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The challenges facing our food system are urgent and complex. At the Center, we aim to foster food system transformation through our outreach, communication and education programs.
A question we receive frequently is - what can we do to create systemic change? I would love to ask you to reflect on one tangible action this year that you can take to contribute to sustainable food systems. Reflect on where you would like to act. Could you make a small change this year in the way you buy, eat, cook or manage waste? Of course, any action will have trade-offs and we need all stakeholders such as governments, scientific institutions and industry to shape more socially and environmentally just systems. Yet tiny changes do matter.
How to make this resolution stick? I am inspired by James Clear’s ‘Atomic Habits’. Start small, make your action obvious, easy, joyful, attainable, write it down and celebrate small accomplishments!
Let’s change the food system together, one meal at a time.
Kind regards,
Monika Piessens
and the World Food System Center Team |
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| Center News |
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Food Day @ETH 2022
This year's Food Day @ETH brought together a diverse audience from academia, industry, government and international organizations for interactive discussions and workshops on food systems innovation and research. The event kicked off with workshops in the afternoon, focusing on scientific topics as well as the role of education and communication in building future food systems. The over 200 guests then gathered in the AudiMax for the plenary session. At the networking poster session, everyone interacted while sharing research focused on food systems. The audience voted for the best posters, with three researchers taking home a prize.
Thanks to all who joined us at the workshops and plenary session. We hope that you enjoyed the event and had many worthwhile discussions.
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| ETH Zukunftsblog: A comprehensive view of the world food system |
| Agriculture practices that preserve resources? Enough food to make sure that everyone can enjoy a healthy and balanced diet? We still are a long way from that, comment blog contributors Robert Finger and Martijn Sonnevelt. The most important fields of action to make the food system more sustainable are outlined. |
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| Research |
| Research for the future of agriculture |
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| The World Food System Center of ETH Zurich and Bayer launch a partnership focused on sustainable agricultural systems and production practices. Bayer is supporting several interdisciplinary research projects of the World Food System Center with a total donation of 1.1 million Swiss francs over the next four years. The first call for projects will occur in March 2023. |
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| Flagship Project Enhancing Resilience in Food Systems |
The RUNRES (Rural-Urban Nexus: Establishing a nutrient loop to improve city-region food system Resilience) team met for a workshop in Naivasha, Kenya in December to finalize the framework for Phase II of project (2023-2027 with a budget of 4.4 million CHF). The Swiss Development Cooperation subsequently approved the framework. After final approval, the team will continue helping to build locally important value chains in Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for another four years.
Read more about updates and publications from this project and others focused on resilience global food value chains in the Center’s news. |
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| Flagship Project Novel Proteins for Food and Feed |
Developments continue at the Singapore-ETH Centre and the ‘Urban Microalgae-Based Protein Production’ project. A kick-off meeting held in November brought universities, industry and food agencies together in Singapore. Iris Haborkorn, project lead in Singapore, recently won a International Union of Food Science & Technology Young Scientist Award.
Further, a project focused on urban food waste management in Singapore is in progress. An interdisciplinary team of scientists and urban designers led by the National University of Singapore and the Singapore-ETH Centre, in collaboration with ETH Zurich and the Nanyang Technological University Singapore, aims to develop a blueprint to integrate food waste management and sustainable food production in urban settings like Singapore using tropical black soldier flies. |
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| Soil microbiomes – a nature-based solution for sustainable agriculture |
| Research Highlight: Soils are complex systems that harbor diverse, microscopic lifeforms called the microbiome. A new review article in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment - authored by Martin Hartmann and Johan Six of the Sustainable Agroecosystems Group - describes the links between the soil microbiome, soil structure and agricultural management practices. It outlines how increasingly mechanized and intensified agriculture can disturb soil and lead to severe changes in the structure. These changes can then influence microbiome function and have large-scale consequences like soil erosion, reduced soil fertility and increased greenhouse gas emissions. |
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| Education |
| Alumni Stories: Sustainable agriculture in Sicily |
| World Food System Center alumni recently organized a field trip to Sicily to visit and talk with different organic farmers. The group had the chance to hear the producers’ motivations to work in organic agriculture, the social and climate change challenges in their area, try some of the products that they grow, and to hear their stories. Overall, many of the alumni were inspired by the magnitude of the agricultural system being implemented in Sicily and expressed a desire to apply some of the concepts they had learned in their own contexts. |
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| Outreach |
| Social sustainability in today's food system |
| In collaboration with the Swiss Society for Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Sociology, the World Food System Center held a webinar discussing the needs but also the challenges of implementing social sustainability standards in our food systems. Four expert speakers from research, associations and industry shared different perspectives on how social requirements can be defined, measured, certified, and combined with existing sustainability schemes. In the subsequent panel session, more than 90 online participants were able to engage in lively discussions with the experts. |
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| Member Highlights |
The Stellar technology, a world-first developed by Bühler Group, is based on nanosecond pulsed electric fields and has been deployed at the Singapore-ETH Centre for the SEC’s Urban Microalgae Protein project laboratory in Singapore, led by Alexander Mathys.
