Explore Official Dialogue Feedback

Member State Dialogues: 490 Intergovernmental Dialogues: 6 Independent Dialogues: 681 Global Summit Dialogues: 10

This page allows anyone to explore responses from Dialogue Convenors to section 4 of the Food Systems Summit Dialogues Official Feedback Form. Section 4 is organised into 4 sub-sections that allow Convenors to detail the “Major Focus” of their Dialogue as well as the outcomes including the “Main findings”, “Outcomes for each Discussion Topic” and “Areas of Divergence”. Anyone can use this information to develop their own synthesis of Dialogue Feedback. For this reason, results can also be filtered by Action Track or keyword. Syntheses of Official Feedback must respect the Food Systems Summit Principles of Engagement and used in the context of the Dialogue that took place.

For researchers and advanced synthesis, an XML export is available here (last updated ).

Independent Dialogue

Pequenas Empresas: Uma Boa Alimentação para Todos – Brasil e África Subsariana (Português)

Geographical focus: Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe

Discussion topic outcome

1. Reduce the Cost of Doing Business by: - addressing infrastructure deficits especially in rural areas - reforming the financial system and providing credit guarantees for SMEs 2. Tailor Support for Food SMEs by - Providing technical assistance to SMEs to professionalize their operations and grow - Facilitating stronger vertical linkages in the value chain for SMEs, i.e. between SMEs and their suppliers and customers

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Keywords: Environment and Climate, Finance, Innovation, Policy, Women & Youth Empowerment

Independent Dialogue

Pequenas Empresas: Uma Boa Alimentação para Todos – Brasil e África Subsariana (Português)

Geographical focus: Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe

Area of divergence

Nothing significant was identified that created divergence by the participants.

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Keywords: Environment and Climate, Finance, Innovation, Policy, Women & Youth Empowerment

Independent Dialogue

Malabo Montpellier Forum: Policy innovations for food systems transformation in Africa

Geographical focus: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia (Republic of The), Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Major focus

The dialogue under the Malabo Montpellier Forum shared and discussed the findings of a report titled "Connecting the Dots: Policy Innovations for Food Systems Transformation in Africa". The dialogue focused on the challenges and threats faced by the entire food system. These challenges and threats include a growing (and rural) population, rapid urbanization, changing dietary patterns, a persistent gender gap, climate change, environmental degradation, and conflicts. Drivers and opportunities to build a sustainable food system were also discussed. There is a multitude of opportunities available... Read more to raise productivity, provide affordable and healthy diets, create decent and profitable employment, and strengthen the resilience of farmers and other food system actors. The report and the discussions at the dialogue then focused on the experience of some African countries in building a sustainable food system in terms of institutional, policy and programmatic interventions. The case study countries were Rwanda, Ghana, Morocco, Malawi. The representative of the different African countries other than the case study countries had opportunities to share their countries' successful experiences and current challenges including ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all and building resilience to vulnerabilities shocks and stress. Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Finance, Governance, Innovation, Policy, Trade-offs, Women & Youth Empowerment

Independent Dialogue

Malabo Montpellier Forum: Policy innovations for food systems transformation in Africa

