During this seminar “Coping with Change: Resilient & Sustainable food systems, from theory to practice” CDI will explore the opportunities for resilient and sustainable food systems in a changing world. Several development scenarios for coping with change will be explored during the seminar, each with advantages and disadvantages and with different perspectives of interpretation. Current insights will be presented by keynote speakers and reflected upon by experts, followed by an interactive discussion.

The world is changing and is becoming more unpredictable and uncontrollable. This holds for both social and natural conditions, with climate change and globalisation being major drivers of change in the world. People around the world are increasingly exposed to extreme weather events, economic crises, food crises, disease epidemics, social instability and political conflicts. The resulting insecurity not only affects the global social and economic systems, but also (local) food systems and their farmers who stand at the basis of food production.

Insecurity is inherently linked to farming and increasingly farmers and other food chain actors are dealing in many ways with multiple and simultaneous shocks and changes affecting food systems. While coping with increased insecurity, the agricultural sector also needs to face future challenges of feeding a growing and urbanising population with changing dietary demands and at the same time to reduce the environmental impact of agricultural activities.

This requires sustainable intensification (getting more from less), with reduced vulnerability to perturbations and on a durable basis.

With these increasing uncertainties and future challenges in prospect, there is the need for development of resilient and sustainable food systems that can cope with unexpected shocks.

Speakers

Confirmed keynote speakers:

• Ika Darnhofer – Associate Professor at the Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Economics, Department of Economic and Social Sciences, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.

• Wijnand Sukkel – Researcher Sustainable Production Systems at Wageningen Plant Research, Wageningen University & Research.

The afternoon will be moderated by Krijn Poppe, Research Manager and Senior Economist at Wageningen Economic Research, Wageningen University & Research and co-ordinator of the strategic investment theme resilience.

This seminar “Coping with Change: Resilient & Sustainable food systems, from theory to practice” is an integral part of CDI’s short course Agriculture in Transition. The participants of the course (mid-career professionals of the agri-food sectors in Africa and Asia) will also be participating in the event.