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Panel 2 – Flipping the research: What does true industry-led collaboration look like and how do we make it happen? - Australia leads globally in research outputs, but lags in industry-research collaboration. - Good communication is the cornerstone of effective collaborative relationships, we might not have the same motivations or objectives to participate, but we need to ensure we openly communicate the various perspectives coming into a project so that we can ensure everyone's expectations are acknowledged. - The Australian Government highly values industry-research collaboration and has la... Read moreunched a range of initiatives including CRCs, AIA and drought innovation funding to foster and promote industry-research collaboration. Read less

Panel 3 – The global SMART Farm network - We agreed on the importance of integrating financial and sustainability performance indicators in generated data (certainly curriculum/training needs to showcase this type of ‘data’- ie should be more than just showing sensor data feeds). Evidence-based commercial relevance is important - Importance of ‘holistic’ SMART Farms that includes post-farm-gate with feedback into the farm operations/decision making. - All SMART Farms engaged early in initiatives related to environmental sustainability/carbon neutrality- there is a strong demand for t... Read morehis by stakeholders. Read less

Panel 4 – Hunting Unicorns in a burgeoning agtech market - While Australian agtech scale-ups would like to stay local, most find they must look overseas for capital, as the investment pool within the Australian market is limited and highly competitive. Overseas markets also offer exciting opportunities for companies to ‘collaborate and cluster’ in the global ecosystem. - Our panellists called on the audience to contact their super fund and demand investment in agriculture and agtech. Similarly, to call local government and demand investment in the technology to propel Australia’s most ... Read moreimportant primary industry. - Covid thinned the herd of Australian agtech scale-ups, but those who survived are thriving. With agtech a vital and growing part of the agrifood sector, a ‘unicorn’ Australian agtech company could be the next Bitcoin, revolutionising the industry. - Agtech is a distinct but parallel industry from agriculture and agrifood, which provides technology solutions to productivity challenges. Read less

Panel 5 – Cybersecurity in food supply chains - The interconnectedness of industrialised agriculture exposes global food systems to significant ‘unmodelled peril’, as risk within one sector (e.g. financial services) can have cascading impacts on other industries. Agriculture is particularly at risk of cybersecurity breaches thanks to long and complex supply chains with data points controlled by various entities. - The question of who is responsible for data and cyber security is important. Does the responsibility lie with the customer (e.g. the farmer who purchases software or agtech), o... Read morer the service provider? In a ‘multi-party data ecosystem’ overlayed on the physical movement of food from paddock to plate, who is liable along a supply chain if a data breach occurs and other parties are impacted? - Cyber scammers have always been agile and adapted quickly with the cyber risks that Covid presented. All organisations have to learn new lessons, be ready to pivot to address new challenges Read less

There were numerous topics of disagreement and robust discussion between our expert panelists across the summit, especially in regards to that capacity for Australian agtech scale-ups to base their operations in Australia. Our panel ‘Hunting Unicorns in a burgeoning Australian agtech industry’ brought together VC investors and leading Australian start-ups who discussed the capacity for business growth in the Australian context. Opinions were divided as to whether an agtech company could grow without basing operations in larger markets such as South East Asia or North America where they cou... Read moreld more easily ‘cluster and collaborate’ with the broader agtech ecosystem. Throughout the summit we held live audience polls to gauge our attendee’s attitudes towards a wide variety of issues. These polls revealed split opinions regarding a range of issues including consumer attitudes towards sustainability, the likelihood of an Australian agtech ‘unicorn’ emerging in the near future, and whether Australia is a good environment for investment. Read less

The objective of the dialogue was to create a setting and show case selected game changing solutions with a scalable potential with the overall aim to highlight actions to accelerate food systems transformation. At the end of the event the participants delivered ideas on actions and next steps to accelerate game changing solutions within food loss and waste as a contribution to the UN Food Systems Summit 2021.

SOCIAL: According to participants in this group, the socio-economic level of the community (income, level of education, parenting style) influences the diets of the community. Therefore, government and relevant stakeholders need to develop and strengthen programs to improve knowledge and access to quality food, for the poor and marginalized groups. Other issues discussed were related to consumer awareness of the diversity of food sources in Indonesia so that they should not depend on only certain food products to cover their nutrition needs. Innovation and creativity in processing local food s... Read moreource, usage of low investment and appropriate technology by SMEs, and involvement of public figures, trendsetter, and informal leader in the campaign will support the achievement AT1 Read less

The area of divergence that emerged during the discussion is whether urban farming initiatives are significant enough to support food security in the city. Some participants said that this could be achieved through optimized use of technology, while others thought that the contract farming model with farmers in the surrounding areas should be considered more to support the city food security