Main findings

The key finding from the dialogue is consensus around the following actions agenda that countries need to domesticate: -Ensure multistakeholder and multisectoral coordination across government departments in order to reflect the interconnectedness of food systems transformation: African countries that have shown a measure of success in transforming aspects of their food systems show that well-coordinated national-level policies can facilitate success. Working with stakeholders from research institutions, civil society, the private sector, and development partners further ensures that there is ... Read morea common vision and that polices have “buy in” across interventions, therefore making them more impactful. -Facilitate evidence-based and guided experimentation and innovation of policies and accelerated science capacity for technical solutions supporting broad food systems change: There is neither one single policy nor a unique mix of strategies that can deliver change across all objectives of a food system. Rather, policymakers will be required to forge new pathways to build sustainable, resilient, and prosperous food systems that deliver healthy and nutritious diets, improve livelihoods, and protect the environment. -Institutionalize monitoring, evaluation and learning for impactful planning and implementation: Even with disruptive innovations, systemic change must be an iterative process. While agile institutions have responded quickly to emerging threats and opportunities it is also essential that institutions integrate a framework for learning, in order to enhance long-term planning and implementation. Learning goes beyond accountability; it also includes a reflective environment and one that is open to failures, if only to learn from them. As policymakers transition into the use of a food systems approach, they will be required to be both introspective and outward looking. In this respect, a central role is played by reliable monitoring, evaluation, and data systems. -Integrate food systems transformation into long-term national vision, growth and development agendas: Food systems, their challenges, and their opportunities are not homogenous across countries. Each country must prioritize its specific needs and objectives within a framework that affords it the creativity to innovate as new knowledge, ideas, processes, and systems are developed and become available. At the same time, a food systems transformation is unlikely to be rapid. Policymakers must therefore seek to elevate the transformation process beyond the impulses of political administrations. Integrating food systems transformation (including specific targets) into the long-term national vision can help transcend politics and make the transformation a national priority. This in turn builds certainty for investors and for other stakeholders who are engaged in the process; it also enables the continuity of the work required to transform food systems at the national level. -Enhance CAADP indicators to reflect the complexity of food systems: This report identifies selected indicators from the CAADP Biennial Review by which to assess a country’s vision and its progress toward food systems transformation. Policymakers, however, now have an opportunity to lead a continent-wide strengthening of the CAADP process. While the CAADP has undoubtedly focused national efforts in transforming agricultural sectors, it is now timely to adopt a more systemic view of food systems transformation and to go beyond the CAADP’s current ambition of agricultural growth and transformation. Additional indicators are needed which better measure and reflect food systems’ interconnectedness with the environment, social inclusion, nutrition and public health, youth employment, and income generation. There is an opportunity to align these additional indicators with national commitments under the various related international agreements including (but not limited to) the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Governance, Policy

Independent Dialogue

Malabo Montpellier Forum: Policy innovations for food systems transformation in Africa

Discussion topic outcome

There were two round table discussions of 45mins each. During the discussions, the representatives from different African countries highlighted the importance of urgently ensuring multistakeholder and multisectoral coordination across government departments in order to reflect the interconnectedness of food systems transformation. In addition, a lack of information on how to coordinate actions was highlighted, which shows the importance on knowledge generation for evidence based policy. Another finding was for goverments to ensure coherence in terms of policy design, by integrating food system... Read mores transformation into long-term national visions, growth and development agendas. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to update Africa’s agricultural science, research and innovation systems to make them fit for purpose. This includes the funding allocated and available for science and innovation. Finally, governments must consider a more consistent approach to evaluating the quality of education and training across countries and disciplines. Facilitate linkages between universities, agricultural research institutes, national extension services, the private sector, and users such as farmers, processors, and consumers. In fact, a robust science, research, and technology system that encourages interdisciplinary approaches will be at the heart of addressing the multifaceted challenges facing Africa’s food systems such as improving crop and animal productivity and nutrition, tackling pests and diseases, improving storage technologies and methods, raising food safety standards, adapting to and mitigating climate impacts, or developing innovative solutions to deliver humanitarian aid to communities in conflict. Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 4, 5

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Governance, Innovation, Policy

Independent Dialogue

Small Businesses: Good Food for All – Sub-Saharan Africa

Geographical focus: Botswana, Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia (Republic of The), Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Main findings

African SMEs are contributing already to all the action track objectives. They face challenges in having more positive impact: finance (tailored to size, cost and access, especially for women); policy disconnect with market demands; infrastructure failure and cost of transport (from road to ports); Capacity and tailored support that is fit for purpose. 1. Reluctancy of farmers and participants in food system to adopt new systems of doing things and new technologies. 2. Cost considerations and immediate profit considerations of changing archaic systems. 3. Lack of access to credit due to lack o... Read moref collateral. Lack of capital. 4. Access to market, lack of formalized and consistent contract of market. 5. Lack of consistency in government policies. Lack of an enabling environment from a policy point of view. 6. Simplifications and reductions of tax regimes is a consistent barrier for most SMEs Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Keywords: Environment and Climate, Finance, Innovation, Women & Youth Empowerment

