas - Inclusivity o Lack of academic freedom which affects creativity and innovation o Silos of disciplines within universities - Strong Institutions o Innovative in the way we think and approach problems, policy challenges are a real problem, deepen governance and practicality of it o Create strong African think tanks and support government think and innovation, CoE’s is important - Capacity Building o Skills for trades in all the major areas need high tech facilities on campus but finance is limited so rote learning remains the main option o University staff have limited time /opportunities do research. Most of the time is spent on education o University system does not focus much on skills of the students they produce to be agile interdisciplinary professionals o Minimum effort to move towards sustainability science, which put a variety of actors at the same table to actually define research questions and go together to try and answer them would help end up with agreed upon solutions Read less

What are the skills and capabilities that Universities need to provide to its researchers and students to navigate, trigger and steward complex food system transitions? - ICT o Application of technology to tackle complex problem o Innovation in technology to scale-up agricultural productivity and accelerate food security such as solar, wind, water energy and agro-processing o Digital innovation - Entrepreneurial Skills o Co-create innovation/solutions that respond to community needs o Hands on skills o Critical thinking, Problem solving and Communication skills o People (Soft) skills o Entrepr... Read moreeneurship for the youth, young women and mothers to be involved in the food system o Entrepreneurial skills within different stakeholder groups connecting different universities - Networking o Collaboration skills (for private sector engagement) o Critical thinking skills and communication skills o Open-minded and receptive to informed change o T-shaped skills- possess excellent knowledge of and skills in specific areas and are good at working with others in a collaborative way - Research o Translation of research results to inform policy and practice o Curriculum must be relevant to the needs of the society o Agricultural Sciences is important to sustain and improve the food system o Researchers and students should be strongly encouraged to embrace practical, on-farm skills o Skills in interdisciplinary work and transdisciplinary (working with all stakeholders), graduates should be able to have meaningful conversations with all o Both soft and hard skills that allow management of people, materials and processes in the agricultural value chain. In other words, build skills in sustainability science, which means being solution-oriented / multi-actor and inter-disciplinary focused research as well as teaching. o Build skills on how to integrate teaching, research and service to community better close the loop to enhance sustainable food systems; skill at public policy analysis skills is also very important o Focus on applied research rather than basic research, in view of the transition we want to achieve. Read less

The African Vice-Chancellors’ regional food systems dialogue was convened to provide a multi-stakeholder platform for stakeholders to explore various existing and emerging approaches that have the potential to deliver sustainable solutions at scale and encourage collaborative action in to directly inform the United Nations Food Systems Summit proces. The Africa Vice-Chancellors’ regional food systems dialogues were represented in the following regions of the African continent: • East Africa • North Africa • Southern Africa • West Africa The Food Systems Dialogue program featured a ... Read moreplenary session and four parallel African geographical regions (East, North, Southern and West Africa) break-away sessions. The dialogue provided time and space for informal discussion groups, enabling participants to engage fully. Social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, formed part of the communications strategy to promote the dialogue as well as disseminate proceedings and outcomes. The Vice-Chancellors were joined by selected representatives of the scientific committee, food systems academics, policy experts, and the participants from the regional food systems dialogue to craft the message and shape pathways to sustainable food systems that will inform African universities` contributions to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. Read less

Below are few of the areas of divergence which came to light during the multi-stakeholder Dialogue: • Stigma associated with traditional crops and food – people think it is not ‘modern’ enough. o Need for awareness and changes in the policy to address this stigma/notion. o Recipe demonstration in schools etc. • Even if ecological farming is good, we are not able to scale it up. o Policy push is the need of the hour. o Revitalization of procurement to secure assured marketing. • Agriculture is considered only as ‘crop’ farming, hence other important components of livestock, fore... Read morest, fisheries, commons are missed out – which also plays an important role in diet - o Policy push towards more convergence. o Integrated farming systems needs to be boosted. • Production, market and consumption does not understand each other’s pain point. • The stakeholders, especially NGOs actively working on issues related to food systems need to work on farm to fork concept. • To promote local food systems, Government should take proactive steps for decentralization of the procurement rules for public service program. Local food systems could be a viable option to address hunger and malnutrition, however, there is lack on intent to promote and sustain it. • Government appreciates organic farming, however there is not much effort as there is a misconception that organic production cannot cater to the large scale need of the state. There is also no assured markets available for farmers. Read less

