Reports – Sustainability

Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA)(website)

The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) Berlin is an international platform hosted annually at the start of Berlin’s Green Week, convening over 2,000 experts, agriculture ministers from 70+ countries, scientists, businesses, and civil society to tackle global food security challenges.

Nutritionists and dietitians will find it invaluable for its science-based focus on sustainable agriculture, ending hunger for 720 million people worldwide, and ensuring reliable access to nutritious food amid a projected 10 billion global population by 2050.

Key offerings include the Berlin Agriculture Ministers’ Conference, which produces actionable communiqués with political recommendations (e.g., digitalization platforms and youth farmer declarations); innovation exhibitions showcasing flagship projects; and panels on synergies in food systems, resource efficiency, and climate-resilient practices like agroforestry and smart irrigation.

Professionals gain insights into scaling sustainable productivity without prescriptive policies, aligning with nutrition goals like resilient supply chains for diverse, healthy diets.

For sustainable food systems work, the site provides recaps of past events (e.g., 2025’s nature-based solutions theme), policy documents, media coverage, and networks fostering cross-border research—equipping dietitians with evidence to advocate for equitable, hunger-free futures in policy, education, and practice.

updated 2026 February

Oxford Real Farming Conference (website)

The Oxford Real Farming Conference is held annually, both online and in person, with an online archive available.

ORFC serves as a hub for the global real food and farming movement, bringing together farmers, growers, activists, policymakers, and researchers annually in January to transform food systems through agroecology and practical innovation. Nutritionists and dietitians engaged in sustainable food systems will appreciate its focus on progressive ideas like regenerative agriculture, organic farming, indigenous systems, and equitable practices that directly influence nutrient-dense, resilient food production.

Hosted by participants worldwide via an open call for submissions, ORFC 2026 programming covers farm practice (e.g., soil health, biodiversity, pest control), food policy (e.g., funding transitions, pesticide reforms), justice (e.g., land access, racial equity), agroecology movements with La Via Campesina, nature reciprocity, and youth activism—offering deep dives into scalable solutions for healthier ecosystems and diets.

The online conference is a mix of live-streamed sessions from Oxford and online-only sessions with farmers, food producers, activists, academics, authors, and many others across six continents. Anything you miss will be recorded for you to catch up on, and each session will be available for replay shortly after it has ended. There is interpretation through COATI (Colectivo para la autogestión de tecnologías para la interpretación) to ensure that sessions are interpreted into many languages.

ORFC is built on the principles of community and knowledge sharing, and makes all of the sessions from the conference accessible to the public for this reason. You can also explore past session recordings on the ORFC YouTube Channel.

Professionals gain practical tools, policy insights, diverse networking (including free online access for majority world participants), and inspiration from real-world examples, empowering advocacy for climate-informed nutrition and food sovereignty in their work.

updated 2026 February

Food Tank (website)

Food Tank is the world’s fastest-growing global nonprofit member community driving positive transformation in food production and consumption, building networks for safe, healthy, nourished eaters through education, inspiration, advocacy, and change.

Founded in 2013 by Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, this 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, fosters dialogue across diverse voices through events prioritizing open conversation over endorsement, equipping practitioners with actionable insights to scale real-world nutrition impact.

Nutritionists and dietitians will find value in its role spotlighting sustainable solutions to hunger, obesity, and poverty while connecting professionals – farmers, policymakers, researchers, academics, and journalists – to amplify on-the-ground innovations in fields, kitchens, cities, and labs that bridge domestic and global perspectives for resilient food systems.

The Food Talk Podcast is hosted weekly by Danielle Nierenberg, interviewing key food industry figures; expert articles and interviews; global summits and webinars; partner directories; reports on policy and equity; and toolkits for advocacy and replication.

Food Tank memberships offer three different levels. Food Tank is dedicated to building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters.

updated 2026 February

Fuel for the Future: Eating with Sustainability in Mind (2023)

The slides from the session on Fuel for the Future: Eating with Sustainability in Mind are available at the link. The session is from the first colloquium of the International Affiliate of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (IAAND) and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ) in March 2023.

The following topics are covered in the session, which is complete with links to role models, research, and other documents that Dietitians and Nutritionists can utilize:
– An Introduction to sustainable food systems;
– Why are current food systems unsustainable?;
– Colombian food system;
– Diets that are good for health and the planet;
– Strategies to support the sustainability of the food system;
– Eating more plant-based meals and snacks made from native plants;
– Supporting urban agriculture/community gardens; and
– Reducing food and food packaging waste.