Independent Dialogue

Small Businesses: Good Food for All – Sub-Saharan Africa

Discussion topic outcome

1. More funding for SMEs who are lacking capital and barriers to growing are too difficult. 2. Formalize linkages with formal networks so that there is diversification of suppliers who are SMEs., 3. De-risk Agriculture to make it attractive to financiers 4. Lower barriers to entry and lower costs of finance and cost of capita 5. Financing should be a package where we combine financing, capacity building in both financial literacy and Good Agricultural practice. We should also have credit products that are tailor made to suit different farmers requests such as the women and youth. Their needs a... Read morere different. 6. Recommending digitization of last mile delivery as well as consumer to farmer traceability 7. Food safety, quality and labelling authenticity needed Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Keywords: Environment and Climate, Finance, Innovation, Policy, Women & Youth Empowerment

Independent Dialogue

Small Businesses: Good Food for All – Sub-Saharan Africa

Area of divergence

The role of large business - are they competition or potential partners and allies?

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Keywords: Environment and Climate, Finance, Innovation, Women & Youth Empowerment

Independent Dialogue

Small Businesses: Good Food for All – Sub-Saharan Africa

Major focus

The focus was: How to boost the role of SMEs in providing Good Food for All? Discussion groups shared positive experiences of contributions to the food systems and detailed challenges. A second group breakout considered actions within defined pathways in line with the Action Tracks.

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Keywords: Environment and Climate, Finance, Innovation, Women & Youth Empowerment

Independent Dialogue

Using Behavior Insights to tackle Food Waste in China and beyond / 运用行为科学减少食物浪费的中国和国际实践

Geographical focus: China, No borders

Area of divergence

Despite the multiple actors in the dialogue, limited areas of divergence presented themselves across the breakout groups. It became apparent that some attendees believe there needs to be a move towards a less centralized and more localized food system, which focusses on a shift towards more local produce and short distribution chains or channels. However, other attendees believed the opposite, and felt that there needed to be more connectivity across all aspects of the farm to fork chain to ensure waste is minimized and there is a better oversight of overall food distribution. Whilst this issu... Read moree was raised in the dialogue, it did not form part of the major scope for discussion, and as such was not explored further. Read less

Independent Dialogue

Using Behavior Insights to tackle Food Waste in China and beyond / 运用行为科学减少食物浪费的中国和国际实践

Geographical focus: China, No borders

Discussion topic outcome

The dialogue group involved stakeholders from national government, academia, international NGO’s and food retail associations, and was conducted in English. Throughout the dialogue participants shared and explored the different challenges and behaviors they are seeking to adapt to reduce food waste, with a focus on exploring the different audiences they are trying to reach, and the target behaviors they are trying to change. Whilst these audiences and behaviors varied, the group shared some common outcomes. The group felt that technology should be further embraced to help reduce food waste. ... Read moreWhilst each participant acknowledge technology could help them reduce waste in different ways depending on their sector, a common outcome was the fact that recent development should be embraced wherever possible to aid a reduction in food waste. This comes with questions regarding funding, as whilst it may be more profitable in the long run, investment in technical solutions to reduce food waste can come with upfront costs which can be unattractive, particular when upfront financial support or incentives are not provided. Participants believed that there is a need to rethink the overall food distribution model adapted, with some claiming that they feel a centralized system isn’t working. Whilst supply chains have been streamlined and waste reduced in many regions, some participants argued that there needs to be a look to local solutions to ensure that food that would become waste at a retail or post-retail level is redistributed through local networks to avoid it becoming waste. Within the group, there was also an argument that there needs to be greater alignment across between supply and demand to reduce food waste. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the fragility of our supply chains in places, with food typically destined for consumption in food-service outlets initially being wasted in many regions, and shortages in other products being seen in the retail space. The group felt that there needed to be a cultural shift in peoples attitudes to help drive a reduction in food waste. Current attitudes prominent in some regions (for example, norms of surplus in retail outlets and rigid expectations help by consumers of how food should look) need to be changed to ensure that there is less waste post-farm, at the point of retail and in the home, whilst there needs to be a greater shift in changing a conceived norm that a certain amount of food waste is acceptable. The group argued that behavioral insights can be of benefit in helping reduce food waste through their work. The group believe that there needs to be interventions across the whole food system to effectively reduce food waste, with efforts made to identify effective leverage points at which these interventions can be made and solutions can be utilized. Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Policy