The Sub-National level UNFSSD convened on 13th April 2021 primarily aimed (i) to collate suggestions on improving food systems in Jharkhand, considering aspects of production, livelihood, nutrition, consumption and resilience associated with Food; and 2) feed the collated suggestions to Jharkhand’s mainstream processes and UN Food System dialogue. The virtual summit brought together key stakeholders including farmers, community leaders, network leaders, CSOs, academicians and government representatives to guide individual and collective action towards a future of food that is sustainable, eq... Read moreuitable and secure. This report analyses the feedback/recommendations put forth by the conveners and participants during the multi-stakeholder Independent Summit Dialogue on ‘food systems’ in Jharkhand. Overall, the content of the Dialogue was highly appreciated by the participants as it covered a diverse range of aspects under the discussion of Food Systems. It was especially found relevant in the current context when the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impacts have brought about a gamut of vulnerabilities into sharp focus and compelled the world to rethink about our food systems. The Dialogue witnessed insightful discussions by farmers and community leaders, and other subject matter experts generating comprehensive knowledge around land, water, and forest. The Dialogue focused on all Five Action Tracks decided in the UNFSSD. The current food systems of the world, including India are highly inefficient and inequitable in terms of production, distribution, and consumption. Jharkhand, home to a dominant tribal population, echoes strong symbiotic relationship between forests, land, and water. Here, people’s livelihoods are primarily based on agro-forestry. The agriculture practices in the state are gradually being influenced by urbanization, mining and industries, contract farming, etc.; land degradation and land erosion of topsoil are some of other crucial issues which is affecting productivity and soil quality. As Jharkhand is rich in minerals, availability of safe drinking water is also a concern issue in many places. A large portion of uplands remain underutilized due to lack of irrigation facility. According to ICAR data, only 9.5% the cultivated area in Jharkhand is irrigated. Productivity of a single crop is not enough to measure the success of agriculture; diversity of crops in farm, using fallow land should also be considered as major indicators which has a direct impact on diet diversity. It is quite evident that chemical fertilizer also play a major role in environmental degradation, operational health hazards and perpetuation of lifestyle and non-communicable diseases. In the wake of the pandemic there is a consensus among the nations of the world to transform the way the world produces, distributes, consumes and thinks about food is the need of the hour. A broad understanding is emerging that our food systems are a key factor in the environmental emergency: they contribute massively to malnutrition, global warming, biodiversity loss, land use change and soil nutrient loss. This makes it vital to transform the way the world produces, consumes, and thinks about food. Jharkhand being the state of untouched traditional wisdom and hub of nature friendly practices of food production and consumption, is an important example of sustainable practices involved in food systems. However, the voices of many crucial food system actors, have so far been underrepresented in the academic and policy discourse around food systems. Read less

The Independent Food System Dialogue, Jharkhand created a space for an essential dialogue and discussion especially during the pandemic which is severely affecting the food systems. Various dimensions of Food Systems such as social, economic, political environmental, health, livelihoods etc. were discussed during the Dialogue which was divided into three sessions. The first session was the keynote address given by Dr. T. Vijay Kumar, Special Chief Secretary to Govt., Natural Farming, Agriculture Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh; second session focused on Action Track wise breakout sess... Read moreions, and the final session was a panel discussion on recommendations by the participants. Below are a few key findings and recommendations derived from the five Action Track discussions. • Jharkhand is a state of high undulated terrain resulting in large soil erosion, dominated by indigenous communities with a rich knowledge base of local and traditional crops and food systems. Most of these traditional systems are gradually eroding due to input intensive practices and energy dense food patterns promoted by the market. • It is important to encourage and ensure participation of the rural community in the planning process and execution of emerged plan for community led conservation of traditional high yielding seeds, soil water conservation measures. • Smallholder farmers play a crucial role in the growth of rural economy, not only in Jharkhand, but many part of the world by their multifunctional role of diverse food production, seed conservation and nature positive production pattern. Hence, it is very important to build their capacities on climate resilient farming systems and practices through practical demonstrations and accompaniments. Participatory Action Research (PAR) on crop performance/cost benefit analysis in control plots systems help in building confidence of small holder farmers. Along with this, vulnerability of the landless people also needs to be addressed adequately. • Emphasis to be laid on ‘nutrition’ besides ‘securing food’. Nutritious food in Jharkhand and many other places in the world is also being contributed by Tree based food, uncultivated forest based, traditional crops. It is important to bring back dignity of all these. • Reframe the National Procurement Policy of the government to buy local crops and supply them in public sector programs like Public Distribution System (PDS) in India. The National Food Security Act of India, specifically sections 3, 4, 5 and 31 have provision to support and promote the above action. • A collaborative platform is needed to take the discussion forward on issues related to agriculture, food and nutrition, and dietary diversity in the state. This platform can facilitate and promote possible innovative knowledge and practices in the state. Read less

