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Discussion topic #2: The role of blended capital structures in de-risking and enhancing investments in the food and agri-SME space. What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion topic? • Disaggregating the investors’ market and the areas of investment needs/recipients of finance in food systems and develop a clear mapping of what types of needs or investments are best suited to specific investors or types of capital. • Innovate in the product offering space, e.g. in designing and issuing large bonds that combine nutrition and other dimensions of sustainable foo... Read mored system impact. • Design blended structures with a deliberate agenda of data generation, financing innovation, learning, and informing policy, rather than just with an agenda of mobilizing capital on a time-bound basis. • Aligning metrics to make new investment products for food system capital (e.g. for nutrition and other areas of impact) both impact-meaningful and investor-meaningful, and not too complex. How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? • Cost of capital for agri-SMEs and smallholder farmers should be less than it is today • More capacity to invest in this space among national and local financial institutions • Company-level impacts for agri-SMEs in particular Read less

Discussion topic #3: Challenges, trends, and promising solutions in smallholder finance WB / FAO estimate 95% of farmers can be classified as smallholders (500 mln) producing 45% world’s food, 70% of the food deriving from Africa, SE Asia, and Latin America. Despite constraints (training, logistics, cheap imports, climate change effects), they obviously put food at tables worldwide. Still: 700 mln people are hungry, 3 bln people lack access to healthy food, particularly in developing countries, and due to scarce resources, food needs to be produced much more sustainably. So, there are opport... Read moreunities, but what’s hampering smallholders to take them? In this session, we moved into a natural flow by discussing: It’s not about smallholders only (self-subsistence or emerging or exporting), but it’s about the ECOSYSTEM with and around them, including SMEs, the mom and pop stores, producer organizations, and cooperatives. • The Profit we need with business models and business cases, and the need to address this ECOSYSTEM with technology, leapfrog smallholders to the innovation potential with digitization and new financial solutions such as carbon credits as the new currency • The Planet we need to have benefit from new nature impact solutions by connecting the smallholder ECOSYSTEM to agroforestry projects or nutritious production such as fruit trees or cold chain solutions in the ecosystem with less food loss & waste. How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? • If smallholder farmers can organize themselves (more cooperatives, producer organizations): enables financing that is usually hardly possible -> increases rural livelihood enables cooperation to improve market position -> increases equitable livelihoods • If farmers have a voice themselves: where are they in the FSS dialogues? We hardly hear their voice. • If we see successful, scalable new and innovative business models: such as the project ACORN that was showcased as a Firestarter (see: https://channels.ft.com/foodrevolution/marketplace-for-change/) combining agroforestry with nutritious fruit trees, technical data and GPS monitoring (provided by Microsoft to smallholders) and carbon sequestration with new ways of income for smallholders. Integration of value chains to the smallholders’ benefit with the right technology: digitizing value chains, enabling digital wallets on smartphones, monitoring individual plots enabling farmers to access pre-harvest advances when the need for finance is at its peak. Creating more traceability/transparency throughout the value chain. Via Partnerships: such as the project Seed NL that was showcased (see annexed presentation): public-private money spent on seed and propagation materials as a catalyst for transformational change Blended Finance models: de-risking the new partnerships and innovative business models such as the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP). Read less

Discussion topic #4: Generating investable asset classes around nutritious foods, Investing in nutritional food must be one of the new investment themes for the next decade. The ageing population, increasing urbanization, excessive build-up debts, fiscal deficits, climate change commitments, and innovation all make a compelling case for governments globally to create a separate line asset class for Sovereign Wealth Funds and Development Funds. The aim must be not just an increase in life span but the quality-of-life span with a significant reduction in health costs and enhanced productivity. T... Read morehe following are the key game-changing ideas proposed for the UN Food Summit for creating nutritional food as an asset class: 1. Financing • Creating an asset class for ‘nutritional food’ will attract significant capital from institutional investors and funding agencies. • Investment in ‘nutritional food’ is likely to have a significant positive impact on government health spending globally. For instance, US federal spending on health is expected to be over 20% of the GDP. A study carried out by Cleveland Clinic suggests it can drop down to 7% with healthy habits and healthy eating. Some of the savings can be allocated to funding: o Research for alternative sources for protein in animal feed to reduce the feed cost. This will contribute towards affordability. a) Infrastructure for logistics and cold storage to reduce food wastage b) Subsidies for finance cost for SMEs o Campaign to create awareness and encouraging consumption of healthy food. This is likely to create demand and increase capacity utilization. o Tax exemption for foreign investments and capital investments on Education for SMEs on policies and how to deal with government bureaucracies. • Forestry and growing fruit and vegetables offer the cheapest & long-term option for earning carbon credits for fossil fuel and heavy energy-intensive industrial production. This is critical when globally CO2 emission will need to be reduced by 23 Gigatons by 2030 if the Paris Climate change aspirations are to be realized by 2050. This has a great potential to generate new and cheap capital for farmland. • Compared to conventional asset classes investing in farmland: o Has generated excess returns o is relatively less volatile o is uncorrelated o Is resilient to economic cycles o Represents a good hedge against inflation This is likely to encourage institutional investors to invest in farmland as a yielding asset. This should provide fresh capital for investing in nutritional food. 2. Building Good Credible Investment Pipelines Establishing and funding of independent platforms with the required industry-specific know-how, finance, legal, investment, and policy-specific expertise along the entire value chain of investing in the nutritional food asset class to identify, structure, and match attractive sustainable and scalable investment opportunities with potential investors. Read less