The dialogue was focusing on issues around the complexity of the Bandung city food system. A brief explanation about the food system approach was given on the first day since not all participants are familiar with this approach, as well as to build the spirit of collaboration among stakeholders from different groups. The participants were divided into four groups based on sustainability elements: Economic, Social, Environment, and Well-being based on their expertise, working area, experience, and interest. Through different stages, each group developed the vision, discuss current issues and wh... Read moreat needed for achieving the vision based on existing initiatives, also potential innovation that can leverage the process. Read less

The city/urban food system is unique since it is highly dependent upon the rural for the provision of food. During the discussion, participants agreed to integrate several principles: embrace the diversity of local food, apply sustainable/ responsible practices, improve governance in the city food system and stakeholder collaboration. Improved access to safe and healthy food for all was also raised and discussed during the dialogue.

WELLBEING: Participants in the Wellbeing group agreed that improved consumer awareness and knowledge on healthy and sustainable food is the key to support the transformation of consumption pattern which will lead to a healthy and productive life, particularly for the future generation. Several initiatives recommended: (a) Collaboration among stakeholders and build on existing programs; (b) Conduct massive campaign particularly for youth through social media and engage influencers; (c) Capacity building for food SMEs /retailers in technology and gastronomy; (d) Intervention through school cante... Read moreens to provide healthy food for students Read less

ENVIRONMENT: Participants in the Environment group highlighted urban farming initiatives as one of the ways to support availability and access to healthy food for the communities. The local government needs to regulate the use of vacant land for this purpose. Green technology should be developed to optimize productivity in urban farming. Enabling policy environment for green finance /investment should be improved for this purpose. Besides production, the participants also discussed the utilization of food waste for food production (circular economy)

ECONOMY: How to ensure and monitor the city food reserves and availability, food price stability, access to food were several issues identified and discussed by participants in the Economy group. The participants agreed that it is required to improve infrastructure, governance, and enabling policy environment to address the challenges. A reliable information system is also needed to support the implementation

The U.S. animal agriculture community is highly engaged in the work of the UN Food Systems Summit (FSS) and has a track record of progress and ambitious commitments that align with the FSS’ focus on enhancing sustainability. Americans today have access to one of the safest, most diverse, and most affordable food supplies in history, and American agricultural and food products feed millions of people around the world - thanks in large part to the efficiency, productivity, and innovation of the U.S. agriculture and food supply chain alongside the United States’ robust science- and risk-based... Read more regulatory system. The U.S. animal agriculture community believes the FSS can have a positive impact on not only the future of our own U.S. food system but the global system, as well. The Animal Agriculture Alliance, a nonprofit working to bridge the communication gap between farm and fork, took the opportunity to contribute to the FSS by convening an Independent Dialogue event titled “U.S. Animal Agriculture as a Solution to Food Systems Challenges.” This Dialogue brought together stakeholders from across the U.S. animal agriculture community to engage meaningfully, explore collectively and emerge resiliently for sustainable food systems. Through engagement and discussion, the Dialogue considered animal agriculture’s role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and ability to be a “game changer” in delivering progress across all five Action Tracks of the FSS. The U.S. animal agriculture community is broad and diverse, and the Dialogue event reflected that concept. Participants were carefully selected from various key stakeholder groups, including farmers and ranchers (of all sizes), animal agriculture organizations, companies (animal health, nutrition, genetics, integrators/processors), restaurant/retail/foodservice companies and organizations, environmental NGOs, dietitians, youth/young farmers and veterinarians/academics/researchers. Diversity in educational background, age, gender and geographic location was also taken into account when selecting attendees. The discussion was intentionally organized to cover as many topics as possible in order to take advantage of the various types of expertise among participants. Participants were sorted into discussion groups centered by the five Action Tracks of the FSS. Assigned facilitators led each group in a conversation around their Action Track with a set of pre-developed questions (some were common across all Action Tracks, others were unique to specific Action Tracks). The structure of the Dialogue event worked well to allow us to achieve our goal: a broad discussion of the role U.S. animal agriculture is currently playing and can play in developing the sustainable, resilient food system of the future. Read less

