FutureFoodS
European partnership for a sustainable Future of Food Systems
Context
Given that the climate crisis is urgent and that currently unsustainable food systems (FS) contribute to climate change in a profound way, our future sustainable FS must be climate-smart, with the capacity to improve resource efficiency and enhance circularity. Furthermore, government policies need to address the issue of natural resource scarcity to ensure healthy and sustainable food for all around the globe. However, current EU FS are known to be particularly complex, with numerous interdependencies across and between geographical areas, resources, and actors.
Currently, for the FS to function correctly, it relies on the intricate organization of resources and activities in different parts of the world, as well as on established infrastructures and multiple governance levels. To ensure the successful transition of our current FS to a sustainable one, we need to bring on board all actors in the system to ensure that their needs are addressed and that they are willing to take joint responsibility for such a change, thus avoiding undesired side effects. For these reasons, it is crucial to adopt a truly participatory approach.
Vision & Objectives
The vision of FutureFoodS is to collectively achieve an environmentally-friendly, socially secure, fair and economically viable healthy and safe Food System for Europe.
FutureFoodS is as inclusive as possible with public and private actors, policy makers, foundations, locally, sub-nationally, nationally, EU-widely.
All these FutureFoodS partners are fully aligned on the vision for the Partnership and the methodology for its implementation in line with SDG17 and EU Green Deal components.
This vision has been broken down into several objectives applying across the 4 R&I area and 4 transversal activities identified by the FutureFoodS consortium in its stable draft SRIA which constitutes the strategic backbone of the project.
Four general objectives which cover:
- functioning of FS
- system approaches
- inclusive government
- cocreation cases.
These general objectives have then been translated into specific objectives:
- change the way we eat
- change the way we process and supply food
- change the way we connect with food systems
- change the way we govern food systems.
In addition, six interconnected operational objectives have been set:
- Pooling R&I resources and programming
- Operational FS Observatory
- Active FS knowledge Hub of FS Labs
- Functioning knowledge sharing and scaling mechanisms
- Revisiting the SRIA
- Promoting, supporting, widening & gathering FS various communities.
Expected impact
In the long term, FutureFoodS expected outcomes are intended to contribute to the achievement of a SFS, resulting in the:
- Transition to sustainable, healthy and inclusive food systems
- Delivering co-benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental sustainability and circularity
- Sustainable healthy diets and nutrition
- Reduction in food poverty
- Empowerment of citizens and communities
- A flourishing food business sector
- Establishment of a long-term FS observatory.
More info: futurefoodspartnership.eu
Paula Jauregi
Project manager
| Partners |
FutureFoodS gather 87 partners from 22 EU MS, 6 AC and 1 third country. French National Research Agency (ANR) (Coordinator); National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE); Jülich Research Center (FZJ); Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE); Ministry of Universities and Research (MUR); Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland (MAF); Aarhus University (AU); Eigen Vermogen van het Instituut voor Landbouw (EV ILVO); Agriculture and Food Development Authority (TEAGASC); Flanders’ Food; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests (MASAF); Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS); Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO); Innovation and Enterprise Fund; Flemish Region (Affiliated); Public Service of Wallonia (SPW); Estonian Research Council (ETAG); Ministry of Rural Affairs (MEM); Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM); Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania; Research Council of Lithuania (LMT); The State, Represented by the Minister of Agriculture; Dutch Research Council (NWO); Research Council of Norway (RCN); Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT); Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI); Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Slovakia; State Research Agency (AEI); Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) (Affiliated); Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI); Basque Foundation for Food Safety (ELIKA); Institute for Business Competitiveness (ICE); Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS); Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK); Icelandic Food and Biotech Research Institute (Matis); Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL); Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IAR&FR PAS); Wageningen Research Foundation; Foundation for the Promotion of Research in Asturias; Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences (SEAMK); Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE); Association for Technical Coordination in the Agri-Food Industry (ACTIA); Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR); International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM); University of Turin (UNITO); Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Danish AgriFish Agency; University of Food Technologies (UFT); AZTI – Marine and Food Research; Andalusian Technological Corporation Foundation (CTA); Swedish Innovation Agency (Vinnova); Austrian Science Fund (FWF); Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF); Bulgarian National Science Fund (BNSF); Autonomous Province of Bolzano; Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI); International Cooperation Centre for Agricultural Research (CIRAD); Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics (CREA); University of Florence (UNIFI); Private Foundation for AIDS Research Institute – CAES; Agricultural University of Plovdiv; Hellenic-German Education School Panagea Savva AE; Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS); Central Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency (KDRIÜ); Institute for Research in Economic Growth; Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (IPVC); Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES); Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB); University of Udine (UNIUD); Institute for Medical Research; Technical University of Denmark (DTU); University of Ljubljana (UL); Spanish National Research Council (CSIC); Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek; Institute of Public Health of North Macedonia; European e-Science Infrastructure for Biodiversity; University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD); Jožef Stefan Institute; Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University (IZU); State Laboratory of Agriculture, Georgia; FoodHub Hungary; National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM); National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinary Research (INIAV); University of Trieste (UNITS); National Institute for Research and Development in Food Bioresources (IBA Bucharest); LEPL National Food Agency. |
| Duration |
2024-2026 |
| Funding |
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme |
