29.03.2024
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World Food System Center
 
Dear Friends of the World Food System Center,

In the last months, we have seen research programs with our members lauched and a return to live events and teaching in person, including our summer school. These exchanges with others, this connection and sharing, reminded us how important and strong the network surrounding the Center is. Be in it through our online lectures series, alumni network or live events, these connections bind us to each other and help us in our common goal of creating sustainable food sytems for all. As we move through these uncertain months ahead, we will continue to remember the strength of these bonds and common push for transformation. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all!

Kind regards,
Jeanne Tomaszewski and the team of the World Food System Center
• Center News
• Research
• Education
• Outreach
• Member Highlights
• Publications
 
 
 
Ten years of new knowledge, connections and synergies
A new report on the Mercator Program on Agroecology and Organic Farming highlights the projects and activities implemented and shares exemplary stories that showcase the impact, connections and synergies created by the program.
 
Download report
 
 
 
 
 
New Executive Office Staff
Ivonne Blossfeld joined the office in Septmber as the new Project Manager for Outreach. In her role, she coordinates the outreach activities of the Center. She is also responsible for the Future Food Fellowship Program.

Ivonne holds a Master’s degree in Food Science and Nutrition from Anhalt University of Applied Sciences and a doctoral degree in Sensory and Consumer Science from the University College Cork in Ireland. She brings more than 15 years of experience in research, development and innovation in the food industry to the Center. We welcome Ivonne to the team!

Please see the Executive Office page to learn more about our team.
 
 
 
New Members
We are pleased to welcome Mutian Niu, Johanna Jacobi and Joaquin Jimenez-​Martinez as new members!
 
Mutian Niu leads the Animal Nutrition Group in the ETH Zurich Department of Environmental Systems Science. The group focuses on feed and feeding, as well as nutritional physiology of animals, with the goal to improve the sustainability of livestock systems. They explore and develop strategies to mitigate methane emissions and nitrogen excretions and try to understand how climate change and extreme weather conditions affect animals.

Visit the group website
 
 
 
Johanna Jacobi heads the new Agroecological Transitions Group in the ETH Zurich Department of Environmental Systems Science. The group aims to contribute to sustainable and fair agri-food systems using critical social-ecological systems research. By applying mixed-methods approaches, they investigate topics of diversified, democratically organized and culturally acceptable agriculture and food systems in regions of the Americas, Africa and Europe.

Visit the group website
 
 
 
Joaquin Jimenez-​Martinez leads the Subsurface Environmental Processes Group, affliated with the Eawag Department of Water Resources and Drinking Water and ETH Zurich Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering. The group aims to understand the impact of land use changes and climate change on groundwater resource. They provide predictive models to help as decision support tools for stakeholders and policy makers.

Visit the group webpage
 
 
 
 
 
 
New Research Collaboration in the Field of Smart Sustainable Farming
In October, the Center and the fenaco cooperative launched a joint research initiative at the interface of agriculture, sustainable production systems, robotics and artificial intelligence. With this initiative, fenaco is supporting the establishment of the Smart Sustainable Farming Research Cluster at the World Food System Center with a total of 1.2 million Swiss Francs over the next six years, thus enabling several interdisciplinary projects.

Joël Mesot, president of ETH Zurich, states: "Through this new initiative, we are working together with the agricultural sector on key challenges of our time. The projects will transfer findings from robotics and artificial intelligence into agricultural practice."
 
Read more
 
 
Prototypes
 
 
 
New Research Project Enhancing Urban Microalgae-​Based Protein Production
The new project ‘Urban Microalgae-​Based Protein Production’ aims to develop nutritious microalgae-​based food products and to establish a platform to produce them efficiently in an urban facility and in a cost-​effective way. To do so, the researchers will use whole value-​chain approach, combining innovative production technologies and consumer insights. Collaboration with Swiss and Singapore-​based food producers is key to ensure commercial viability.

Starting in January 2022, the project is led by the Singapore-​ETH Centre, together with the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation. Prof. Alexander Mathys from ETH Zurich is the lead principal investigator. The new project further expands the World Food System Center flagship project ‘Novel Proteins for Food and Feed', also led by Mathys.
 
More about project
 
 
 
 
 
Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) project
In partnership the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) with Sight and Life, ETH Zürich and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture have launched the Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) project. Working across the agricultural, health and education sectors, the NICE project aims to improve urban diets in low- and middle-income countries. NICE promotes women and youth leadership, and places a strong emphasis on public-private engagement and income generation.
 
NICE project website
 
 
 
 
World Food System Center Summer School
Over the course of two weeks in August, the intense and immersive summer school program focused on 'Food Systems in Transition.' Participants explored food system challenges and solutions first-​hand, and learned to better understand their own role in driving a sustainable transformation.

