Agri4D 2023: Building resilient food systems in uncertain times

Welcome to Agri4D 2023: Building resilient food systems in uncertain times

The Agri4D conference aims to bridge science, policy and practice to create a real-world impact on global food systems to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger.

All stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, civil society, private sectors, and policy makers, are invited to join the conference to co-create solutions to build resilient food systems. You can engage in different ways, for example oral presentation, workshop, roundtable discussion and storytelling.

This conference will take stock of the current knowledge frontier, connect science to policymaking and practice and spark new collaborations among researchers, policymakers and practitioners who are working on the urgent issues of stressors and vulnerabilities within food systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

There are significant stressors due to climate change as well as loss of biodiversity and inequalities that have a negative impact on global food systems. On top of the societal and environmental crises, the recent challenges of Covid-19 and the growing energy crisis due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have added additional stress to many food systems, and have increased food insecurity among the poor, particularly in LMICs. Food system stressors are taking a toll on vulnerable groups who are often left out of decision-making, but are hit by the severe impacts of such crises.

The conference will be held online and address the current global situation in two different themes.

Call for abstract

The detailed call for abstracts and concept notes is found here. Deadline 8 May 2023.

Agri4D 2023: Themes

Theme 1: Securing food and nutrition within planetary boundaries

This theme aims to bring forward discussions relating to all stages of food systems and their outcomes, from ecosystems supporting production, to the producers, consumers, including value chain and market actors, linking farmers to consumers.

Within this theme, we invite researchers, decision-makers and practitioners who are exploring challenges, and innovative solutions to increase the resilience of food systems in times of crises across the Global South.

This theme embraces related research topics, including:

Resilient food production systems
Sustainable food processing approaches and value chains
Transparent and inclusive market systems
Accessible food, nutrition and health
Landscape approaches and climate change

Theme 2: Governance and rights in food systems: Leaving no one behind

In order to create sustainable and resilient food systems it is important to identify vulnerabilities and opportunities to prevent future risks and promote sustainable solutions. This theme emphasises topics that aim to answer ‘resilience for whom?’ within food systems. Marginalised groups in society are often impacted the most by food crises, but have unique opportunities for transforming those systems away from status quo. These groups vary across contexts but may include e.g. smallholder farmers, indigenous groups, marginalised genders, children and youth, etc.

We encourage stakeholders to bring forward context specific experiences and examples to discuss why and how vulnerabilities exist in food systems, who is affected and why, and potential ways to solve such challenges.

This theme invites presentations exploring examples in relation to:

Food (in)justice, food sovereignty, gender
Rights to food (i.e. food as a human right), food security, food and nutrition
Understanding vulnerabilities in food systems (e.g. intersectional processes and power relations that make specific people vulnerable)
Transformative or innovative practices promoted by marginalised peoples or groups
Income security and wealth creation in agri-food systems
Smallholder rights e.g. land tenure/ natural resources rights, to secure access to land
The roles of private and public sectors in food systems (e.g. how the public sector can enable private sector investments, how private sector involve in community engagement and supply chains at local levels)

Organised by SLU Global at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and the Swedish International Agriculture Network Initiative (SIANI), with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).