Monday
22 March
Welcome Session
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Introduction: Transformation of the food system and role of the congress
The host, NAHhaft e.V., welcomes all participants, speakers and panelists to the Food System Change Online Congress. In order to start from a common base we will receive scientific insights into the current challenges of the global food system. We will highlight the need for transforming the system and learn how to do so in theory. We will define the role that the Food System Change Online Congress plays in this process and what we want to achieve throughout the three days of the congress and beyond.
Confirmed speakers: Dr. Benjamin Leon Bodirsky, Stephanie Wunder, Peter Hübner
Coffee break
30 minutes
Session 1
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Climate-friendly and sustainable farming methods
As one of the major contributors to climate change, the global food system has to seek for new ways of producing food in a sustainable manner. Innovative farming methods have matured over recent years, which combine climate protection with the preservation of soil and in the case of biocyclic vegan farming even completely renounce animal husbandry and the use of animal inputs. In this session we will get to know and discuss the different approaches of biocyclic vegan farming, market gardening, Keyline design, permaculture, reduced tillage to protect a living soil and regenerative agriculture.
Confirmed speakers: Gilles Domenech, Dr. Johannes Eisenbach, Marlène Vissac
Lunch break
90 minutes
Session 2
02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Open Source solutions: the challenge to share and protect farmer's knowledge
Farmers are experts in the understanding of their local ecological, social and cultural contexts and how to adapt farming techniques accordingly. We will look at approaches of how farmers organize themselves on a local and international level in order to preserve and exchange this knowledge with regard to agroecological farming practices and the building of farming tools and machines in order to protect their food and technological sovereignty being at threat in recent decades.
Confirmed speakers: Ramona Duminicioiu, Andrea Ferrante, Severine von Tscharner Fleming
Coffee break
30 minutes
Panel discussion 1
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Potential of open source solutions in the food and agricultural system
Knowledge is power. To leave or give that power to the members of societies and communities and to make sure that it stays there is what a great number of initiatives have tackled and addressed through innovative approaches over the past decades. We will learn about the idea behind the open source movement and its potential to transform the food system.
Confirmed speakers: Rachel Arnould, Lynne Davis, Chris Giotitsas, Dr. Johannes Kotschi, Foteini Zampati
Tuesday
23 March
Session 3
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Agroforestry and its variations across Europe
The benefits of Agroforestry have been known and used for more than 1300 years. Yet, currently it is not used to its full potential in Europe. We will discuss legal challenges, EU policies and look at the latest innovations in the field. We will present two (silvopastoral) agroforestry initiatives in the UK and Poland that put in place successful integrations of livestock and woody vegetation. What can be learnt from them and what conclusions do they draw from a combined agricultural and woodland use of the same area of land as compared to a single use form will be explored.
Confirmed speakers: Ben Raskin, Marcin Wójcik, Dr María Rosa Mosquera-Losada
Coffee break
30 minutes
Theater premiere
10:45 AM - 10:55 AM
Theater premiere of "Gardenplayers - visualising ideas for our food system"
In March 2021 the contributors met three times and played theater over zoom, exchanging images, stories, gestures and sounds, all connected to their ideas and experiences regarding the global food system. The group consisted of eight people from Nigeria, Mosambique and Germany.
Gardenplayers was initiated by the Berlin-based educational project Foodjustice and led by Elly Jarvis.
Session 4
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Closing declaration
In this session a closing declaration of the congress will be elaborated on. The individual political demands of the declaration will be discussed in a group setting during these 90 minutes. At the end of the congress all parties interested are given the opportunity to sign the closing declaration.
Lunch break
90 minutes
Session 5
02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Building sustainable communities through Bio-Districts
As Bio-Districts are being built across Europe, we will have a look at different examples from Italy and France. We will get to know what it means to create and constantly adapt a complex Bio-District in practice. What are the legal requirements and lessons learned from the diverse approaches across Europe? We will also get to know which networking processes are in place on a European level and how they engage to support Bio-Districts and Eco Regions across Europe.
Confirmed speakers: Salvatore Basile, Roberto Stucchi Prinetti, Samuel Bonvoisin
Coffee break
30 minutes
Panel discussion 2
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Building regional networks
Marketing regional food products is one way to improve sustainability and to ensure regional independence from the global markets. New methods of marketing regional food products such as community supported agriculture or direkt (online) marketing are spreading across Europe. We are going to learn about the possibilities of building regional networks in theory and in praxis.
Confirmed speakers: Tom O’Kane, Johanna Stumpner, Roos Galjaard, Wannes De Jonghe
Wednesday
24 March
Session 6
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Cities assuming the responsibility of food production
How to feed the city is a question many people, not just politicians are concerned about. There are several niche innovations that tackle the problem in one way or another, from the concept of Vertical Farming to Food Policy Councils that are developing in many cities all around the world. In this session we want to look closer into the example of an urban gardening project as well as the example of a rooftop garden as a form of ZFarming (Zero-acreage farming). In the final discussion, we will explore “Business Models in Urban Agriculture”.
Confirmed speakers: Pascal Hardy, Filippos Polatsidis, Dr. Bernd Pölling, Beatrice Stude
Coffee break
30 minutes
Panel discussion 3
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Impact on politics
Especially for small projects it can be difficult to be visible on the map of international politics and to be competitive in the currently finance-dominated economic system. Still there are some success stories to be told. We are going to learn from their experiences and talk to the experts in politics and civil society about the obstacles we are facing in the struggle to implement a sustainable food system and the ways forward in order to overcome them.
Confirmed speakers: Ana Moragues Faus (PhD), Janneke Bruil, Inés Jordana, Paula Gioia
Lunch break
90 minutes
Session 7
02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Innovative financing systems
The financing of projects that are highly valuable to the transformation of the food system can be a real challenge. Several pioneers are exploring new and old ways of funding sustainable agriculture . We will hear their approaches and learn from their experiences. Finally we are going to discuss the topic: “Innovative financing opportunities for agriculture and the food industry”, being joint by a researcher in the field of Organic Farming & Marketing.
Confirmed speakers: Prof. Dr. Anna Maria Häring, Dr. Jenny Lay-Kumar, Gonzalo Úrculo, Ralph Böhlke
Coffee break
30 minutes
Panel discussion 4
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Outlook: Synergies, networks and the way forward
The transformation of the food system evolves along the entire value chain of the food production from farm to fork. The interdependence of actors across different process stages in the food system is very pronounced. Often it is not possible to stay within the boundaries of one area while tackling the problem of an unsustainable global food production system. To create synergies is not a question of “if?” but of “how?”.
Confirmed speakers: Stanka Becheva, Dr. Fedele Colantuono, Prof. Mariantonietta Fiore, Marina Guédon