This year's course brought together 22 participants representing 12 nationalities and 17 disciplines in the small village of Rheinau in Switzerland. The students arrived as strangers, yet were united by their common interest in food systems and motivation to be part of creating positive change.
 
Course News
 
 
 
 
 
From Beans to Bears
At the recent workshop 'Bittersweet Stories of Chocolate,' teachers from across Switzerland learned about the differents steps of the cocoa value chain and the stakeholders involved, with the help of a role-play board game developed at the Center. The workshop was created for teachers interested in bringing the theme of sustainable food systems into the classroom. The game is now available for download in English and German.
 
Link to Game
 
 
 
 
 
Designing for Food Systems Resilience: A Circular Approach
In the upcoming professional short course, participants will learn how to use systemic and transdisciplinary approaches to transform waste into resources, close loops, create shared value and leverage interconnections to design interventions that build resilience. This course will offer participants the chance to connect with likeminded professionals from around the world and engage in interactive and creative skill building opportunities.

Course: Designing for Food Systems Resilience: A Circular Approach
Dates: 3-8 March 2022
Format: Live online
Applications: Close 23 January 2022
 
Course Details
 
 
 
 
Outreach
Here are some highlights from our outreach events this fall.
Find out about more of the Center's outreach events
 
Agroecology and the Transition to Sustainable Food Systems
 
 
A Public Lecture Series
21 September - 07 December 2021

This online series aimed to offer the interested public a deeper insight into the fundamentals of agroecology and its potential role in transforming food systems. The series of 12 lectures brought together perspectives from science, practice and policy to provide insight on agroecological fundamentals as well as societal aspects. We thank the 43 contributors for sharing their insights and time with the audience of over 1000 participants during the entire series.
 
 
 
Food Day @ETH
 
 
05 November 2021

This public research symposium highlighted food system relevant research conducted by our members and their groups at ETH Zurich, Agroscope, Eawag, Empa, and FiBL. This year’s event focused on how collaborative research at ETH Zurich is contributing to food system transformation. The symposium included presentations from Center funded projects as well as a panel discussion with partners from industry, government and academia.

Congratulations to this year's poster winners. All posters can be viewed online, many with narration from the researchers.
 
 
 
Scientifica
 
 
4-5 September 2021

At Scientifica, the public science event of ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, several researchers joined the collaborative booth of the ETH4D initiative and the World Food System Center to talk to visitors about about innovations for sustainable development and food systems. Four interactive displays showed current projects from the fields of agricultural, food, and water supply research.

We thank all the research groups for their contributions and time for this great public event. And, of course, to all those visitors that came by to chat!
 
 
 
Series Summary
 
 
 
 
 
Food Day Posters
 
 
 
 
 
Scientifica Summary
 
 
 
 
 
Member Highlights
Christian Schöb announces the session ‘A12a | Intercropping – exploitation of biodiversity benefits in arable fields’ at the World Biodiversity Forum 2022 taking place 26 June -01 July 2022 in Davos, Switzerland.

The ETH Zurich inagural lecture of Sebastian Dötterl focused on Soil resource dynamics in a changing world (video).

Michelle Nay presented her research at Treffpunkt Science City public lecture: Resistente Bohnen für volle Teller (Resistant Beans for Full Plates)

Exciting new interdisciplinary projects

Astrid Oberson of the Plant Nutrition Group will lead the new project ‘Sustainable tropical pastures: optimize nitrogen supply through integration of legumes and grasses with biological nitrification inhibition’ funded by the Spirit program of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Robert Finger and Nina Buchmann received funding for a SNSF project entitled ‘InsuranceGrass.’ In this interdisciplinary and international project, they study the potential role of financial, natural and social insurance mechanisms to cope with increasing climate risks.

Emmanuel Frossard received funding for two new projects focused on phosphate availability: “How to decrease phosphate losses from upland crops while maintaining optimum crop yields on acid sulfate soils of the lower Mekong delta?’ supported by the SNSF and Vietnamese National Foundation for Science and Technology Development and ‘More than nitrate: the importance of phosphate and cations availability from solid biowastes to complement nitrified urine for plant growth,’ supported by the European Space Agency through the POMP3 program of the MELiSSA Foundation.

Christian Stamm and Robert Finger received funding for a SNSF Sinergia on ‘Transformation in Pesticide Governance,' led by Karin Ingold (University of Bern and Eawag). An interdisciplinary team addresses the question, how to achieve successful sustainable transformation in areas of societal, economic and environmental trade-offs.

Robert Finger awarded funding for a project on ‘Towards pesticide free agricultural production systems.' This project investigates the economic viability, farmer uptake and policy options to foster adoption and diffusion of zero- and low-pesticide production systems in Swiss agriculture. The project is conducted jointly with the World Food System Center.

