From September 16 to 18, the University of Göttingen hosted the Sustainable Food Systems Symposium, bringing together 180 participants from 27 countries to tackle one of today’s most pressing global issues: the sustainability of our food systems.
The symposium, organized by the Research Training Group “Sustainable Food Systems”, provided a platform for leading researchers and practitioners to share insights on sustainable practices across the food system. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Research Training Group of the University of Goettingen collaborates with key partners such as the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington and the Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven in Belgium.
The event featured six international keynote speakers addressing critical topics ranging from women’s empowerment in agriculture to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The discussions emphasized the need for innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to transforming food systems toward sustainability.
Key insights included:
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions must be approached through multiple strategies, such as taxation and repurposing agricultural subsidies.
- Governance challenges remain central, as political tensions and farmer protests highlight the perceived costs of sustainability, despite long-term benefits.
- Women’s empowerment is essential for achieving equality in food systems and should not be viewed solely as a tool for economic development.
- Coalition-building and scaling up grassroots movements are crucial for driving sustainable practices across diverse social groups.
- Food labeling and nudges offer potential for influencing consumer behavior, but their impact needs to be combined with broader changes to the food environment.
- Policy trade-offs are inevitable as food systems support some development goals while undermining others, necessitating a holistic, systems-based approach.
The symposium underscored the urgent need to secure global food supplies for a projected population of 9.8 billion by 2050, while balancing planetary health, human nutrition, and environmental sustainability. Addressing both overconsumption and underconsumption of nutrients, and ensuring food equity, will be critical in building food systems that benefit both people and the planet.