Independent Dialogue

Using Behavior Insights to tackle Food Waste in China and beyond / 运用行为科学减少食物浪费的中国和国际实践

Geographical focus: China, No borders

Discussion topic outcome

The dialogue group was conducted in English, and involved participants representing food retail outlets, the food service sector, technological solutions aimed at reducing food waste, food redistribution platforms and NGO’s. The dialogue again allowed a space for these individuals to explore the different challenges they are facing within their sector to reduce food waste, sharing the behaviors they are seeking to change and the behaviors they wish to achieve. Some participants within the group felt that cultural institutions can be utilized within different contexts to empower and enable ch... Read moreange in social attitudes, which can lead to a reduction in food waste. Whilst this would vary across different contexts, some participants felt these institutions could be a powerful tool to challenge and change individual behaviors leading to food waste. The group felt that education of citizens can be a powerful tool to empower change in individuals. The group discussed a need to engage a group of advocates to champion the need to reduce food waste, with a need to then use these advocates to mainstream arguments against food waste and ensure the topic is connected in peoples ‘hearts and minds’ to wider issues, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. The group argued that more information on the total scale of food loss at different stages is needed to ensure interventions can be targeted in the best places. Through capturing more and better data in relation to food waste, actors can then decide where they should best target their interventions to lead to impactful change. This sentiment was echoed by all stakeholders looking to reduce waste across their respective target areas. Across the breakout group the different actors acknowledged that the behaviors that cause food waste amongst the target actors they work alongside can vary significantly. However, the group believed that through more data on where waste is generated, and a deeper understanding of these actors and the individual behaviors that can generate food waste we can better target interventions and develop long term behavior change solutions. Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Finance, Policy

Independent Dialogue

Using Behavior Insights to tackle Food Waste in China and beyond / 运用行为科学减少食物浪费的中国和国际实践

Geographical focus: China, No borders

Discussion topic outcome

The dialogue group involved stakeholders from academia, restaurant business, food retailers, international organizations and waste reduction business, and was conducted in Chinese. Food security is a national priority in China, and whilst the government policy has been focused on increasing yield, less attention has been paid to reducing food waste until recently. Recent anti food waste law indicates the commitment from government to tackle food waste. The cost of law enforcement is high and lack of objective measurement makes it even harder. Therefore, behavioral insights should be integrated... Read more during the legislation process and enforcement process. It must be recognized that the government can play an important role in monitoring and the measurement of food waste. Different behavior levels are needed to be considered into the solution development, such as emotional appeals, social influence, and choice architecture. The group also developed slogans to call for actions to be used in the future food waste reduction works, that they felt best mirrored the direction and areas of focus for the future food system. These included “tasty food, balanced diet: reduce waste, act today ”; “technology enables green low carbon lifestyle”; ”Reducing food waste to respect life and nature”; “small step everyday, reduce waste with big impact”; “fight food waste with everyone in the food industry”; “innovative technology and business models can help achieve sustainable food life cycles. ” Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Policy

Independent Dialogue

Using Behavior Insights to tackle Food Waste in China and beyond / 运用行为科学减少食物浪费的中国和国际实践

Geographical focus: China, No borders

Discussion topic outcome

The dialogue group involved stakeholders from academia, international NGOs, Chinese NGOs and food delivery platform and waste reduction business, and was conducted in Chinese. During the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants business have been heavily affected, as well as wet markets. On the other hand, the business of food delivery services increased significantly. This has seen Chinese consumers behavior patterns shift, with less waste occurring from group dinning activities and more waste occurs at household level and overproduction from business. Studies on the shifting behavior patterns and effe... Read morective channel to reach audience are needed. Technologies have played a critical role in reducing food waste in China. For example, AI technology is used to track plate waste, internet delivery companies encourage restaurants to customize their menu to reduce waste, and apps have been used to share leftover food among communities. To further increase the effectiveness of technology, deeper understanding on human behaviors lays at the foundation. The group identified one of the challenges is a lack of access to food waste data. Food businesses are not willing to share data because it may reveal financial status, so it’s difficult to track the progress of food waste reduction. For the redistribution of leftover food from retailers, concerns on food safety were raised, such as who would be responsible for the potential risks during redistribution? The group also proposed that the national goals on food waste reduction could be more ambitious than UN targets of 50% reduction. They felt that more tax incentives or policy should be available for the business that practice waste reduction solutions throughout their operations. Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Policy