Awards and Distinctions

Rachael Garrett has been appointed to Academic Advisory Council for the United Nations Forum on Sustainable Standards. She will also co-chair the Supply Systems Group of the Scientific Expert Panel on the Future of Food Switzerland, by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

The Phenoliva project awarded an EIT Food Impact Prize in the category of Circular Economy. The highly interdisciplinary consortium is formed by eight partners from five European countries and is coordinated by the ETH Zurich Laboratory of Food Biochemistry (led by Laura Nyström).

Christina Hartmann received the Food Quality and Preference Award (Contributions by a researcher of the future) at the Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium in August.

In the News

For the ETH Zurich video series Ask the Expert, Bruno Studer answers questions about molecular plant breeding.

Career of Michael Kreuzer highlighted in ETH News in September: The man setting out to reduce methane produced by animals.

Research of Erich Windhab since 1992 highlighted in ETH News in September: Much more than just chocolate.

ETH Zukunftsblog

Under the topic of sustainability, many of our members post regular contributions to this science blog hosted by ETH Corporate Communications. Read the recent features on consumer acceptance of genetically modified crops by Angela Bearth and the urgency to act on climate change by Sonia Seneviratne.
 
 
 
Food Systems Publications
Recent publications from WFSC members that highlight their work on food systems topics:
 Carbonell, V.; et al. Nitrogen cycling in pastoral livestock systems in Sub‐Saharan Africa: knowns and unknowns. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2368
 Costerousse, B.; et al. Green manure effect on the ability of native and inoculated soil bacteria to mobilize zinc for wheat uptake (Triticum aestivum L.). 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05078-6
 Cropano, C.; et al. Characterization and practical use of self-compatibility in outcrossing grass species. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcab043
 Diard, M.; et al. A rationally designed oral vaccine induces immunoglobulin A in the murine gut that directs the evolution of attenuated Salmonella variants. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-021-00911-1
 Finger, R. No pesticide free Switzerland. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-021-01009-6
 Frei, D.; et al. Ultralong oxford nanopore reads enable the development of a reference-grade perennial ryegrass genome assembly. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evab159
 Freitag, M.; et al. Restoration of plant diversity in permanent grassland by seeding: Assessing the limiting factors along land-use gradients. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13883
 Garland, G.; et al. A closer look at the functions behind ecosystem multifunctionality: A review. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13511
 Garrett, R. and Grabs, J. ETHZ-EPL 2021 Guide for effective and equitable ZD supply chain policies (Policy Brief). 2021.
 Giacomin, C.E. and Fischer, P. Black tea interfacial rheology and calcium carbonate. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0059760
 Grabs, J.; et al. Designing effective and equitable zero-deforestation supply chain policies. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102357
 Heuel, M.; et al. Transfer of lauric and myristic acid from black soldier fly larval lipids to egg yolk lipids of hens is low. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/lipd.12304
 Huber, R.; et al. Conservation costs drive enrolment in agglomeration bonus scheme. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107064
 Kreft, C.-S.; et al. The role of non-cognitive skills in farmers' adoption of climate change mitigation measures. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107169
 le Polain de Waroux, Y.; et al. The role of culture in land system science. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2021.1950229
 Leparmarai, P.T.; et al. Camels and cattle respond differently in milk phenol excretion and milk fatty acid profile to free ranging conditions in East-African rangelands. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2021.e00896
 McAdam, S.A.M; e al. Editorial: Linking stomatal development and physiology: From stomatal models to non-model species and crops. 2021. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.743964
 Mesnage, R.; et al. Improving pesticide-use data for the EU. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01574-1
 Möhring, N. and Finger, R. Pesticide-free but not organic: Adoption of a large-scale wheat production standard in Switzerland. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2021.102188
 Oelmann, Y.; et al. Above- and belowground biodiversity jointly tighten the P cycle in agricultural grasslands. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24714-4
 Ramoneda, J.; et al. Soil microbial community coalescence and fertilization interact to drive the functioning of the legume-rhizobium symbiosis. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13995
 Ryschawy, J.; et al. Moving niche agroecological initiatives to the mainstream: A case-study of sheep-viticulture integration in California. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105680
 Schaub, S.; et al. The costs of diversity: higher prices for more diverse grassland seed mixtures. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac1a9c
 Spiegel, A.; et al. Resilience capacities as perceived by European farmers. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103224
 Sun, Q.; et al. Cropping systems alter hydraulic traits of barley but not pea grown in mixture. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14054
 Surchat, M.; et al. Soil and pest management in French Polynesian farming systems and drivers and barriers for implementation of practices based on agroecological principles. 2021. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.708647
 Wille, L.; et al. Untangling the pea root rot complex reveals microbial markers for plant health. 2021. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.737820
 
 
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