The OECD Co-operative Research Programme:

Sustainable Agricultural and Food Systems

This Conference compared established sustainability concepts, as well as innovations pertaining to new approaches to reach sustainability in agriculture across a range of countries and regions with a view of identifying indicators that can demonstrate the sustainability of a specific system or innovative application. The Conference considered these general indicators and determined the extent to which they can be elaborated in more detail, in order to implement sustainability systems in practice, building on the work developed through previous events and, in particular, Genome Editing Beyond the EU – A Global Conversation, which featured an interesting intervention by 2020 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and prominent geneticist Professor Jennifer Doudna.

The first day of the Conference focused on sustainability in agriculture in general. The main objective was to identify indicators for sustainability thereby ensuring that, as far as possible, there can be a common understanding to the meaning of sustainability.

The second day of the conference focused on innovation in agriculture and those indicators suitable to assess whether a given innovation can be considered sustainable; the specific example that was considered in detail was that of genome editing and the products obtained with this technology.

Partners

Conference Speakers :

Keynote Speaker: Mr Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for Agriculture, European Commission – Intervention

Day 1: Sustainability in Agriculture & Food Systems – Concepts & Indicators

Dr François Pythoud,  Former Ambassador of Switzerland to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Dr John Ingram,  Associate Professor, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, United Kingdom  – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides)
Dr Maria Santos , Associate Professor of Earth System Science, University of Zürich, Switzerland  - (Presentation slides)
Mr Garlich von Essen , Secretary General, Euroseeds, Belgium
Dr Vincent Martin, Director of Innovation, Office of Innovation (OIN), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – (Presentation slides)
Dr Koen Deconinck, Policy Analyst, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides)
Professor Urs Niggli,  President, Institute for Agroecology, Switzerland  – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides )
Ms Ritsuko Yoneda, Director for the OECD, International Affairs Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan – (Presentation slides)
Dr Spiro Stefanou, Administrator for the Economic Research Service, USDA, USA – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides)
Professor Annemie Geeraerd Ameryckx,  Associate Professor, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering , KU Leuven, Belgium  – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides )

Day 2: Sustainability in Agriculture & Food Systems – Innovation & Implementation

Ms Erika Staël von Holstein, Chief Executive Officer, Re-Imagine Europa, Belgium
Ms Irène Tolleret, Founder of the European Food Forum, Member of the European Parliament
Ms Irene Sacristán Sánchez,  Head of Unit for Biotechnology in the Directorate General Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), European Commission – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides )
Dr Peter Thygesen, Principal Regulatory Scientist, Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, Australian Government, Australia – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides )
Dr Sadiye Hayta,  Senior Scientist, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, United Kingdom  – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides)
Dr Yuri Gleba , Honorary Director, Institute of Cell Biology & Genetic Engineering, Ukrainian Academy of Science – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides )
Dr Gijs Kleter,  Senior Researcher, Wageningen Food Safety Research, Wageningen University, The Netherlands – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides )
Dr Andrew Roberts,  Chief Executive Officer, Agriculture & Food Systems Institute, USA – (Presentation slides)
Dr Sheila Ochugboju,  Executive Director, Alliance for Science, USA – (Presentation slides)
Dr Martin Lema, Adjunct Professor at the National University of Quilmes’ School of Biotechnology, Argentina – (Intervention abstract – Presentation slides )
Dr Oana Dima, Science Policy Manager at VIB-Ghent University Center for Plant Systems Biology, European Sustainable Agriculture Through Genome Editing (EU-SAGE), Belgium – (Presentation slides)
Dr Steffi Friedrichs, Director, AcumenIST, Belgium, & Special Advisor on RIE’s Planet Task Force, Belgium – (Presentation slides)
Professor Andrzej Nowak, Professor of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland, & Chief Narrative Scientist at RIE, Belgium – (Presentation slides)
Dr Peter Kearns, Director for Sustainable Food Systems and Innovation, Re-Imagine Europa, Belgium

Download the Conference Agenda

Download the Full List of Participants

RIE Planet Conference