Sustainability must not be viewed as a single, exclusive destination, but rather as a diverse, continuous, and inclusive journey. Participants agreed that the U.S. animal agriculture community (from farm to fork and beyond) is among the most sustainable in the world (based on life cycle assessments, increases in productivity, reductions in GHG, and other data-based measurements of sustainability) and that all stakeholders, across many different areas of expertise, different production systems, and different sizes, can and must find commonalities and work productively together. Participants agr... Read moreeed that optimizing animal agriculture’s environmental impact is an ambitious but attainable goal, which can only be achieved via sustained, long-term active participation of all stakeholders with a goal of constant innovation and improvement. Goals must clearly incorporate and build on significant progress thus far, which is often not well understood by key audiences (including governments and consumers). The substantial contributions and commitments across the food and agriculture supply chain represent huge improvements and also offer the greatest potential as pilots to scale for further gain. Throughout the Dialogue, stakeholders highlighted challenges with the framing and definitions of key concepts and issues. Participants felt it was important to acknowledge that our food supply is the most effective and productive in history, with room for improvement - rather than viewing the system as inherently broken or negatively impacting people and the planet. Participants also highlighted the power of inclusive approaches - by agreeing that all production practices can be made more sustainable we allow all stakeholders to participate, rather than setting unrealistic extremes that exclude some communities entirely. It is also important to note that all industries have some level of environmental impact – not just agriculture. Food is foundational to our survival and health, and while animal agriculture should (and will) do all it can to address challenges of sustainability, other industries need to mitigate their impacts as well and conversations around sustainability should be inclusive and collaborative while encouraging everyone to do their part. Defining “sustainable” and “healthy” is not easy, because in reality these words do not represent one single, universal outcome. Definitions should not overwhelm or undermine continuous improvement efforts. Sustainability and health are always context-specific and interdependent. The correct framing is important to allow understanding and agreement on the priorities and actions that are most feasible and impactful. Participants also highlighted the importance of holistic analysis to understand and prepare for trade-offs and areas of synthesis/reinforcement. Participants agreed that food systems must become more sustainable while also ensuring continued sufficient nutrient-dense food supplies that are safe, accessible, affordable, and appropriate to diverse consumer needs. The animal agriculture community should continue striving to optimize its nutritional and environmental impacts, and food systems should focus on encouraging consumers to build and maintain overall healthy diets, with attention to balancing needs including nutrient-density, diet quality, diet diversity, consumer acceptance, taste, value, convenience, safety, and more. Stakeholders estimated that 60% of sustainable gains over the next 30 years will come from conventional agriculture, and that these 30 years will be the most influential and important in the history of agriculture. Farmers and ranchers must be central to the work and to decision-making; currently where decisions are made is very distant from where change actually happens. It is not feasible for the necessary gains to be achieved without the active involvement of and engagement with conventional agriculture stakeholders who are already leading the way in this area. Public understanding and trust of food systems is key to sustainable choices, as well as to attracting and retaining the talent needed to secure the future of the agricultural and food supply. Efforts need to be made to ensure that all voices contributing to discussions of food systems (including those involved in food marketing) are communicating accurately and not contributing to public misconceptions around sustainability. Participants agreed food systems must also work now to enable the next generation of farmers, ranchers, growers, and innovators across the food and agriculture supply chain. Read less

Discussion topic 1: Action Track 1 ❏ Stakeholders agreed that fundamentally sustaining human life through high quality nutrition and preventing malnutrition while mitigating impact on the environment must be the main objective of Action Track 1. This can be achieved through promoting and advocating for production and processing of nutrient-dense food, including meat, poultry, dairy, eggs and seafood. ❏ A more open, predictable, rules-based global trading environment with fewer barriers will facilitate more efficient movement of agriculture and food products, including to regions suffering ... Read morefrom malnutrition and food insecurity. ❏ While the availability of nutritious food is a key element, participants agreed that consumer awareness, education, and choice are equally important. As has been seen with COVID-19 vaccines, just because a product or service is available and proven effective does not mean that every consumer will take advantage of it. Educating the public on how all foods can be made more sustainably must be a priority addressed by the FSS. Embracing animal agriculture’s potential and amplifying the cutting-edge work taking place will also help attract brilliant and inspired minds into the field of agriculture. Discussions about food choice and any attempts to make recommendations also need to be considerate of cultural relevance, religious beliefs, and other familial reasons for why people eat what they do. ❏ Support for small-scale stakeholders across the globe is also critical. Investments, partnerships, and support to implement lessons learned can help increase global sustainable practices across the board and help smaller businesses and farmers thrive sustainably while alleviating burdens on the environment and the food system. Read less