Independent Dialogue

Using Behavior Insights to tackle Food Waste in China and beyond / 运用行为科学减少食物浪费的中国和国际实践

Geographical focus: China, No borders

Major focus

In this dialogue, our approach was to explore how behavioral insights can be used to address the challenges of food waste. Food waste reduction offers multi-faceted wins for people and planet, improving food security, addressing climate change, saving money and reducing pressures on land, water, biodiversity and waste management systems. UNEP’s food waste index report estimates that around 931 million tons of food waste was generated in 2019, 61 per cent of which came from households, 26 per cent from food service and 13 per cent from retail. In China, the topic of food waste in the country ... Read morehas gained increasing political and public attention. China launched a Clean Plate Campaign in August 2020 that encouraged citizens to order less food at restaurants and to eat everything on their plates in order to reduce food waste. Building on the momentum, in April 2021 China’s National People's Congress passed the new ‘Anti-Food Waste Law’, which marks another important milestone in China’s continued focus on reducing food waste. In light of this, how can behavior insights accelerate the adoption of solutions and implementation of the law? As actors across the food industry and beyond increasingly recognize the importance of behavior change in the battle to reduce global food waste, behavior scientists and practitioners have identified bright spots that can enable individuals as well as foodservice teams to make the immediate operational changes to reduce waste, while also changing behavior and mindsets to prevent the recurrence of food waste over the long term. However, this dialogue aimed to explore where this work is happening, and where it can be further strengthened. The purpose of the dialogue was to develop a collaborative call to action among stakeholders from across the food chain, identifying current opportunities and challenges in reducing food loss and waste in China and across the world. The guiding topic and vision statement for the breakout groups was: “As part of Sustainable Development Goal 12 there is a need to halve per capita global food waste by 2030 at the retail and consumer level. While the actors and steps required to make this goal achievable are many, through using behavioral insights we can ensure that solutions developed are informed with an understanding of the drivers behind individual behaviors.” Each breakout group explored this same vision statement, although consisted of individuals from different sectors and regions. As such, the challenges explored and solutions raised varied considerably. Using this framing statement, at the start of the dialogue individuals explored the specific problems related to food waste they are trying to address through their work, initially by sharing both problem and target behaviors related to food waste. This was then followed by an opportunity for participants to discuss commonalities, allowing room for participants to surface not only areas that needed greater focus, but also areas for collaboration to overcome common challenges. Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Innovation, Policy

Independent Dialogue

Using Behavior Insights to tackle Food Waste in China and beyond / 运用行为科学减少食物浪费的中国和国际实践

