www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

European researchers aim to map out a course of action to secure and sustain
European food production, March 2006.

The European Science Foundation has recently accepted a proposal for a new
Forward Look that aims to create a broad research agenda focusing on all
aspects of food systems. The objective is to address vital health and
environmental issues, such as food security and sustainable development,
primarily at a European level but also from a global perspective.

The leading scientists behind this Forward Look, entitled ?European Food
Systems in a Changing World?, hope that this study will act as a catalyst
for the creation of scientific networks throughout all areas of food
research. The ultimate aim is to create a self-evolving scientific agenda
that will be progressively more equipped to take on major future challenges.

European food systems are changing, driven by complex technological and
policy factors. Globalising trends have accompanied these changes in recent
decades. For example, technological advances have changed peoples? diet
through the provision of a greater range of ?convenience? or ?fast foods?.
Environmental regulations have altered the conditions for the farming and
fishing industries and increased public awareness has created consumer
pressure in many areas including food safety and animal welfare.

The food systems landscape will be profoundly altered by all of these
changes. This Forward Look is the first attempt to outline what the effects
of these changes will be. Through a broader understanding of the different
driving forces within food systems this project will aim to deliver a
research agenda which can provide additional clarity in these complex
matters.

The challenges that lie within European food systems are no longer only
manifested through the provision of safe and healthy food. In a wider
context they also strongly influence an increasing number of environmental
and societal goals. A broad interdisciplinary approach, indicating a wider
scope of implications throughout society, is therefore essential if we are
to fully understand what can be achieved and how.

Dr Rudy Rabbinge, a main contributor and a driving force behind this
project, commented: ?The collaboration between various disciplines will
result in unifying concepts, unifying methodologies, unifying approaches.
This may lead to true interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research with
much added value?.

The accomplishment of the objectives set out in this Forward Look will
eventually aim to provide policymakers with the required tools to establish
a more equitable balance of food security within European societies. Dr Rudy
Rabbinge is clear in stating his life long commitment to research in this
area: ?I have been working all my life, through research; training and
education, on the improvement of agricultural systems in trying to make them
productive; environmentally clean and sustainable?.

The researchers leading this Forward Look feel that this area of research is
in need of coherence and direction. Additionally, an agenda setting mission
is essential at this point due to the current high public awareness of food
and nutrition issues such as BSE, GM crops and obesity. The political
momentum surrounding areas such as trade and global environmental change
(GEC) further underlines the timeliness of this Forward Look.

Following the completion of this agenda setting strategy, a successfully
integrated research plan will give additional authority and political weight
when targeting the decision makers.

[www.innovations-report.com]

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