The event was organized as a multi-stakeholder dialogue focused on identifying barriers to entry for financiers and developing innovative solutions to address the needs of SMEs at all phases of development seeking to impact health and wellness by increasing access to healthy, affordable food will require engagement from different sectors and stakeholders such as: ● Public institutions ● Financial institutions and other development banks and funds ● Foundations and other philanthropic organizations ● Entrepreneurs in the food sector ● Social impact investors ● Nutrition experts ● ... Read morePolicy makers with focus on agriculture, nutrition and public health ● Private sector and food industry Central themes and discussion topics included: 1. Key challenges and possible game-changers for access to finance for agri-SMEs operating within food value chains. 2. The role of blended capital structures in de-risking and enhancing investments in the food and agri-SME space. 3. Challenges, trends, and promising solutions in smallholder finance. 4. Generating investable asset classes around nutritious foods. 5. The role of nutrition impact metrics as facilitators of alignment among investors, nutrition professionals, and agri-SMEs. 6. Connecting ideas, capital, and place: overcoming barriers for entrepreneurs to catalyze healthy, sustainable food access in economically disadvantaged communities. Read less

Investment in ‘nutritional food’ is likely to have a significant positive impact on government health spending globally. For instance, US federal spending on health is expected to be over 20% of the GDP. A study carried out by Cleveland Clinic suggests it can drop down to 7% with healthy habits and healthy eating. Some of the savings can be allocated to funding: o Research for alternative sources for protein in animal feed to reduce the feed cost. This will contribute towards affordability. a) Infrastructure for logistics and cold storage to reduce food wastage b) Subsidies for finance cos... Read moret for SMEs o Campaign to create awareness and encouraging consumption of healthy food. This is likely to create demand and increase capacity utilization. o Tax exemption for foreign investments and capital investments on Education for SMEs on policies and how to deal with government bureaucracies. There is a need to build good credible investment pipelines: establishing and funding of independent platforms with the required industry-specific know-how, finance, legal, investment, and policy-specific expertise along the entire value chain of investing in the nutritional food asset class to identify, structure, and match attractive sustainable and scalable investment opportunities with potential investors. There is also a need for: • Bundling finance with inputs, knowledge, marketing partnerships • Better define the benefits across all outcomes of investments in nutrition-sensitive agriculture – also environment, social, etc. • Innovation at serving lower-income consumers – rather than just medium and higher-income consumers • Linking nutrition goal to poverty alleviation role • Designing blended structures with a deliberate agenda of data generation, financing innovation, learning, and informing policy, rather than just with an agenda of mobilizing capital on a time-bound basis. • Aligning metrics to make new investment products for food system capital (e.g. for nutrition and other areas of impact) both impact-meaningful and investor-meaningful, and not too complex. • Integration of value chains to the smallholders’ benefit with the right technology: digitizing value chains, enabling digital wallets on smartphones, monitoring individual plots enabling farmers to access pre-harvest advances when the need for finance is at its peak. Creating more traceability/transparency throughout the value chain. • Data infrastructure for metrics and standardized metrics, perhaps through the ESG lens, applying success from other sectors for a pathway to impact - we open ourselves to women’s empowerment, access to healthy foods and nutritious foods, etc. • Agreement on standards we use for healthy/unhealthy diets and how to identify gaps • Consensus on healthy/non-healthy diets and what guidance is used; then determine is there a viable business opportunity for investments in stimulating certain productions of foods • Identifying and credentialing new metrics that privilege nutrition and purpose, alongside profit, to uplift social enterprises and entrepreneurs who are creating solutions specifically for poor communities. • Developing and funding financing vehicles focused on financial return and nutrition impact, specifically serving underserved people and communities. • Creating networks to link SMEs to investors, including pathways for NGOs to support for-profit solutions, mitigate risk and develop effective proof of concepts. Read less

ATTITUDES & ADVOCACY: CITIZENS AS CHANGE AGENTS WILL BUILD A BRIDGE TO SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIOUR AROUND FOOD. What will secure construction of solid, sustainable cultural bridges? The discussion context: Instead of the Bing Bang, the next big thing is a lot of small things that work in a complementary fashion and are focused on education; food availability, pricing and convenience; economic and financial levers and incentives; rebuilding trust in the food system; and policy. Actions in the following focus areas were identified as crucial: Education • Start early with food, nutrition, sustain... Read moreability and food system education • Make it practical and consider cultural context; • Walk the talk: match the classroom ‘talk’ with food served in school canteens. • Be mindful of transition into adulthood, when teenagers develop their own agency and execute choice • Change the narratives on food choices to support the adoption, focus on practical and easy things to engage and empower. Availability, pricing and convenience • Impact the choices o Consumers’ choices are influenced by marketing, pricing and accessibility; both policy and industry practices must strive to influence them towards healthier and more sustainable; o Nudges should be used in creating healthier food choices o the economic means should be ensured to help consumers break through their choice patterns and make them more sustainable. • Encourage behaviour change o by making it feasible and practical • Use pricing is a driver of food choices o particularly for people from challenging socio-economic backgrounds: strike the balance right to interest them in healthier diets, without neglecting the economic hurdles they face. • Ride on the pandemic wave o Seize the momentum and build on the fact that during COVID-19 pandemic people started cooking again; encourage more of the same o others have reconnected to local food supply chains - make sure to keep them connected. Economic and financial levers and incentives • to consumers: make the VAT lower for fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains; • to farmers: o incentivize small-holder farmers to food system transformation by ensuring that they have a sufficient maneuvering space to take risk and change the way they operate (currently, they have a small profit margin (1-2%), so making changes requires taking relatively large risks compared to other food system players); • EU CAP: financial incentives should be available to drive radical change, e.g. to mitigate risks for stakeholders and enable risk interventions; there is plenty of money available, but not distributed such to support production focused on sustainability and healthfulness; • Spark interest in alternative proteins, incl. legumes, as they can contribute to resilience and EU self-sufficiency; legumes grown in the EU are not price competitive and would lead to an ultimate loss for the farmer; in a fair food system, growing food should allow one to be self-sufficient and should not require subsidies. Rebuilding trust in food systems • Involve citizens in innovation processes from early on, to secure a buy-in and get ownership of the process; • Communicate better by informing consumers but also food handlers with clear guidelines (e.g. Nutri-Score) • Make use of professionals in the food systems, incl. nutritionists, to get information across clearly, and explain why differing opinions on certain points may exist. Policy • Support the development and adoption of strong, integrated and ambitious policies: urban food policy councils, or actions at regional and territorial Read less

FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL IN SEVEN-LEAGUES POLICY BOOTS: THE EU FARM TO FORK POLICY FRAMEWORK WILL IMPACT BEYOND EUROPEAN BORDERS. Can we leverage the F2F strategy globally? How to ensure the impact? The discussion context: - The leading role of the EU was recognized and Farm to Fork (F2F) considered a great initiative. While there is a need to embrace it globally, it first has to be consolidated at EU level. It was suggested to establish a European Food Policy Council and include stakeholders. - The sustainability of food systems is a global issue, facing diverse challenges, so the response must b... Read moree global. The attention to the external dimension of the F2F is especially important, as Europe’s agricultural and food system impacts outside Europe. - An integrated approach should be embraced with third and developing countries, and align the trade, development policies and decisions in standard setting organizations. Developing countries need support to transition towards sustainable economies due to multiple negative impacts (COVID-19, climate change, non-communicable diseases, food insecurity), all the while requiring a change in diets and a reduction of food waste. To make a difference, the following recommendations were proposed: • Promoting research and innovation and coalition building o Food research and innovation are key for making informed decisions, but also for monitoring success. o The value of information sharing, communities of practice, coalition building on food systems transition was recognized. Dialogue is key to conciliate divergent views, but some actions should not be based on voluntary actions but need to be enforced. • Promoting increased transparency along the food chain: a shared responsibility o Food chain actors must support healthy and sustainable diets and transform their production and operation methods. This requires human and financial investments and therefore should also bring economic returns. o Increased fairness and equity along the chain is required to succeed in transitioning towards sustainable food systems. o A fair and transparent policy (open communication, fair prices, risk sharing) promoting more transparency along supply chains and better distribution of value is needed. o Capacity development is key, especially for farmers groups and MSMEs, providing support to operators in meeting required economic, social and environmental standards. • Providing incentives towards sustainable food systems o Investments & incentives by public and private sector are needed: encouraging responsible food supply and consumption with neutral or positive environmental impact (tax incentives, procurement), responsible businesses, labelling, and work on legislative measures. o Consumers need to be represented and have a stronger voice in the food system. They also must understand that the price of food is generally low, and does not include externalities. o The farmers, fishers and other operators in the food chain who have already undergone the transition to sustainable practices, be in local or global markets, should be rewarded as to encourage the transition for the others, and create additional opportunities for their businesses. • Reconciling local and global food systems - Tradeoffs between local and global food systems need to be reached. There is no single solution in complex and interdependent systems. - To move towards food systems approach, managing change, breaking silos, and leveraging resources and measuring impact will be critical. Read less