Alexander Mathys was promoted to Associate Professor of Sustainable Food Processing at ETH Zurich in September.
Emma Wetter Slack was promoted to Full Professor of Mucosal Immunology at ETH Zurich in July.
Thijs Defraeye appointed as Special Professor of Data and Simulations for Self-care Postharvest Fresh-food Supply Chains at Wageningen University & Research.
BASE and Empa released Coldtivate, an open access, data-science-based mobile application that provides access to postharvest expertise and allows farmers to maximise benefits from cooling in India and Nigeria.
Several new members held Inagural Lectures at ETH Zurich last fall. Johanna Jacobi focused on Agroecology: a transformative vision for sustainable food and agriculture (video). Eva-Marie Meemkin discussed Global Food Systems and Sustainable Development (video). Máté Bezdek shared his thoughts on Developing a Molecular Chemist’s Sense for Environmental Pollutant Sensing (video).
David Wuepper awarded ERC Starting Grant for the project LAND-POLICY to globally evaluate policies that aim at the mitigation and reversal of land degradation.
At the International Transdisciplinarity Conference 2022, Johanna Jacobi organized a workshop on how to apply a participatory food sustainability assessment method.
Exciting new interdisciplinary projects
The ETH Board has funded the Joint initiative Engage - Evidence-based dialogue on trade-offs in wicked societal problems for the period 2023 – 2025. The partners of this interdisciplinary project include several Center members including Christian Stamm, Bruno Studer and Robert Finger. The project aims at making trade-offs on contested issues transparent to stakeholders.
Awards and Distinctions
Alexander Mathys was recognized with the ETH Zurich Dandelion Entrepreneurship Award 2022, a special award for championing interdisciplinary collaboration and entrepreneurship.
Johan Six was appointed to the Global Science Committee of the Global Soil Health Program.
The Agrarpolitik Blog by the Agricultural Economics and Policy Group represented by Robert Huber and Robert Finger received the Award for science-society communication in agricultural economics by the German Society of Economic and Social Sciences in Agriculture.
The Swiss Forum for International Agricultural Research awards held at ETH Zurich in December focused on little animals that make big impact in agriculture. Adrian Fuhrmann from group of Johan Six won the Masters Award for his research on black soldier fly rearing.
Urs Schönenberger was awarded with the Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize 2022 for his doctoral thesis The overlooked pathway: hydraulic shortcuts and their influence on pesticide transport in agricultural areas. Based on this work, action by federal and cantonal authorities have been taken to prevent pesticide losses to water bodies through inlet shafts on field and along roads.
Paper of Willemijn Vroege entitled Insuring crops from space: the potential of satellite-retrieved soil moisture to reduce farmers’ drought risk exposure receives award for outstanding article in the European Review of Agricultural Economics.
Steffen Kirchgeor and Stefano Mintchev were finalists for Best Paper on agricultural and forestry robotics at IROS 2022 for the paper Multimodal Aerial-Tethered Vehicle for Tree Canopy Exploration.
In the News
CNA Channel News Asia reported on microalgae for food research at Singapore-ETH Centre Microalgae R&D with Iris Haberkorn (42:48).
Daniel Onwude was interviewed by BBC World Service podcast about his research on a charcoal cooling blanket for small-holder farmers.
Basel-based roaster Kaffeemacherinnen published a podcast Coffea Futurica which is a conversartion with Johanna Jacobi on coffee resilience and fairness in times of climate catastrophe.
Research from group of Sebastian Doetterl featured in ETH News in September: Alpine plants respond to climate change.
Two new studies of Rachael Garrett discussed in ETH News in October: Brazil on the wrong track.
RUNRES project featured in ETH News in November: Food security thanks to faeces and waste.
Review article by Martin Hartmann and Johan Six featured in D-USYS News in November: Soil microbiomes – a nature-based solution for sustainable agriculture.
Research of Bruno Studer featured in ETH News in January: How grasses avoid inbreeding.
Special drone from research of Stefano Mintchev featured in ETH news in January: Drone-assisted collection of environmental DNA from tree branches for biodiversity monitoring.
