Adjusting to the New Normal: Building resilient food systems in the face of climate change, crisis, and rising energy costs

The invasion of Ukraine sparked a third food price crisis in 15 years. In a context of Covid, conflict, and climate change, world food prices reached record highs, hitting food insecure countries and populations the hardest. A spotlight was firmly placed on the fundamental weaknesses in global food systems, including high import dependency among low-income countries, high dependency on chemical inputs, over-specialised commodity production, and lack of transparency in global food systems. However, countries around the world are more and more adopting agroecology as the means to mitigate the effects of the current crises while building the resilience urgently needed to protect against future shocks. During this event, organized during the ORFC on January 4, some of the most pioneering responses to the crisis, and global efforts to measure the impacts of these changes were presente.

While agroecology has been much discussed at ORFC over the years, this event took stock of the evolving impacts of the food price crisis on food security and build understanding of the root causes of global food insecurity. It showcased innovative responses to the food price crisis that mitigated immediate impacts and kick-started longer-term transformation of food systems through agroecology. It also built awareness of the opportunities to cut reliance on energy and input costs in the face of rising costs – and the challenges in diversifying production systems.