PLANT-BASED: FROM PLANT-RICH TO A RICH-PLANET, THE DEVIL IS IN THE GRAINS, FRUITS, VEGGIES AND NUTS. How to leverage communication & policy to ensure a shift to plant-rich diets as socially & culturally established? General overeview: - Changing people’s eating practices and patterns takes time, and transition to the plant-rich diet will require a gradual rather than radical shift, combined emphasis on health & sustainability, and acknowledged cultural differences. - To ensure impact, a holistic approach is necessary to gather insights from different angles (e.g. health, environm... Read moreent, agriculture, tourism, education) and to bring together different perspectives towards a common goal. - On the road to plant-rich, there are both explicit and implicit decisions and actions for all stakeholders. We need to focus on both these levels in a concerted way. To make a difference, the following actions were suggested: • Actions directed at consumers: o School food policies: it is important to ensure that fresh and healthy foods are affordable and accessible, replacing highly processed and meat-based products. o Education: consumers must be equipped with knowledge on how to prepare healthy plant-based foods. o Accessibility: plant-based diets need to be accessible for the lower income families, which might entail a different, targeted approach, counteracting negative influences, such as unhealthy marketing/food environments). o Nudging towards balanced diets: o plant-based protein should be progressively incorporated into the diet, instilling the notion of consuming less meat but of higher quality, and more plant-based products; o healthy/plant-based foods need to taste as good as options that are less healthy or less sustainably produced. • Actions directed at supply chain: o Engage private sector: to increase the uptake of plant-based foods by consumers, incentivise food brands to advertise healthy and sustainable products. o Measure the environmental impact: encourage manufacturers and retailers to measure the environmental impact of food they are selling. o Pay attention to the animal and livestock sectors. With debates ongoing in European countries about pricing and taxation, animal welfare schemes could ensure that animal products are of higher quality and lower environmental impact. o Reverse the production focus from of animal- to plant-based protein. o Logistical drivers should be considered in providing plant-based foods into different regions/countries. • Actions directed at the policy makers: o Use policy tools to encourage plant-rich diets o Public procurement: through campaigns promoting plant-rich diets o Labelling: use nutrition labelling to highlight the health benefits of plant-based products, and sustainability labelling such as carbon labels to highlight the environmental benefits. o Fiscal measures: level up the prices for plant-based products with meat products, for example for milk and milk alternatives. o Use healthy lifestyle interventions as a part of health system to encourage a shift to plant-based diets, as the main dietary contribution to healthy nutrition. o Food environment: the food offer should be regulated, starting with the cities where interest is high to change to healthier and more sustainable food offer. Read less

FOOD ENVIRONMENT: MAINSTREAMING HEALTH AND FOOD IN ALL POLICY WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. How will policy make a difference to people’s food choices? What policy? The discussion context: Policies can make a difference in establishing food environments supportive of sustainable healthy diets, but they need to be well designed, holistic, combining mandatory and voluntary measures. Various critical points emerged, as summarised below: Mindset change is key for changing the food system, acknowledging its complexity. There is no simple solution: a well aligned set of solutions is required, allowing f... Read moreor diverse positions, opening up, and finding a common ground. Education and environment: education and food environment should be considered together and not as ‘false dichotomy’. Education is important to give people the skills to navigate the food environment, and food environment needs to make the healthy and sustainable choices the easy ones. One-health policy: putting health at the centre, underpinning all policies, and educating people on the link between sustainability and health is important. Holistic approach: the environment and people’s behaviour should be targeted simultaneously, through a mix of complementary mandatory and voluntary interventions, while considering socioeconomic and health aspects, and having in mind the ‘triple wins’ of sustainability - health, planet and economy. Lived experience: exploring how policies affect people’s lives, in the ‘lived experience’ of food environments, provides key information on why people behave the way they do. Pricing: - the environmental costs are insufficiently reflected in food prices; - food price should ensure that the producer gets a fair value; - poverty is not to be not overlooked, however, as higher prices might increase inequity, as people of a low socioeconomic status cannot necessarily afford choices better for health and planet. Demand vs. supply: to achieve change, comprehensive and integrated strategy is needed including the supply side. Expecting change through consumer demand, having consumer ‘pay the price’ is both difficult and unfair. Labelling: although a much-researched topic, combining nutrition labelling with other types of labelling (e.g. on sustainability) remains complex. Labelling policies are key to support influencing people in making healthy choices, but there is a need for EU-wide legislation and harmonisation of national labelling systems Changing behaviour: More research is needed to understand the choices people make, and how their behaviour can be influenced. A prerequisite to stimulate any change is to make alternative choices accessible and palatable. Targeting young people and children will be inductive of changes in the next generation. Healthiness of alternative foods: plant-based alternatives can contain a lot of salt, fats and refined carbohydrates, which is to be kept in mind. Digital food environment: the digital food environment is largely hidden, and includes marketing of unhealthy foods (to children), but also unhealthy meals that get ordered online. More data: absence of data is key hurdle, and the integration of key performance indicators for policies is key. Currently there is insufficient to assess the effect of interventions and to ensure they are on the right track. Gap between research outputs and desired outcomes: the impact of interventions on health and sustainability happens in long-term and impact indicators are often proxys. Also, it is difficult to link outcomes to specific interventions. Read less