 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 climate change effects in Switzerland by Sonia Seneviratne. |
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| Food Systems Publications |
| Recent publications from WFSC members that highlight their work on food system topics. |
| • | | Highlight on Sustainability Assessments
Diogo, V.; et al. Developing context-specific frameworks for integrated sustainability assessment of agricultural intensity change: An application for Europe. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.08.014
Green A.; et al. Environmental impact, micronutrient adequacy, protein quality, and fatty acid profiles of plant-based beverages compared with cow's milk: a sustainability assessment. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00270-4
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| • | | Highlight on Sustainable Development
Fesenfeld, L.; et al. The politics of enabling tipping points for sustainable development. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.09.004
Jacobi, J.; et al. Transdisciplinary co-creation von increases the utilization of knowledge from sustainable development research. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2021.12.017
Pärli, R.; et al. Transdisciplinary research for sustainable development ‐ doing research about research. 2022. https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.31.4.9
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| • | | Ariza-Suarez D;. et al. Genetic analysis of resistance to bean leaf crumple virus identifies a candidate LRR-RLK gene. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.15810
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| • | | Axelrod, A.; et al. Experimental and simulation-based investigation of the interplay between factor gradients following pulsed electric field treatments triggering whey protein aggregation. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2022.111308 |
| • | | Benabderrazik K.; et al. Addressing the resilience of tomato farmers in Ghana facing a double exposure from climate and market. 2022. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13310-270326
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| • | | Benabderrazik K.; et al. Climate resilience and the human-water dynamics. The case of tomato production in Morocco. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157597 |
| • | | Bertsch. P.; et al. Lipid emulsion interfacial design modulates human in vivo digestion and satiation hormone response. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2FO01247B |
| • | | Blommaert, H.; et al. From soil to cacao bean: Unravelling the pathways of cadmium translocation in a high Cd accumulating cultivar of Theobroma. 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1055912 |
| • | | Chow, R.; et al. Seasonal drivers and risks of aquatic pesticide pollution in drought and post-drought conditions in three Mediterranean watersheds. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159784 |
| • | | Didion-Gency, M. et al. Impact of warmer and drier conditions on tree photosynthetic properties and the role of species interactions. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18384 |
| • | | Edlinger, A.; et al. Agricultural management and pesticide use reduce the functioning of beneficial plant symbionts. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01799-8 |
| • | | Elmiger, N.; et al. Biodiversity indicators for result-based agri-environmental schemes - current state and future prospects. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2022.103538 |
| • | | Finger, R.; et al. Short supply chains and the adoption of fungus-resistant grapevine varieties. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13337 |
| • | | Fuhrmann, A.; et al. Residues from black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae rearing influence the plant-associated soil microbiome in the short term.https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.994091
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| • | | Heller, O.; et al. Interdisciplinary assessment of market oriented yam cultivation in semi-arid Burkina Faso. 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fagro.2022.828305
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| • | | Hofmann, B.; et al. Barriers to evidence use for sustainability: insights from pesticide policy and practice. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-022-01790-4 |
| • | | Jacobi, J.; et al. First we eat and then we sell: participatory guarantee systems for alternative certification of Bolivian agri-food products. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2022.2131692 |
| • | | Kummer, C and Jacobi, J. Unser Ernährungssystem wird von wenigen Profiteuren bestimmt, sodass kleinbäuerliche Strukturen allmählich verschwinden. Um gegenzusteuern, braucht es partizipative, transformative Lösungen. 2023.
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| • | | Neyret M.; et al. Landscape management strategies for multifunctionality and social equity. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-01045-w |
| • | | Onwude, D.; et al. Physics-driven digital twins to quantify the impact of pre- and postharvest variability on the end quality evolution of orange fruit. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106585 |
| • | | Pool, S.; et al. To drip or not to drip? Understanding nitrogen leaching in semi-arid Spain. 2022. https://dx.doi.org/10.53014/OHND5166 |
| • | | Pouya, N.; et al. Water Yam (Dioscorea alata L.) growth and tuber yield as affected across an environmental gradient in West Africa. 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12040792 |
| • | | Schlathölter, I.; et al. No adverse dietary effect of a cisgenic fire blight resistant apple line on the non-target arthropods Drosophila melanogaster and Folsomia candida. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113749
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| • | | Schmitt, J.; et al. Extreme weather events cause significant crop yield losses at the farm level in German agriculture. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2022.102359 |
| • | | Sekabira H.; et al. Circular bioeconomy in African food systems: What is the status quo? Insights from Rwanda, DRC, and Ethiopia. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276319 |
| • | | Shrivastava, C.; et al. Digital twins enable the quantification of the trade-offs in maintaining citrus quality and marketability in the refrigerated supply chain. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00497-9 |
| • | | Thompson W.J.; et al. Can sustainability certification enhance the climate resilience of smallholder farmers? The case of Ghanaian cocoa. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2022.2097455 |
| • | | Van der Putten, W.; et al. Soil biodiversity needs policy without borders. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn7248 |
| • | | Weiss, F. T.; et al. Agricultural pesticides pose a continuous ecotoxicological risk to aquatic organisms in a tropical horticulture catchment. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envadv.2022.100339 |
| • | | Wuepper, D.; et al. National leverage points to reduce global pesticide pollution. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102631
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| • | | Zeeman, S. and Solhaug, E. Plant growth: An active or passive role for starch reserves? https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.07.024
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