I recently came across a great news article and an excellent example of how the agri-food sector is working together to reduce the carbon footprint of our food. Food companies have a lot to gain by directly working with farmers to address greenhouse gas emissions.
Registration is now open for the 50th session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS)! This hybrid event will take place 10 – 13 October, with the in-person portion taking place at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Headquarters in Rome, Italy. This will be the first in-person CFS since 2019.
Discussions at the CFS50 plenary session will focus on the 2022 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report and responses to the global food crisis, endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment, endorsement of policy recommendations on Promoting Youth Engagement and Employment in Agriculture and Food Systems, review of the CFS Multi-Year Programme of Work including selection of a theme for the 2024 report of the CFS High-Level Panel of Experts, launching of a policy process on Data Collection and Analysis Tools, and monitoring of the CFS Principles for Responsible Investments in Agriculture and Food Systems. The CFS 50 Provisional Agenda is available here.
Canadian farmers have long been making significant commitments to soil carbon sequestration. A recent report by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) demonstrates that the Canadian agriculture sector can be a source of solutions to climate change. It shows we need a science policy interface that is working effectively to enhance carbon sequestration in croplands.
Are you creative, young and passionate about our agrifood systems? Do you have a story to tell, and a vision to share about the future of our food? If so, then you are in good company.
The World Food Forum Film Festival is back!
If you are a young filmmaker looking for an opportunity to creatively influence and shape global action to transform our agrifood systems, then don’t miss out on this opportunity. The International Film Competition is open. This year’s special award is centred around the 2022 theme: Healthy Diets. Healthy Planet.
The winners will be announced during the World Food Forum Flagship event taking place 17 – 21 October 2022 in Rome, Italy.
Submit your film here before the deadline: Monday, 29 August 2022
Youth are truly the future of food. That’s why we are continually working to include youth in global discussions about the food system and encourage young people to look at agriculture and food as a long-term career.
Certainly I have learned, youth must take a central and leading role in shaping fair and equitable food systems around the world. Often they are the ones who see past old lines drawn in the agriculture sector to bright new ways to do things. So we are helping give young people a platform to share innovative solutions and highlights ways we can better engage youth in the food system.
My heart goes out to all the people caught up in conflict and to people around the world facing uncertainty.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has underscored the urgent need to place agricultural productivity and trade on the global agenda. Supply chain and logistical disruptions, restrictions on exports, and shortages in inputs supply pose a serious threat to food security. Already, international food prices are volatile, having reached an all-time high in February 2022 (FAO). The uncertainty of the intensity and duration of the conflict will worsen the situation further as the disruptions and restrictions persist and will affect the entire globe.
Today is International Women’s Day when women worldwide are celebrated yet many women continue to face gender inequality especially in the agricultural sector. According to the FAO, 80% of the farmland in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia is managed by small-holder farmers and about 2.5 billion people in poor countries are employed within the agricultural sector. Most of these are women. Women make up 43% of the agricultural workforce in the Global South and an estimated 66% of livestock keepers yet many of them do not have land ownership right nor access to resources. This is a challenge which threatens global food security and the sustainability of food systems especially in rural areas where more people suffer from hunger, malnutrition, and poverty.
After a challenging 2020 filled with lockdowns and cancellations of in-person meetings as well as travel restrictions, we looked forward to a better year in 2021 and we were not disappointed! As we adjusted to a new normal filled with hybrid meetings or new travel requirements, we also welcomed all the exciting projects, conferences and achievements. Here are a few highlights:
One of my highlights of the past year was 2021 Borlaug Dialogue Roundtable on Nutrition-Sensitive Food Systems organised by Barbara Stinson’s team at the World Food Prize Foundation. I had the privilege of moderating a discussion between experts, farmers, and past World Food Prize winners on how to achieve better nutrition globally. It is key to improve access to and affordability of healthier foods, including fruits and vegetables, pulses, dairy, and blue foods.
The conversation about food has taken on a whole new meaning thanks to the UN Food Systems Summit. Food has always played a key role in our lives: from bringing family and friends together, to providing a source of income to millions of people, to shaping national and international policy. The importance of food can never be overstated. However, the discussion on food has usually been quite narrow and limited. Until recently, the idea of food only pointed to what we eat. The Summit has expanded the traditional idea of food to include the whole life cycle of getting what we eat from farm to table.
