Re-Imagine Europa convenes a broad group of experts and stakeholders as part of our new Re-Imagine Planet Task Force.
Tuesday, February 16th, marked the first meeting of the Expert Committee of our Re-Imagine Planet Task Force on Sustainable Agriculture and Innovation. Mr Carlos Moedas, former European Commissioner for Research, Science, and Innovation, kicked off proceedings giving an introductory speech.
The first day focused on the Task Force’s vision for a European model for sustainable agriculture based on shared narratives and priorities and guided by the work of Re-Imagine Europa’s Chief Narrative Scientist Professor Andrzej Nowak and his University of Warsaw colleague Dr Marcin Napiórkowski. The Expert Committee meeting also had the pleasure of welcoming European Commission Director-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Wolfgang Burtscher, for a keynote address on the Farm to Fork Strategy.
On day two of the meeting, February 17th, the debate’s focus shifted to consider the regulatory framework needed to regulate applications of genome editing technologies in agriculture. The second day of discussions started with presentations from Dr Martin Lema, Adjunct Professor at the National University of Quilmes and an experienced biotech regulator in his native Argentina. The plenary debate was then continued by the Task Force’s Policy Options team presentation, including remarks from Dr Oana Dima (EU-SAGE) and Dr Peter Kearns (Special Adviser, Re-Imagine Europa).
Both days discussions, including the subsequent breakout sessions, which saw all participants divided into six workgroups, will form the basis of two reports to be published in May.
Re-Imagine Europa, together with ALLEA and EU-SAGE, announced the establishment of this Task Force on Sustainable Agriculture and Innovation in October 2020. The initiative aims to build inclusive and pragmatic proposals on how innovation can support the creation of more sustainable and resilient European agricultural systems by convening an Expert Committee of prominent individuals representing varying kinds of expertise and stakeholder perspectives.
