Symposium 2022 review – Food makes a difference!

By

Margarete Sotier, Editor Biovision, Fotos: Peter Lüthi

Together towards a sustainable food system – How do we get there? At the 2022 Biovision Symposium we learned about solutions and challenges for a food system of the future. Here you find impressions from the event and info about “food movements” that strengthen local communities and promote a shift towards organic agriculture.

Together towards a sustainable future

For a sustainable future with enough healthy food for all, our current food systems have to change. Initiatives from Switzerland and Malawi are encouraging: together we can make the change to ecological agriculture with agroecology and to a food policy that is fair for all – from farm to fork.

Changing food systems! How can we do it?

In his talk, Frank Eyhorn, Executive Director of Biovision, looks at how we can meet food system challenges and become part of the solution.

Food Movements in East Africa

East Africa is on the move: People and initiatives are campaigning for agroecological change. Like Esther Lupafya and Mwapi Mkandawire in Malawi, whose initiative has strengthened local communities, promoted organic farming and improved the food situation of thousands of people.

Video recording of the symposium part 1

How does a Citizens Assembly work?

What should a food policy for Switzerland look like that makes healthy, sustainable, animal-friendly and fairly produced food available to everyone by 2030? Over a period of five months, around 80 people, randomly selected by a market research institute, dealt intensively with the complex challenges of our food system and together developed viable solutions.

Solutions for the future of food

Project coordinator Gabriel Pelloquin talks about a Biovision project that aims to make Swiss food policy more sustainable and resilient. Participants of the Citizens’ Assembly for Food Policy talk about motivation, experiences and hopes for the food of the future. Green politician and organic farmer Maya Graf looks at the role of politics and gives an outlook on how the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly can be implemented.

Teilnehmende des Bürger:innenrats sitzen an einem runden Tisch

Video recording of the symposium part 2

Stories

About us, Politics

Swiss Citizens’ Council: Majority Recommendations for a Sustainable Food Policy

Creating a more sustainable food system is an urgent task for all of society. A citizens’ council, composed to represent the views of the Swiss public, shows how it can be achieved.
Knowledge, Politics

Healthy soil is life!

Soil is the fundament for life on Earth, provides food and feed for all creatures above and below ground and plays a major role in climate protection! Soils bind atmospheric CO2, absorb rain water while prevent flooding, store water in long dry seasons, and buffer the extreme adverse impacts of the fast changing climate.
Consumption

Food security – Climate – Ecology: What progress has been made in 2021?

In 2021, the future of our food systems was hotly debated and sustainable solutions sought. In this interview, Biovision President Hans R. Herren and Executive Director Frank Eyhorn explain what came of these discussions and which levers Biovision will be pulling in the coming year. What progress towards sustainable food systems could be achieved in 2021? Hans R. Herren and Frank Eyhorn from Biovision in an interview.
Knowledge

“The Swiss diet has a large global footprint. We have to change that!”

Agriculture and food are responsible for 40 percent of climate change. The UN Food Summit in September brought international attention to the issues of food security and food sovereignty. What is happening in Switzerland to achieve fairer and more sustainable food? And how do we get closer to a sustainable food system? An interview with Daniel Langmeier, Biovision policy advisor and co-founder of the action network “Agroecology Works!” and Carole Küng, co-director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Switzerland. Wir haben nachgefragt, bei Daniel Langmeier, Biovision-Politikberater und Mitgründer des Aktionsnetzwerks «Agroecology Works!» und Carole Küng, Co-Leiterin des Sustainable Development Solutions Network Switzerland (SDSN).