There were no major divergences among participants. However, points critical for food systems transformation came to the surface, including: - the need for comprehensive definition of sustainability; - acknowledgement of complexity & interdependency of food systems; - the need for holistic, cross-sectoral, multi-level approaches to multifaceted complex issues; - the lack of education on healthy lifestyles, and especially on healthy sustainable food systems; - the need for comprehensive, interconnected, evidence-based policy; - the lack of data as key hurdle, and integration of key performa... Read morence indicators; - the need to improve representation of businesses/industry, as well as of farmers & citizens in the FSSD, who all must be part of the solution; - existence of vested interests, and the polarisation that they can lead to; - the need to recognize the true cost of food; - the need for tradeoffs between local and global food systems; - the need to recognize differences in production, consumption, and the different needs of the food systems transformation between Global North & South. Read less

The following FIVE OVERARCHING CONCLUSIONS could be identified: The complexity of the food systems must be acknowledged: o by taking a stepwise, cross-sectoral approach, to:  avoid resistance that a “big bang” approach could trigger;  allow working in a complementary fashion  facilitate (re)building trust in the food systems; o by aligning on a definition of sustainability, as:  we must be clear on where we are heading, if we are to develop successful solutions;  the existing divisions could lead to further confusion & loss of trust among food systems actors. Citizens ar... Read moree recognised as central to the success of food systems transformation. To secure their buy in into healthy sustainable behaviour: o tailored education & communication must be ensured; o optimal food environment should be secured, making healthy & sustainable food choices easy also for underprivileged; o citizens should be involved in the co-design of research and policy. Education is key in achieving mindset transformation. It should be: o relying on solid science, with health at its centre; o interdisciplinary and holistic in its nature, recognising complexity of the food systems; o ensuring a knowledge build-up across educational levels; o tailored to different target groups:  to general public, on healthy and sustainable food choices;  to farmers & food producers, on efficient management of natural resources/production systems;  to businesses, on their impacts and dependencies on natural capital; o blended with policy & food environment. Policy frameworks are critical for ensuring sustainable food systems. To secure success, their features should include: o strength, ambition, transparency, science at their core; o robustness against vested interests; o comprehensiveness, convergence and coherence:  across agri, trade, health, environment, education, aid, development, and other frameworks  at different levels, from municipal to global; o the One Health approach, critical for both people’s and planet’s health Trust is paramount to ensure success of most of the recommendations proposed. This Dialogue resulted in both INDIVIDUAL JOINT COMMITMENTS, across different fields. The participants have committed to: In the field of research, education & communication o Conduct research to understand consumer behaviour, taking into account the relation between food, culture and identity; o Shape programmes within their specific roles, e.g. the curricula of MSc programmes and research editorials; o Support national consumer organisations in educating citizens; o Carry out awareness campaigns on food storage and the use of date-labelling; o Raise awareness among policy makers and health professionals; o Educate businesses  to understand their impacts and dependencies on natural capital, to better manage risks and dependencies, to take better informed decisions.  to help them take specific food waste actions and teach their employees about food waste; In the field of best practice sharing & capacity building: o Learn from successful initiatives in food sourcing, processing and reformulation; o Bring cities together  to learn from each other’s successes & failures,  to improve capacity building & good practice sharing. o Bring policymakers together to  learn from each other  harmonize policies  reduce frictions; o Expand the dialog to non-usual actors. In the field of policy: o Tackle inequality through the Childhood Obesity Taskforce in London o Influence legislation on food waste, e.g. by addressing taxation to make food donation easier; o Push for adoption of ambitious & stringent policy tools in support of initiatives like the Nutri-Score or introduction of reformulation targets; o Support adopting national science-based policy recommendations; o Advocate for food system policies & policy convergence; o Bridge data gaps in to provide basis for smart & effective food systems policies. In the fields of food safety, food packaging, food waste: o Collect more data on food waste; o Improve packaging and commit to circular economy o Make surplus food available and donation easier through digital platforms & tools; o Continue to act on solutions easy to implement and proven to work (e.g. doggy-bags). Across environmental, social and ethical dimensions: o Develop tools to measure environmental impact that are easy to understand, and that include externalities into food prices o Support projects that build consumer trust, re-connect people with food and with innovations in the food system; o Work with local actors on social dimension to buying food, at first in local markets; o Commit to sustainable sourcing (of ingredients), processing & reformulation, to the farm to fork code of conducts within industrial agreemen Read less