Geographical focus: China, No borders

Main findings

The dialogue took place two months after announcement of a new national law in China focused on reducing food waste at all levels. Whilst the legislation marks a shift of greater political and public attention to the topic of food waste, this dialogue acknowledged that legislation alone cannot be used a singular tool used to change behaviors leading to food waste. This legislation has come at a time of other developments which are being harnessed in different regions to reduce food waste (for example, through AI technology, shared economy applications, refined waste management principles and p... Read moreublic awareness campaigns). However, dialogue attendees felt that for this myriad of interventions and tools to be truly effective, there is a greater need to look at how these can be connected across the whole food system, and an increased need for connectivity across different actors, solutions and legislation focused on reducing food waste. Through the different breakout groups, there was a recognized need to better inform and educate individuals around not just how to reduce food waste, but also the multi-faceted benefits of reducing food waste. Most individuals agreed that within their regions, often public messaging and education failed to clearly emphasis and communicate the scale of global food loss and waste, and the following issues that result from the scale of this waste. Whilst the point and reasons at which food may become ‘waste’ varies across different geographical regions and contexts, it was argued that better education around the challenge can be key to solving the challenge. This form of education can take many forms, from incorporation into formal curriculums, information campaigns, to using networks of advocates at a community level to deploy messaging and best practice. A reoccurring challenge faced by attendees was the need for better standardized measurement of food waste to further quantify and deepen understanding of where food waste occurs. Whilst in some countries there has been more research and data made available, it was acknowledged that more data on food waste can help actors realize where interventions can best be made. For example, attendees argue that it's difficult to track data on individual behaviors on food waste within the home, because natural household behaviors are not easily observable, and service providers are usually hesitant to share or make public detailed data related to waste management. To effectively address the food waste challenge, publicly available data related to the measurement of food waste is critical, with countries building on each other’s learnings to develop a strong global framework for measurement and sharing of food waste information. Breakout groups argued that there needs to be a better understanding of the individual behaviors that contribute towards food waste, particularly in the context of post-farm and post-processing waste. Throughout the dialogue breakout sessions, attendees shared the behaviors they seek to change through their work to reduce food waste, with many acknowledging that there is a need for more information and understanding on the exact reasons for this behavior. Therefore, alongside a need for better quantitative data on food waste, it was felt that there needs to be a deeper understanding of behaviors to ensure targeted solutions are developed. The dialogue highlighted that the issues leading to food waste are vast, both within China and across the world. A message that resulted from all breakout groups was that in order to create a more sustainable food system by 2030 there is a need for behavior change among producers, retailers, the food service sector and the end consumer. Current consumption levels, changing dietary patterns and the unequal increase in purchasing power is leading to overexploitation and degradation of food systems. Therefore, it’s critical that there is a shift in consumer behavior which leads to a real reduction in food waste. Conversations across the dialogue highlighted that behavioral insights can be a powerful tool to empower individuals across the food system. Traditional behavioral levers might focus on monetary short term benefits or regulation to encourage a reduction in food waste, and while these remain an important part of the solution, transformative change needs to go beyond this and truly consider and understand the attitudes, motivation, background and cultural context of individuals when looking to enable change. Through understanding this, we can better look at other levers which effectively enable behavior change. This can include using emotional appeals to drive a shift in behavior, or building a system of choice architecture to change the context in which choices are made, prompting behaviors which can reduce food waste. Likewise, ensuring individuals have information on what the desired behavior is and why it matters can help lead to lasting change, in addition to using social influences the utilize the behavior and beliefs of others to fight against food waste. Read less

Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Finance, Policy

Independent Dialogue

Food Systems Transformation – Food and Agri Sector in Brazil

Geographical focus: Brazil

Discussion topic outcome

Topic 3 - Payment for environmental services • Importance of protecting legal reserves areas and mainly APPs given its influence in assuring better river/water quality as a “natural filter”, also costs tied to it. • Include larger scale farms at the discussion given their relative higher landscape impact and contribution to the maintenance of ecosystem services. Commonly we see these type of programs only destined to smallholder farms. • Important role from agriculture sector in providing environmental services, the need to create recognition mechanisms in the external market for all... Read more the efforts from the Brazilian Agriculture sector. • Environmental measure has to be economically viable, even in the long term. Remuneration for ES will generate the demand for improved systems. • Benefits of environmental measures should be calculated as to improve the chances of farmers adhering to best practices, especially in a shorter term horizon. Farmers tend to think more short term and stakeholders should address this as well. • Market must make it more tangible for producers - opportunity cost showing that preservation brings economic advantages for the producer in the medium-to-long run and the need to bring the economic component to the discussions at the landscape-level. • Renewable energy/biofuels and their positive impact. Carbon credits and locally CBios as a way to monetize/back environmentally friendly investments. Farmers should realize that producing a lot volume thru expanding lands is not interesting for them price wise, meaning that if farmers are able to realize that in record volume moments price trends should be bearish perhaps they would better control their expansion moves. • Amazon has always been in evidence by media even globally was suggested to create a fund having Brazilian farmers as investors with the exclusive purpose of protecting the forest as well as enabling economic use of it by its local people. This would be a way for the Brazilian agriculture to take closer responsibility towards all the criticism related to the Amazon deforestation, overall improving our image. • It was not a consensus that farmers have short term mindset, but long term, in their future generations. Farmers responsibility of any economic activity not to have negative externalities thus taking care of the environment e.g. forests, water springs and mainly the soil, is mandatory for a farmer besides being also an obligation by the Forest Code. Farmers that do not take care of their soil, for instance, gradually will be out of the business as yields (an consequently margins) will be lower. • Regarding payments for environmental services was argued that receiving money for x or y would increase the level of external requirements/interference in the business thus it would be better not to monetize over those services. • If the farmer wants a profitable business in the long-term, he will do this in the same way, however under a voluntary approach, not bringing more constraints to the business. However, if this same farmer accept to receive for the ES, he is accepting a new market regulation on their activity that is not worth. The certification schemes are already doing part of this role. PES should come through market recognition to the products with more sustainable footprint and not as a direct remuneration. • Direct remuneration for environmental services will eliminate any possible benefit and increase the liabilities for the farmers. Indirect remuneration is more effective than creating a direct flow, indicating that the farmer needs a better payment for his activity and not to receive a separate payment for the environmental services. • Amazon generates a negative image for Brazilian producers, and that the sector should use this global interest to establish a positive dialogue with the market. Read less