Discussion topic 2: Action Track 2 ❏ Participants expressed serious concern that the FSS may be defining sustainability and healthy in ways that exclude the majority of stakeholders in the food and agriculture supply chain. Such approaches will exclude valuable expertise, ignore practical solutions, and impact consumers’ understanding of the current and future impact of their food choices. To gain the support needed to actually work, FSS approaches must be inclusive and flexible. ❏ Participants agreed that the FSS should focus on making diets more sustainable and more nutrient-dense, not... Read more focus only on a narrow set of policies, practices, and products that target specific foods and/or are not inclusive of diverse needs and choices. For example, fruits and vegetables provide great nutritional value, but meat, poultry, dairy and eggs are very nutrient-dense and should not be discouraged. Produce is also most likely to be wasted. ❏ Participants noted that nearly all foods are processed in some fashion and that food processing should be viewed in light of its role in healthy and sustainable diets, not as a negative characteristic to be limited or eliminated. Practical solutions for more diverse, healthy, affordable and sustainable diets must include innovations and improvements in food processing. Solutions that denigrate specific foods or seek to limit production, consumption, or consumer choice will not contribute to implementation of real, urgently needed solutions based on evidence and proven impacts. ❏ Participants agreed that progress is being made every day across the food and agriculture supply chain, including to reduce emissions, improve efficiencies and provide the best products to consumers. Participants cited numerous examples of innovations that have reduced energy, land, and water use all while producing more food for a growing population. Participants urged that all stakeholders embrace and amplify these gains to reach our shared goals and to convince the public of the value and impact of practical improvements that must be continued. Read less

Discussion topic 3: Action Track 3 ❏ Participants agreed that the food and agriculture supply has made considerable progress to drive more sustainable practices over recent decades, and that progress should be celebrated. Ensuring sufficient awareness, understanding, and positive attention to these advances is critical to incentivizing stakeholders to continue to invest in these practices and to increase their efforts. Efficiency and productivity must be encouraged and celebrated (no other sector denigrates efficiency; for example, fuel-efficient cars pollute less and are encouraged), and th... Read moreere must also be consideration of farmers’ interests in being good stewards and protecting economic viability. ❏ Participants expressed concern that stakeholders’ significant resources, time, and commitment invested in increased efficiency, productivity, quality, etc. are frequently discounted or even denigrated, discouraging efforts that should instead be praised, encouraged, and scaled up. Farmers and ranchers are particularly impacted by this vicious cycle and should be front and center in developing and implementing all solutions for more sustainable food systems. ❏ Participants agreed that greater consideration is needed for measuring outputs and incentivizing improvements, as well as for the incredibly difficult nature of measuring carbon output and sequestration. Discussion included creating consistent terminology and metrics for understanding improvements like emission reductions, carbon sequestration, and protecting natural resources and creating programs to adequately pay for and reward achievements in these areas. Read less

Discussion topic 4: Action Track 4 ❏ Participants noted the tremendous impact of the food and ag supply chain on livelihoods in the United States and the critical importance of sustaining full and productive employment and decent work for all actors along the food value chain. Participants also discussed challenges and opportunities for enabling entrepreneurship and addressing uneven access to resources. ❏ Participants noted that agriculture and food businesses vary widely - this is not a sector where one size fits all, so recruitment, training, and retention can be challenging. The challe... Read morenges, particularly for economic viability, lifestyle (urban v. rural) and consumer perception (whether agriculture is seen as a desirable activity), also impact attracting and educating the next generation of talent. Focusing on diversity is also a high priority for the industry’s future. ❏ Participants felt that multiple types of production systems are and must be part of more sustainable food systems - for example, organic and conventional agriculture should not be viewed as mutually exclusive. Both are necessary to meet consumers’ needs and achieve our common goals. FSS solutions must recognize this truth and be revised to incorporate the best aspects of multiple systems of production. Read less

Discussion topic 5: Action Track 5 ❏ Participants highlighted that resiliency, like sustainability, must be based on three components - economic, social, and environmental (including context related to specific geographies) and must be viewed as a journey of continuous improvement. Farmer voices emphasized that their resiliency depends very much on flexibility and adaptability, which can be hindered by overly prescriptive regulatory approaches and by lack of understanding of on-farm realities. ❏ Resiliency is boosted by mutual understanding and enhanced communication between stakeholders, ... Read moregovernments, technical experts, and consumers. Youth voices agreed with farmers about the need to embrace technology and innovation and not block farmers’ access to new tools. Youth voices were also particularly focused on improving ag and food stakeholders’ connectivity through digital media. ❏ Participants felt strongly that solutions must be centered around emergency planning and infrastructure investment. Across the globe, food systems were pushed to the breaking point due to the pandemic. The FSS has the ability to revisit the flaws brought out by the pandemic and address them so that no future generation is left at a disadvantage. The food system must be flexible, with a more active and involved stakeholder base ready to address issues proactively. This will require more advanced and efficient forms of communication between stakeholders, governments and scientific experts. Read less