At the Agrifood Forum political and business leaders will look for solutions for self-sufficiency in quality food
The largest international “AgriFood Forum” in the Baltic States, which annually attracts more than 2,000 spectators from all over Europe, returns on November 15. This year, together with AgriFood Lithuania, the forum on the topic “Peace for Food” is organized by “Business at OECD”, the Confederation of Lithuanian Industrialists, “EuroChambers”, “EIT Food” and “Smart Agri Hubs”. As every year, the forum will be held in two languages, and invites to watch it free of charge. Please note that registration is required.
Focusing on the global crisis in the agricultural and food sector
The current situation in the world could be defined as a complex crisis that has a huge impact on the demand and supply of food. Climate change, the pandemic, and Russia’s unjustified military aggression have greatly overburdened food systems and created one of the worst food crises in history. The aggressor’s invasion of peaceful Ukraine severely disrupted global food markets and had negative consequences for global grain supplies in the short term. In the long term, disruptions in the natural gas and fertilizer markets and the production and diffusion of agricultural technologies will have a strong negative impact on producers. Therefore, solutions at the global level are necessary and the first steps have already been taken during the meeting of the OECD Ministers of Agriculture. According to the organizers of the forum, at the end of the forum additional recommendations will be made to the governments of the OECD countries that can help to solve the current challenges of the food system. These recommendations should also be taken into account at the high-level agrifood meeting in Istanbul, which will be held in 2023.
“The issue of the global agrifood sector crisis is particularly relevant in the Baltic countries, where in each economy of Baltic state the agrifood sector constitutes an important part of the GDP (more than 7 percent in Lithuania). Ukraine is an important import partner of the food sector companies of these countries, and the overall country’s inflation rate is one of the highest in the entire European Union. The stagnation of companies operating in the agrifood sector would have a serious impact on the growth of other sectors and the unemployment rate (especially in the regions). Therefore, this forum convenes national and international stakeholders to discuss developing an action plan (including the joint commitments of key players in the sector) to ensure access to affordable, quality food for everyone, without compromising sustainability commitments. These commitments will be based on healthier, fairer, more sustainable, and more resilient food systems,” said forum organizer director of AgriFood Lithuania Kristina Šermukšnytė-Alešiūnienė.
The forum features a wide range of topics and cross-sector leaders
“This forum is an excellent platform for different representatives of agriculture, food, and other related sectors and political leaders to talk and, most importantly, to hear each other. This is the key to strengthening the regions and the success of the agrifood sector, as well as providing residents with high-quality, affordable food, while finding advanced ways to achieve sustainability goals and promote the development of technology companies that create high-added value in Lithuania. This is especially relevant now, when the world’s food supply chains that have not yet recovered from the pandemic are going through an even greater shock due to the war in Ukraine and forcing the world to think about food as a matter of national security”, said Speaker of the Seimas, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, who will participate in the “AgriFood Forum”.
The topics of the Agrifood Forum include: providing the world with quality food, increasing innovation and digitalization, carbon farming and its prospects, food trends and consumer expectations, sustainable agrifood system, European digital innovation hubs, increasing resilience in the agrifood sector (energy, climate, skills) and biofood.
The CEO of EIT Food, the world’s largest agrifood sector community, will deliver the keynote address at the Agrifood Forum. Dr. Andy Zynga, describing today’s situation in the agrifood sector, said: “The food system faces many challenges, but at the same time, it presents us with great opportunities to create real change that affects society. Climate change, the war started by Russia in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic and problems of food loss throughout the supply chain have led to a crisis in the food system. In addition, there are significant challenges in attracting more young people to work in the sector and strengthening public confidence in the food system. We need to work together to find solutions to these challenges. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage innovation, because this, I believe, will allow us to create a healthy and sustainable food system for society and the planet.”
The Agrifood Forum will offer an unexploited countermeasure
This year, the European Commission has officially approved 136 digital innovation hubs, which have been awarded the title of European Digital Innovation Hub. Three consortia have received such an assessment in Lithuania, and in various European countries, as many as 35 of EDIHs specialize in the agrifood sector. According to the organizers of the “Agrifood Forum”, this discussion platform will offer an additional effective tool as an additional response to the global multi-layered agrifood crisis – the unification of EDIHs for a common goal.
It will be the first time that these largest centers of competence in Europe will gather in one place to discuss international and cross-sectoral cooperation and a common commitment to work together to create a strategic alliance and seek to define a common roadmap of priorities.
According to the initiators of the idea, this alliance will create a unique cooperation model and a common EDIH ecosystem characterized by cooperation, technology exchange, and investment. This will allow the market to offer the strongest possible solutions. It will expand the direction of activity of the actors who can have the greatest influence in the digital transformation from the national to the international level.
The message of the AgriFood Forum 2021 was heard: it is time to take action
On November 25, the AgriFood Forum 2021, the largest international conference on the agrifood sector in the Baltic States, took place in Vilnius. Last year, this annual event, which brings together science, business and political leaders as well as the social partners, took place online, two years ago - a physical event was held. This year a new - hybrid - format was proposed. One hundred special guests and 2,000 online viewers spent eight hours listening for presentations and discussions, which took place in two different halls, by almost 50 leaders on a wide range of topics from regional development, innovative food, the future of the EU agricultural policy or robotics to women's empowerment, green investment, ecosystem transformation, decarbonization and future visions of the agrifood sector in Lithuania.
“For the first time, the AgriFood Forum in Lithuania was characterized by such great interest from representatives of different sectors, decision-makers of various public authorities and actors of the local innovation ecosystem. This year, the forum attracted the largest number of influential agrifood sector actors not only from Lithuania, but also from the European Union and all over the world. During the discussions and presentations, we heard clear suggestions on what needs to be done if we want to implement a sustainable food value chain in Lithuania, solve regional problems and create a better innovation ecosystem both at the national and EU level, ” said Kristina Šermukšnytė-Alešiūnienė, the director of the AgriFood Lithuania DIH.
The Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, who gave a welcome speech at the Forum, said that sustainability is not a limitation. Sustainability is about maintaining balance with nature. It is qualitative growth. During his presentation, the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania Kęstutis Navickas highlighted the necessity of changes in the current living standards of the society. According to the Minister, it is the buyer who should be most interested in seeing as many sustainably produced products as possible on store shelves and have the greatest intolerance for food waste. Meanwhile, the Minister of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania Simonas Gentvilas stated that he believes that the food sector in Lithuania can be without a trace of CO2.
According to Augustas Alešiūnas, the director of ART21, there is a strong public desire to take care of a sustainable environment and food. Therefore, we should not ignore this strong initiative and take responsibility - both as a country and as a society - for a sustainable future. The innovator encouraged science to take the lead in uniting different actors, because, in his opinion, it is unlikely that we will succeed in achieving our goals if we have many different options, but do not have a clear strategy. This way the need for a common strategy in Lithuania was highlighted.
"In the past, all technologies were dedicated to increasing productivity and efficiency. The technologies being developed today are more than just productivity-oriented, with climate change becoming another key issue. Indeed, we would certainly not lie if we called AgriFood Tech Climate Tech,” said Louisa Burwood-Taylor, the Head of Media & Research at AgFunder, who introduced global trends based on personal experience, statistics and future perspectives.