Action Track(s): 3

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Finance, Innovation

Independent Dialogue

Food Systems Transformation – Food and Agri Sector in Brazil

Geographical focus: Brazil

Discussion topic outcome

Topic 4 – Regenerative Agriculture • Regenerative agriculture goes beyond applying sustainable practices on the agribusiness, but targets the positive balance of deforestation and carbon footprint (net zero is not enough - needs to be carbon positive). • Companies must commit with Regenerative practices and Governments must provide access to transition finance and support the scalability of projects. Blended-finance instruments can facilitate the transition and scale up. • For a successful business case for regenerative agriculture, it is essential to bring together knowledge about far... Read moreming, ecology, communications, technology and finance. • Farmers learn better from other farmers and they play a key role on this transformation, as it is deeply integrated at the local level. • Remunerate the sustainable and regenerative practices is essential. • The whole society must be willing to make it happen, as there is a transition price to be paid by everyone: consumers, the industry and farmers. • The economic premium paid by the society for the sustainable products has to reach the farmer and this will be the main driver for the transition to a more sustainable model. • Sustainability must be on the Government Basic Education Program to ensure the next generation’s awareness about environmental responsibility. • Dissemination of existing sustainable agricultural models among farmers is an important way to speed up transition. • There is a lot to be improved in the current practices only by adopting existing techniques, as the reduction on the usage of fossil fuels, improvement on equipment efficiency, investments on infrastructure that allows larger vehicles to reduce the number of trips per ton of production, among others. • Communicate to final consumers what has been done in order to promote a more sustainable agriculture and empowerment to choose the right type of product to buy according to their environmental practices. • Additionally, consumers will only be willing to pay for something they understand. • Education is key. Environmental responsibility must be part of the Public Education Program. • The new generation must be aware of the benefits of sustainable practices to the current and future generations, as they will be responsible for production and consumption in the coming future. • Agriculture is very often mentioned as harmful for the environment on school books. The government and companies should advertise on the good practices of the vast majority of the players, so that the new generation realizes that agriculture is actually an important part of the solution for a sustainable living. • The existing regenerative techniques must be spread out among farmers. • Governments must act, creating mechanisms and policies that will provide growers with the tools to start the transition. • There are many alternatives to produce in a more sustainable way. • It is important to show farmers that there are economic viable models for a sustainable agriculture, as they will not invest in “Green” if they believe bank account is going to turn “Red”. • Agroforestry demands a long term planning. As there is no safe environment for farmers to make the transition, i.e. no adequate funding, neither a defined legal framework, nor a formalized market to purchase the production, the initiative is taken only by a few and capitalized farmers. • A very complex environmental legislation moves farmers away from the discussion. • Standardization of demands among the states of the nation and making the rules clear to be followed are the first steps to engage all stakeholders around this common target. Read less

Action Track(s): 3

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Finance, Governance, Innovation

Independent Dialogue

Food Systems Transformation – Food and Agri Sector in Brazil

Geographical focus: Brazil

Discussion topic outcome

Topic 5 – Sustainable Agriculture Land/Deforestation: • Territorial intelligence system tool, to assist with improvements in the socio-environmental risk analysis – for instance: manage grain sourcing and assist in identifying areas for investments that will not cause disruption in the environment. • Separate what is legal versus illegal deforestation. • Must have more ambitious on the carbon goals. There is already a natural selection made by the market on the legal vs illegal deforestation. There should be incentives to avoid deforestation – potential covenant from banks; rewards... Read more those who are taking the right actions. • The Soy Moratorium already works well in his view and an important initiative. Focus on areas that are already “at our disposal” (e.g. degraded pasture land). • Brazil already has a very strict legislation – strong surveillance should be the focus. We should make use of the land already available when economic viable. Incentive for a sustainable value chain and sustainable production: • Identify ways to include those players who are not so keen in actively participating in a more sustainable value chain. Also identify incentives to increase such participation. Also touched upon the legal deforestation – how to incentivize the producers to avoid using this land – how can they be compensated? • Seek best practices with incentives, avoiding dichotomies “certifications that includes and other that excludes”, for instance, carbon bank is beneficial to both the grower and to the society. Example given: Sugar & Ethanol sector in which the basis of payment changed from weight to sucrose content (focus on quality) resulting in improved productivity and Cbios concept. Communication: • In terms of communication, all the stakeholders should also promote what Brazil has done right – for instance, 56% of the territory is native forest, best practices/productivity improvements over the years. • Communication is key in fighting fake news. We need to find ways to get good and correct information to the society. It is also an education process. Data and technology investments: • Investments in technology has been key in such development. • In the context of a growing population, which requires better quality food and want to know where it comes from, the digital transformation becomes key. • Usage of 4G to monitor the fields by applying high precision agriculture. With technology, farmers get able to better manage the fields by feeding the soils with what is needed and also by allowing for the biological control of pests. Read less

Action Track(s): 3

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Finance, Innovation

Independent Dialogue

Food Systems Transformation – Food and Agri Sector in Brazil

Geographical focus: Brazil

Discussion topic outcome

Topic 6 – Sustainable livestock Water Use: • Image of Brazil internationally is scratched and the reality must be better presented by entire Brazilian agricultural industry. Was mentioned that in Brazil are several pioneering initiatives in place for a while and are not well shared to the importers, some of them sometimes are done in a better way than our other countries competitors. Such as, livestock water based on re-used clean water, irrigation done by the farm own reservatory, energy generation based on the animal waste feedlot, natural biome preserved and guaranteed by law including ... Read morethe private lands, etc.. Nutrients for human consumption: • Benefits of using the beef as the main animal protein diet. Was exemplified that profiling those benefits translating the information in the beef nutrient for a human diet, such as: the fatty acids and minerals (selenium, Mg., Zn., etc). • The best way to measure the benefits of a beef production must be not only productivity (@/ha) but also the nutrients that a beef meal counts on a human diet nutrients. Therefore, the best approach should be a nutrient index. • All depend on the nutrients the livestock is feed. There is no other country in the world that feed its livestock with as much Selenium and Zinc as Brazil does. Therefore, it should be taken into account when we consider the final price of the Brazilian beef. Carbon emissions and footprint: • Have tool to properly measure the sustainable impact/footprint is the key. Some potential good measurements that might be interest to be adopted: (i) Meat production/carbon emission; (ii) Meat production/native biome preserved. • Reputational footprint might be a potential solution to enhancement the livestock chain. • Communication access as well as the standardization of the retailers are key to benefit from a sustainable footprint in the retail industry. • The difference between the carbon sequestration visually (forest) and non-visually (soil). Participants agreed that there is an important topic to be discussed - quality of the soil. Soil can sequester as much carbon as a forest and that must be also broadcasted internationally. Other Sustainability Topics: • Creation of Integral Concept which combines sustainable projects, reduced carbon emission/more sequestration, enhancement of beef quality and animal welfare. The result for a well-structured Integral Concept is a green/sustainable stamp which will add value to the product. • There is in place some metric adopted by international organizations (feed ingredients, livestock carbon emission, etc) and that they can be certified/audited and that could cut some corners. The slaughter house should start a program to benefit the best farmers paying them a premium for a more sustainable product, such as what has been done by the dairy industry. • Enhance the image of Brazilian agriculture worldwide. Read less

Action Track(s): 3

Keywords: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Finance, Innovation

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