Today's world food systems are centralized around many environmental, economic, and societal challenges. Crises such as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine exacerbates the challenges we face. This reveals a need for a more resilient system to feed a growing world population.
The UN elevated Sustainable Food Systems to the top of the international agenda during the Food System Summit in New York in 2021. In Norway, actors in the national food systems are increasingly judged by their ability to contribute to food security as well as to human and planetary health.
There is now a broad international consensus that the world's food systems, both local and global, need to go through a “transformation” to meet the UN sustainable development goals, to be able to tackle the current challenges.
The arena involves all NMBU's seven faculties, as well as various partners from different sectors within research, education and communication.
Through the production and communication of knowledge, the arena will build a common and transdisciplinary understanding of sustainability in food systems. The arena will work to stimulate transformative change and critical reflection of the current state of the world's food systems.
The arena will support innovation in food systems thinking across scales from the micro-level (e.g. co-evolution of microbes, animals and food-plants) to the macro-level (e.g. international food trade). Central to the work within the arena will be the overall system approach, including a multitude of knowledge producers to cover the whole food system.
Working between different sectors and across different levels both internally and externally of the university, the arena will work within research, education, and communication to reach these goals.
To strengthen the knowledge about sustainable food systems, the arena will:
- Establish a MSc program in Sustainable Food Systems.
- Collaborate across faculties on teaching and student activities in food system related courses.
- Provide seed funding for writing workshops aimed at co-publishing across projects/faculties and writing of new grant proposals
- Organize Sustainable Food System outreach seminars and debates, both digitally and physically.
If you have any inquiries about the arena, please contact our project coordinator Caroline Karlsson by e-mail: caroline.marie.krisitina.karlsson@nmbu.no
News
Food & Society Conference
On April 30th, the arena organized the Food & Society conference in Oslo. Two hundred individuals chose to gather at the Litteraturhuset on this warm and sunny day to discuss one of the most important issues of our time.
The arena invited researchers from various fields, with representatives from all faculties at NMBU, to share their expertise with experts and stakeholders in the field.
As our keynote speaker, we had food systems researcher Kate Schneider from Johns Hopkins University (USA). The conference concluded with a panel discussion featuring the State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Wenche Westberg, and representatives from industry, academia, and civil society.
Find all the presentations from the conference hereRead our latest newsletter
Once per month we send out a newsletter to our email list.
Register for the newsletter hereRethinking Food Systems: A Perspective on Regional Dynamics
What is a Regional Food Network? What motivates farmers and other actors in these networks and what does it mean that food is place-based?
Researcher Christy Anderson Brekken shares her thoughts on the transformative potential of regional food systems, the role of universities in sustainability efforts, interdisciplinary collaboration, and common misconceptions surrounding food production.
Read the article hereCall for student led activities about Sustainable Food Systems
It is now possible for students to apply for funding for student led activities and events related to sustainable food systems.
To apply, fill out and submit an application to the arena no later than one month before the event starts.
Article: Can we get beans from norwegian farmers?
Researchers from NMBU, Anne-Kjersti Uhlen and Paula Varela Tomasco, talks about the possibilities and difficulties for Norwegian farmers to grow legumes in Norway.
Article: Microbes, Legumes and Nitrous Oxide - The Forgotten Greenhouse Gas: Interview with Microbiologist Åsa Frostegård
We spoke with Åsa Frostegård, a microbiologist specializing in soil microbial biology and ecology. Frostegård leads the Microbial Ecology and Physiology (MEP) group, the groups research spans from microscopic organisms to large-scale field applications.
Master in Sustainable Food Systems
Apply for a master in sustainable food systems! The master will focus on systemic knowledge of food systems and give the students experience working in interdisciplinary teams to propose solutions that can change our food systems today. The master will give the students an overview of the systems both locally and globally and equip them with tools to combat challenges in today’s food systems, as well as learn how to develop solutions for the future.
Read moreCourse under development: Sustainable Food Systems
This course will provide you with a general introduction to how food systems work, and will use the food systems in the Nord-Østerdalen and Gudbrandsdal regions as a concrete example in the teaching. Local food systems are part of a larger whole, both nationally and internationally, and changes in the local system can have significant ripple effects in the larger systems. At the same time, international and national changes will affect the local systems.
Read moreTimeline
The Sustainability Arena is established.
1. september 2022
Verdens matfat trues av klimaendringer og konflikter
5. desember 2022. USAs spesialutsending for global matsikkerhet, Cary Fowler besøkte NMBU. Verdens matfat trues av klimaendringer og konflikter | NMBU
Openingseminar
13th of april 2023
Seminar
Sustainable Diets - Accounting for sustainability in Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
May 2nd 2023
Seminar
Diets of the Future
September 21st 2023
Seminar
Doughnut festival - Redesign of a Food System
September 23rd 2023
Workshop
Pecha Kucha - Utopia/Dystopia
11. Oktober
Seminar
Verdens matdag - Frokostseminar med Utviklingsministeren
16. Oktober
Seminar
Seminar with Donald Huisingh
27. Oktober
Seminar
Sustainability & Urban Development
29. November
Open Seminar - Redesigning Foodsystems in Different Parts of the World
26. January
Harvest Hope
2. Mars
Future Food Festival
14. Mars