The 2023 World Agrifood Innovation Conference (WAFI), hosted by the Beijing Municipal Government and co-organized by China Agricultural University (CAU), the People's Government of Pinggu District, Beijing, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), was held from November 2 to 4, 2023, in Pinggu District of Beijing, China. A total of 800 participants, including scientists, educators, entrepreneurs, government officials, and youth from 61 countries and regions worldwide, attended the conference. They engaged in extensive exchanges and discussions on the theme "Food Security and Future Agriculture" and have reached the following consensus.
2023 World Agrifood Innovation Conference (WAFI)
Pinggu Consensus
I.Global food and nutrition security is the foundation for future human survival and development. The world population will reach 10 billion by 2050, and feeding them nutritiously and sustainably is a paramount priority. However, agrifood systems face multiple challenges such as hunger and malnutrition, climate change, resource and environmental degradation, and geopolitical conflicts. Therefore, there is an urgency to transform food systems to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the current international context of fragmentation and polycrisis, global scientific partnerships and cooperation can more than ever help shape the future and contribute to security, peace and sustainability through diplomacy and foresight.
II.Innovations in science, technologies, policies, institutions and business models are the fundamental driving force for the transformation of agrifood systems. They are essential in improving food supply, strengthening food trade and market, enhancing climate resilience, catalyzing agrifood systems reformation, providing nutritious, safe, and healthy diets, and enhancing people's livelihood. They promote the transformation of agrifood systems towards being more nutritious, low-carbon, efficient, inclusive, and resilient. Based on impact monitoring and learning (including side effects and externalities), responsible innovations that consider ethical implications and regulatory frameworks should be promoted by shaping an incentivizing environment. Innovations should benefit all, especially smallholder farmers, low-income people,and vulnerable groups.
III.Cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary, and cross-sectoral global cooperation on agricultural science and technologies is crucial to transforming agrifood systems. The conference participants propose establishing an alliance of scientists for agrifood systems transformation to share information, data, research, and technologies and provide essential intellectual and technical support to agrifood systems transformation towards sustainable development. Supportive and enabling government action are needed, and public support should be prioritized in R&D to improve innovation efforts to tackle climate and nutrition challenges.
IV.Universities are for scientific research and talent development to transform agrifood systems. The university presidents and leaders participating in the conference recommend to establish a world university cooperation network to actively collaborate in agricultural scientific research and talent development by expanding current bilateral and regional networks and platforms.
V.Engagement of entrepreneurs and the private sector is essential for agrifood systems transformation as they are major drivers of innovations. The conference stakeholders emphasize the critical role of inclusive entrepreneur networks and call for enterprises to work together to accelerate business actions and integrate food security, nutrition and health, and low-carbon and nature-positive sustainable development into enterprise strategies and business operations. Enterprises are encouraged to play a more active role in social responsibilities, sharing responsible innovations with all sectors of society and contributing to producing public goods, ensuring the innovations are available, affordable, and accessible to those who need them, and promoting adoption and diffusion.
VI.The young generation shoulders the responsibility and mission of ensuring future global food and nutrition security. The conference participants propose to use the WAFI Youth Forum as a focal point to enhance exchanges and cooperation among global youth and provide them, especially in developing countries, with platforms and networks to express their voices, engage in high-level discourse, and take practical actions.
Participants unanimously affirm that the WAFI is an important global exchange, cooperation， and discussion platform for innovations in agricultural science, technologies, policies and business models. This platform should help to facilitate innovations at local, national and global levels. Collaboration on cutting-edge innovations and industry-university-research integration should be further expanded through the support to networking Agricultural Technology Exchange and Innovation Hubs, such as the Zhongguancun Agrifood Valley, for example. Participants call for joint efforts to link global wisdom, gather global momentum, and strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, to contribute to global food and nutrition security while protecting health and the environment and mitigating the climate change.
Conference participants finally suggest WAFI should be held in Pinggu regularly to ensure a momentum, contributing to agrifood systems transformation at the local, regional and global levels.