Owing to the ongoing rise in COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the Independent Summit Dialogue was organised online. The 3-hour programme showed an overwhelming response on the discussion topics by the diverse subject matter experts, panelist and smallholder farmers who participated and contributed to the Dialogue. The online platform, Zoom was used for facilitation of the Dialogue where everyone’s participation was ensured. The Dialogue was facilitated by representatives of the Civil Society Academy (CSA). The dialogue entailed clear and was divided into three parts – the first session wa... Read mores the keynote address shared an overall objective of the UNFSS, second session was a break out session on five Action Tracks. For each break out session one Facilitator/Rapporteur and one Keynote speaker were assigned; the third and last session was a panel discussion, where all the rapporteurs presented key recommendations on the five Action Tracks from the breakout session. A standardized format was used to capture each Action Track discussion to maintain uniformity. Food insecurity is a multi-dimensional issue, therefore it needs a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral approach to address the issues. However, there is lack of convergence in true spirit that is not significant to address the issue at the government level. Most of the time food security means proving benefit under certain schemes, like subsidized food at school childcare centre or households through fair price shop. As an outcome of the Dialogue, below are the issues which needs urgent action (in the next six months): • Framing agriculture policy for the state of Jharkhand with strong focus on ecological farming. (Action Track 3) • Forming a working group to facilitate action research and policy advocacy on efficacy of various nutrition sensitive farming and traditional food system and diet diversity. (Action Tracks 1 and 2) • Brining in various relevant campaigns and networks together on a platform to multiply already existing practices across the country. Some of these network are - Right to Food Campaign, MGNREGA Watch, Jharkhand Van Adhikar Manch, Sukhar Virodhi Abhiyan etc. These platforms could be used to share the possible innovative knowledge and practices in agriculture in the state. (Action Track 4) • A large-scale mainstream supported program on women led climate resilient ecological farming to be framed and advocated to the government. (Action Track 5) Action points in the long run: • Promotion of stubborn and indigenous/local crops through revival of millets and other crops on a community led campaign mode, introducing appropriate technologies for millet cultivation/processing. (Action Tracks 2, 3, 4 and 5) • Specific focus on upland rainfed to be brought up considering Jharkhand’s terrain. (Action Track 3) • Farm to fork approach to be promoted as a campaign message to bring in focus in all the necessary steps of food reaching from one place to another. Even to Preparation/cooking of food is an important aspect which needs looking into. Community should have the knowledge of how to cook the food without losing the nutrition in it. There is a possibility of initiating a campaign on consumption of indigenous food. (Action Track 1, 2) • A clear policy dialogue to be facilitated on ensuring procurement of local crop and assuring support price for that. (Action Track 2, 4) Read less

The Food Agility Summit was an interactive virtual event that brought together leaders from the agrifood technology and research sectors. The mission was to explore the trends, opportunities and challenges facing the Australian food system and the role of data and digital technology. Topics covered include: • Sustainability as a powerful demand driver • Environmental services as a new revenue stream for farmers once natural capital is valued • Cybersecurity in agrifood • The global agritech landscape and Australia’s place in it • What ‘resilience’ means mid and post COVID from ... Read moreglobal companies like Kelloggs’ • What ‘industry-led research’ means from the perspective of industry • Amazing research happening today • Education and research at global SMART Farms • How venture capitalists are investing in agritech • Australia’s leading agritech scaleups Read less

It was universally acknowledged in every panel discussion and presentation that collaboration – and effective communication between collaborating parties – was essential to securing our food future. This extended beyond parties contributing to innovative research, projects, and industry transformation as consumers were identified as a key piece of the puzzle. It was noted during the panel ‘The Rise of Sustainability, Climate Change, and Carbon Markets as Supply Chain Drivers’, that customers are rapidly adopting ethical purchasing behaviours and all members of a supply chain must ‘ea... Read morern’ consumer loyalty. This could be achieved through ‘radical transparency’ and iterative improvement where brands continuously improve their social and environmental credentials and communicate these activities from paddock to plate. This topic was also highlighted in the panel ‘Flipping the Research: What does true industry-led innovation look like and how can we make it happen?’. The theme of sustainability closed a loop between consumers and producers. On the one hand, technology can reveal the transparency of supply chains to align to the rise of digital, values-based purchasing evidenced in Australia’s retail sector. On the other hand, the prospect of achieving 5% of farm gate revenue through provision of environmental services seems more possible with the rise of voluntary, private carbon and biodiversity markets which reward farmers for cultivating measurable natural capital. The ‘Agtech’ industry was identified as an entirely separate but complimentary industry to agrifood. The discussion ‘Hunting Unicorns in a Burgeoning Australian Agtech Industry’ explored how the production challenges of the future (e.g. feeding a global population of 10 billion people by 2050) would need to be met by technology. Therefore, agtech investment and adoption needed to be rapidly scaled up to meet these global challenges. Risk and resilience were explored from many angles, including through the lens of cybersecurity. It was noted that the move to agrifood system efficiency has increased production capacity but also led to ‘food security complacency’, as traditional risks are reduced and/or better managed but new risks, such as cyberattacks, data theft, and network disruption, remain unmodelled, or are managed in isolation. Read less

Panel 1 – The rise of sustainability, climate change and carbon markets as supply chain drivers - COVID has seen a ramp up in digital consumer engagement and interest in the sustainability, and the shift seems likely to persist - Radical transparency will drive sustainable consumption and supply chain collaboration - Carbon and biodiversity markets offer valuable farm revenue streams if we can evolve the data-driven technologies necessary for markets to scale