PRODUCTION, CONSUMPTION AND IN BETWEEN: THE INCREASING DEMAND FOR HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE FOODS WILL SECURE THE INCREASINGLY SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION. How to exploit the demand? Can we transition from short(er) chains to tight(er) interactions? The state of affairs: • With the topic being debated among scientists, and the overwhelming and often contradicting information in the digital sphere, it is of no surprise that citizens can hardly grasp the concept of healthy and sustainable foods. Even if well understood, healthy and sustainable choices are not necessarily the easiest ones. • Equally... Read more unsurprisingly, citizens have little trust in novel production methods, even when they are sustainable and safe. • People’s decision-making around foof does not happen in a vacuum, it is influenced and shaped by the social and cultural norms and policy environment. The below calls for actions were made, aimed at: o helping people navigate the food environment, o rebuilding trust in the food systems, o increasing demand for sustainably produced food products. To governments / policy makers: o to create enabling environments for sustainable production; o to regulate other aspects of the food system, incl. the labelling and marketing of food products; o to harmonise food labelling at international level; o to ensure policy coherence: producers should be able to rely on a solid and coherent framework, resilient to e.g. loose trade rules that challenge the level playing field; o to allow adequate time to adjust to new rules, as well as support access to modern technologies; o to secure that the rules of public food procurements follow the rules of both healthy and sustainable nutrition. To food producers (acknowledging that proposed actions are not equally accessible nor meaningful to producers in the Global North and South): o to react to the consumers’ and public health demand for more sustainable and healthy food; o to responsibly consider marketing and labelling as elements that influence consumer choices; o to work together with policy makers to create stimulating food environment, which will make healthy and sustainable choices easy choices; o wherever possible, to use sensible production methods and to (keep) implementing innovative technologies that allow more sustainable production. Read less

EDUCATION AND KNOWLEDGE - FROM SCIENCE, OVER CULTURAL AND SOCIAL NORMS, TO PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE - WILL UNDERPIN HEALTHY SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES. (incl. healthy diets, physical activity, food waste prevention, intra-household food distribution, food safety, optimal breastfeeding & complementary feeding). How will connecting the knowledge dots get us there? The state of affairs: • With malnutrition in all its forms now recognised as the key factor behind global public health challenges, people are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of nutrition for their health, but also of the im... Read morepact that our food production, consumption and disposal make on the health of the planet. • Any change in nutrition habits and pattern is difficult, but it can start from education, and get supported by social, cultural, economic, policy and other aspects of the environment. This all, acknowledging that there is a need for more evidence on sustainable diets. • Knowledge about food systems must come from many different fields to enable us to resolve the issues. In order to act across different sectors of the society, we need to start acting early, learning how to collaborate, and how to think out of the box. • Education is a field of huge possibility and flexibility, crucial for the food systems transformation, but in order to demonstrate its full potential it must be made more resilient, fit for both challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. To make a difference, the following actions were suggested: • Switch to sustainable education systems, which includes moving away from subject-oriented learning to inquiry-based learning (problem- & project-oriented studying), to interdisciplinary, interactive, blended learning. • Focus on interdisciplinary education across educational levels, including that on healthy sustainable lifestyles at primary & secondary schools, and on food systems at secondary schools and higher level education. • Ensure holistic, aligned communication on sustainable food systems, by: o educating the public about the versatile aspects of the food systems, o breaking the communication silos, o avoiding generalisation and tailoring the messages and formats to specific audiences, o framing healthy sustainable diets around culture, social norms, and values, o integrating practical aspects that people can relate to and directly benefit from (e.g. cooking classes, weekly menu planning, sustainable grocery lists, food waste reducing practices). • Hold multi-stakeholder dialogues to facilitate the exchange between science, policy and “real-life”, by: o carefully putting the science at the heart; o translating, but not banalizing, scientific messages into policy and broader communication; o addressing systemic barriers to translation and implementation of science. • Use the momentum, employ innovation & creativity, reconnect people with their food! o let the kids know how we grow food, what happens in the field, what is healthy, fresh, local, seasonal; what foods we import; how do we ensure versatile, balanced diets; organise school gardens and cooking classes; o encourage talking about food, promote bidirectional intergenerational learning; encourage people to cook for each other, to shop for food together, to share excess food within community, to jointly prevent food waste; organise communal gardens and cooking classes; o visually capture the sustainability concept– how is that for a food labelling challenge? Read less

