• Energy Research

The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, Vol. 18 No. 3 (2011): Special Issue: Agriculture and Climate Change This article does not have an abstract.

The change towards a food systems approach in the IPCC reflects a needed paradigm shift in the science-policy interface, and particularly in the climate change and agri-food research communities. A systems approach allows assessing simultaneously both adaptation and mitigation options and to select those more effective strategies in addressing climate change. There are still limitations that need to be addressed regarding the number of assessed crops, sectors, countries and social groups representation in order to overcome the historical epistemic injustice of the IPCC. This article is a commentary on Porter et al., 25, 2518-2529.

Meeting the demand for food, energy, and water as world population increases is a major goal for the food systems of the future. These future challenges, which are complex, multiscalar, and cross-sectoral in nature, require a food systems approach that recognizes the socio-ecological and socio-technical dimensions of food (Ericksen, 2008; Ingram, 2011; Rivera-Ferre, 2012). The United Nations' Future Earth Program aims to provide a new platform for consolidating the knowledge required for societies to transition to global sustainability (Future Earth Transition Team, 2012). In this paper, we explore how Future Earth could become a vehicle for inspiring the production of new research ideas and collaborations for sustainably transforming the future food system. We do this on the basis of a synthesis of views from 28 young (below 40 years old) food system scientists, representing five continents. Their expertise comes from disciplines including food engineering, agronomy, ecology, geography, psychology, public health, food politics, nutritional science, political science, sociology and sustainability science. This paper begins with an outline of the institutional framework of Future Earth and how it might support innovative transdisciplinary research on food systems, and the position of young scientists within this framework. Secondly, we outline the key insights expressed by the young scientists during the Food Futures Conference in Villa Vigoni, Italy, in April 2013, including the core research questions raised during the meeting as well as some of the challenges involved in realizing their research ambitions within their professional spheres. Peer reviewed

To favor transition towards sustainable agricultural systems, the agricultural sector needs to reduce its dependence on external inputs. From an ecological economics perspective, this requires the simultaneous fulfillment of a gross energy surplus on the farm (production condition), and a greater recirculation of the production extracted from the agroecosystem (reproduction condition). Using eight smallholder farms, this study focuses on the processes of recirculation and externalization of biomass, materials and energy flows in the agroecosystem. This is carried out through analyzing the MEFA (Material and Energy Flow Analysis) matrix by means of energy return on the investment indexes of inputs or externalizations (EFEROI), recirculations (IFEROI), joint efficiency (NPPact EROI) and labour efficiency (W EROI), all of which impact upon farm-scale decision-making related to yield and cost-benefit situations. Agrarian fossilization indices are applied to include an assessment of farm non-renewable energy profiles. The results indicate a restriction of inputs in conventional farm-operators and a troubling use of indirect fossil-fuel in organic operators, together with a weakening of the agroecosystem reproductive processes by means of external inputs for both systems. To guide the agrarian transition, farming strategies need to focus on reducing indirect fossil-fuel energy consumption, rather than relying on technological substitutions. Peer reviewed

The 4th Global Food Security conference highlighted four major developments: the shift from food security to food systems; a focus on diets and consumption patterns; the importance of unknown futures and inherent uncertainties and risks; and the central role of multi-level connections between local- and global-oriented research. These shifts highlight the importance for research to contribute to dialogue and collective intelligence through evidence-based brokerage, and to move beyond polarization of debates. These shifts also call for the involvement of scientists in multi-stakeholder arrangements to strengthen innovation and learning at different levels, and for their participation in foresight studies to help navigate plausible futures. Delegates discussed five scientific challenges to be addressed through both research investments and by improving science-policy interfaces. Peer reviewed