🛑Consolidation of power is contributing to undesirable lock-ins in food systems... An exciting new paper led by @TimWilliamsNZ advances the representation of power dynamics in models of agri-food systems, enabling explorations of deep transformation 💡

🌍🚜 Which European regions are leading in agri-food sustainability transitions, and where are the strongest lock-ins to industrial paradigms? Our study maps the landscape of #sustainability #transitions in #AgriFoodSystems 🌱📊 How does your region fare? https://t.co/yTeP766mub

How often do patents for #agricultural technology include #sustainability objectives? Answer = only 4-8% of the time, according to our new paper led by Yafei Li https://t.co/oAizByb3fO

The material (including instructions for teachers) is available at

Learn about technology treadmills, megatrends, historical driving forces, farmer decision-making, power dynamics, leverage points, and more!

New e-learning course on agricultural (un)sustainability in Europe! 🌱Teachers can also integrate the material into their own courses

But for most low-income countries, "poverty" is the largest hidden cost

Super interesting analysis of hidden costs of food by FAO (2023): "unhealthy dietary patterns" make up by far the largest chunk for most countries! 😲 https://t.co/3XytMuyfZk

Very important new meta-analysis from @rebeccaswart showing that farmers' attitudes towards sustainable agricultural practices are MORE IMPORTANT than economic outcomes. Potentially big implications for policy? https://t.co/uuoTD1ENfs

Who better to learn from about the history of European agriculture than 123 elderly farmers? New paper in R.E.C. tirelessly led by Franziska Mohr from @WSL_research 🔥🔥 https://t.co/HRUJ7p4cNO

Let's hope this is not my future. I have thoroughly enjoyed my postdoc experience so far, but my thirtieth birthday is next year ...

I would love everyone in environmental movements to read this essay. It’s a painful, difficult but really important subject. By avoiding it we give a clear run to those whose proposals would lead, literally, to the deaths of billions. Please RT. Thank you.

"EU to ban greenwashing and improve consumer information on product durability" https://t.co/ASM4VHhkYE

Last week, we celebrated the year-long work of our equality, diversity, & inclusion (ED&I) team @VU_IVM @AnneVanLoon @CassantiClara @TimWilliamsNZ Eric, & Tamara. To end the inspiring discussions, some of us presented creative summaries of what emerged from our discussions. 1/4

R3: Unfortunately, there is limited case study evidence of truly transformational pathways. We thus need prospective visioning and modelling to help imagine radical future transitions.

R2: Some important actors remain under-studied in the academic literature. These include banks and investors, (migrant) labourers, and food waste/disposal. We need more research on how they impact agricultural development and sustainability.

And for researchers. R1: We broaden discussions of agricultural sustainability beyond the "farmer-policymaker nexus". We demonstrate the relevance of studying the power-laden social environments surrounding farmers.

P3: The case studies demonstrate that positive change can happen in different ways -- both top-down and bottom-up, and both in "conventional" and "alternative" value chains. Agri-food networks thus provide diverse leverage points for sustainability #transitions

P2: There is a huge diversity of farming systems and network contexts across Europe, so we need context-sensitive solutions.

P1: Policies should take a multi-actor approach to target the many non-farmer actors who shape agricultural systems (eg food processors and retailers, consumers, NGOs). Proposals like the #farmtofork Strategy are already moving in this direction.