SECURITY AMIDST ABUNDANCE: SPILLING OVER WILL SPILL OVER FROM AFFLUENT TO LESS FORTUNATE. What are the missing links in food security? How to ensure decent livelihoods for all? Context of the discussion: • Participants agreed on the high complexity of the topic. Root causes are many, and all need to be addressed in a (semi)coordinated way, recognising that different parts of the system need to be addressed differently, and that actions may result in trade-offs. • The discussion touched upon both local and global aspects, as well as the internal and external impact of EU policies and action... Read mores. • The One Health approach was assessed as critical, as food system transformation is about both people’s and planet’s health. Recommendations for action: • Reduce food waste: o Obtain sufficient data on where food is wasted along the supply chain, to develop tailored system solutions for reducing it at the source; o Develop approaches to collect and redistribute excess food in a fair way to vulnerable groups (“revalue” the waste); o Educate people on how to use and cook with fresh foods and reduce waste at home. • Empower farmers and food producers: o Invest in farmers and local food supply systems (e.g. in providing farming communities with the necessary infrastructure, such as good quality broadband in rural areas, or use public procurement to support farmers transitioning to more sustainable practices); o Educate farmers and food producers on efficient management of natural resources/production systems and on setting prices to improve their negotiating power in the food chain; o Consider the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and others working in rural areas. • Utilise technology: o Maximise the use of available solutions and be on the forefront of implementation of new technologies (e.g use block chain technologies for ensuring food chain transparency and reducing waste). • Ensure coherent EU policies (internal and external): o Conduct a transparent review of agriculture-based EU policies that could undermine food security and healthy nutrition, and identify opportunities to encourage sustainable agriculture in the EU; o Ensure coherence between EU aid policies and national policies developed by the aid-receiving nation; o Consider sustainability in the context of trade agreements. • Create a better definition/vision of the sustainable food system that we aspire to achieve o knowing where we are going will help develop solutions for transforming the food system. • Foster dialogue and exchange, improve representation of the key food chain actors o Due to the complexity of the challenge, and to address the needs of different people and environments, we need to ensure all stakeholders are represented in defining solutions. Civil society groups and farmers are often left underrepresented. • Propose mandatory EU food labelling that quickly communicates to consumers accurate information on nutrition and sustainability indicators. Read less

FOOD WASTE: EDUCATING FOOD SYSTEM ACTORS WILL TURN WASTE REDUCING BEHAVIOUR INTO A SOCIAL NORM. How to leverage education, communication & policy to ensure this shift? The state of affairs: • Food waste and loss happen at all stages of the food value chain, from pre-harvest food loss, over the impact of packaging and transport, all the way to food waste in retail and in households. • To devise efficient interventions to reduce food waste at critical points in the cycle (which admittedly significantly differ between Global North & South), a data driven approach should be taken. • ... Read moreAt the same time, a mindset shift is required from the one in which we must produce more food to feed the world, to the one in where we must produce foods that are more nutritious and more sustainable, waste much less, and shift towards a plant-rich diet. To make a difference, the following recommendations were proposed: - Ensure data driven approach: o conduct research into food waste and losses at different community levels to focus interventions on where the problem is most critical, and to tailor them to local specificities; o test the effectiveness of interventions, then promote and scale-up the most effective ones; o collect data for food aid necessity - at (inter)national, but also local and neighbourhood level - to understand where the excesses can spill over to where there is a need. - Adapt the regulation framework around food waste, to: o send the right incentives to all food chain actors, from farmers to consumers; o prioritize food donation for human consumption (over that for animal feed); o facilitate food donation through taxation (using e.g. tax breaks); o make the best use of expiration date; o adjust the price of food to the food systems reality (cheap food is expensive for public health, and easier to waste), while considering the needs of underprivileged. - Work on a local level o municipalities are the ones to deal with packaging and food waste disposal; o they can effectively promote local markets and protect smallholder farmers; o they can effectively exchange best practices and build on each other’s knowledge. - Make use of innovation & technology o develop the economic potential of food waste through innovation (e.g. restaurants making beer from old bread); o increase and facilitate access to refrigeration and freezing in developing countries; o spill over the knowledge and best practices. Read less

The Dialogue “Walking the talk: healthy and sustainable food systems through aligned communication and policy” acknowledged the complexity of challenges on our way to healthy and sustainable food systems, with their numerous distinct causes that need to be tackled differently, triggering actions that may result in trade-offs, or even in creation of new issues. Starting from a premise that a shift towards sustainable food systems can only be achieved by enabling and empowering citizens to make healthier and more sustainable food and lifestyle choices, the dialogue was set to bring EU stakeh... Read moreolders around the table, to ensure a paradigm shift and break the silos in addressing the urgent need to combat all forms of malnutrition and environmental degradation. The focus of the dialogue was to find solutions for empowering citizens to adopt healthier and more sustainable behaviours - by increasing trust in science and the use thereof, and by securing aligned, evidence-based communication & policy. With that backdrop, this dialogue has directly contributed to the work of the Action Track 2: Shift to sustainable consumption patterns, but also to the work of Action Tracks 1 and 3. The format, details of the programme, and key messages of the keynote speakers are offered in the Annex to this Report. Read less

The Independent Dialogue “Good Food for All” focused on Ireland’s role in sustainable food systems. To do this the dialogue session looked at how to increase the availability of nutritious food, making food more affordable and reducing inequities in access to food; how to eliminate wasteful patterns of food consumption; and how diets can transition towards more nutritious foods that require fewer resources to produce and transport. Action Track 1 and Action Track 2 were the basis of this Independent Dialogue. Action Track 1 works to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition and reduce the... Read more incidence of non-communicable disease, enabling all people to be nourished and healthy. This goal requires that all people always have access to sufficient affordable and safe food products. Achieving this goal means increasing the availability of nutritious food, making food more affordable and reducing inequities in access to food. Action Track 2 works to build consumer demand for sustainably produced food, strengthen local value chains, improve nutrition, and promote the reuse and recycling of food resources, especially among the most vulnerable. This Action Track recognizes that we need to eliminate wasteful patterns of food consumption; it also recognizes that we need to facilitate a transition in diets towards more nutritious foods that require fewer resources to produce and transport. “Good Food for All” examined what individuals can do to ensure more sustainable food systems. It addressed the need for the young generation to be involved in shaping the future food systems and addressed the link between climate justice and global sustainable food systems. The following topics were discussed in groups: Topic 1: A world where no one goes hungry: everyone has access to nutritious and affordable food. Topic 2: Children and youth are actively involved in shaping our food systems Topic 3: People make informed choices based on reliable information about how and where food is produced. Topic 4: Climate Justice is at the heart of the global response to more sustainable food systems. Read less

The Dialogue showed that a social justice approach is needed when talking about food systems. Access to education, information and participation, as well as basic human rights, such as the right to a healthy environment and the right to be involved in important discussions, were addressed as key elements in the transformation of food systems. Engagement in education on all levels has been identified as one of the main findings of the Dialogue. Education on food systems needs to be introduced much earlier in school curricula and it needs to continue far into adulthood, with a greater understand... Read moreing of the true cost of food. Education about food systems needs to go beyond formal education and should reach into implementation. The Dialogue has also shown a desire of the public to be involved in the process of transformation and decision making. The voice of the consumer needs to be taken more seriously on both the industry and policy level. The diverse perspectives of all involved need to be taken into consideration when approaching the complexity of sustainable food systems. A need for cross-departmental cooperation has also been identified as important in creating holistic and meaningful policies. Read less

Topic 1: A world where no one goes hungry: everyone has access to nutritious and affordable food. The right to food should be engrained in all policies. All governments (department of agriculture, trade, health, urban development, rural affairs, etc.) should ensure policy coherence, synergy and compatibility, and have common aims when it comes to food. Participation of those who are further down the food chain, such as farmers and consumers, must be ensured in decision making processes, and the general public needs to be included in this discourse. Education, therefore, is vital for a holistic... Read more view of food systems and understanding the true cost of food. Climate action and change require us as individuals in Ireland to change our food choices and habits as it is developing countries who are feeling the worst impact. But also, at policy level, we need to have courageous conversations about some of our approaches which are centered on production and expansion. Read less

Topic 2: Children and youth are actively involved in shaping our food systems The concept of Food Systems needs to be made more accessible to young people and integrated at a sooner stage into the school curricula. Young people need to understand the complexities and trade-offs involved in shaping food systems. By making the language more accessible to young people, they can be included in this dialogue. They should be actively involved in discussions and decisions around shaping future sustainable food systems. More dialogues and forums for discussion are needed in general, with systems and p... Read morerocesses put in place to ensure the voice of young people is heard at these. Consideration must also be taken of how young people tend to communicate, with a focus on digital communications. Young people should be encouraged to develop innovative approaches to shaping future food systems. Collaborative approaches such as social entrepreneurship initiatives have the potential to create a high level of engagement. Read less