Christine McCullum-Gómez, PhD, RDN

Food and Nutrition Consultant, Writer and Speaker

www.sustainablerdn.com , www.sustainable-rdn.com

updated 2026 February

Food Forum: National Academies Scienes, Engineering, Medicine (website)

NASEM (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine) is a United States (US) congressionally chartered organization that provides independent advice to inform US federal policy, shape national priorities, and address domestic challenges in science, engineering, medicine, and health. While its reports and Food Forum workshops (e.g., sustainability labeling) have international applicability and draw global expertise, the scope centers on US stakeholders like the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsors rather than global governance.

The Food Forum convenes scientists, administrators, and policymakers from academia, government, industry, non-profits, professional societies, and consumer groups on an ongoing basis to explore issues related to food (including safety, regulation, systems, nutrition, and health) and identify approaches to address them. It provides a unique way to identify areas of concordance. It does not make recommendations, nor does it offer specific advice. It compiles information, develops options, and brings interested parties together.

Dietitians and nutritionists will find the website particularly valuable for its evidence-based resources on emerging food and nutrition topics such as:

Workshop Proceedings – Free access to proceedings from workshops on key issues like dietary patterns for disease prevention, alternative proteins balancing sustainability and nutrition, precision nutrition, and resilient food systems offers actionable insights for practice and policy advocacy.

Stakeholder Engagement – Details on multi-stakeholder discussions among scientists, policymakers, industry, and nonprofits help professionals stay informed on consensus areas in food safety, regulation, nutrition, and health without prescriptive recommendations.

Recent Publications – In-brief summaries and full reports (e.g., 2024 Dietary Patterns workshop, 2023 Alternative Proteins) provide concise, cutting-edge data for client education, research synthesis, and sustainable food systems work.

Webinars – In 2023, the Food Forum hosted a webinar titled “Food Product Labeling: Challenges of Defining Sustainability“. Invited speakers explored the variables for defining sustainability, the impact of sustainability labelling on consumers, challenges for regulatory agencies, research gaps, and future considerations. The sessions were recorded, and there are resources to download from the link.

Sponsors: American Heart Association, American Society for Nutrition, Cargill Inc., Center for Science in the Public Interest, Coca-Cola Company, Conagra Brands, Danone North America, Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, General Mills Inc., Institute of Food Technologists, Mars Incorporated, Mondelez International Inc., National Council on Aging, National Dairy Council, and Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.

updated 2006 February

People’s Food Summit, World Food Day, October 16 (website)

Regeneration International hosts the People’s Food Summit on World Food Day, October 16 each year. It is the only 24-hour global, participatory, virtual summit starting in Oceania and moving westwards through the time zones of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America. The People’s Food Summit enhances the connectedness of global work amongst numerous like-minded organizations.

The People’s Food Summit is a truly participatory summit that empowers most of the world’s food producers: the family farmers, pastoralists, and foresters who produce 70% of our food. We seek to engage hundreds of thousands by exchanging information and sharing inspiring stories. We present proven, farmer-based, real-world examples that are the future of our food and farming systems. These include agroecology, organic and regenerative farming, permaculture, agroforestry, holistically managed grazing, and many other systems.

The 2021 and 2022 events were spectacularly successful, with over 500,000 people, each time, from all regions of our world, tuning in to watch and listen to our numerous speakers and their essential topics. In 2022, we promoted videos that we regarded as highlights of each region and reached another 700,000 views, bringing the total views to 1,200,000. Because we reached so many people, this event had a very high impact and will continue to. The past events remain available through the s a m e link.

Our hope for the outcomes:
1. Information Exchange
2. Creating connections where different groups can continue working together after
3. Stimulating a citizen-led research and storytelling journey
4. Starting a partnership where Regeneration International continues to enable the scale-up of projects
5. Increasing the reach of this vital information to hundreds of thousands of people

updated 2026 February

Positioning SFS in Dietetics Commitments and Roles (2023 Jun)

**SFS-in-Dietetic-Scope-of-Practice-Australia (Barbour)**

This presentation on Australia’s story of positioning sustainable food systems (SFS) within dietetics commitments and roles was done by Liza Barbour, PhD an Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian & Senior Lecturer at Monash University, Australia.

Over the last six years, Dietitians Australia has embraced the urgent need to focus on environmental sustainability and planetary health. This has occurred due to several factors, including strong internal leadership and advocacy efforts from passionate members. Liza describes the process involved in developing Dietitians Australia’s food systems and environmental sustainability role statement and their inaugural Position Statement on healthy and sustainable diets.

She provides an overview of the content and shares examples of how these commitments have influenced advocacy efforts and policy-making processes since they were published, as well as examples of the application of the Position Statement’s key recommendations. One is to invest in capacity-building activities to equip the current and future workforce to promote sustainable food systems. Liza shared an update on a project currently funded by ICDA, that aims to increase SFS capacity amongst dietitians in all areas of practice via a fun, experiential challenge. Regarding the future workforce, she describes relevant Australian competency standards and the current tertiary landscape for nutrition and dietetics students to engage in food systems education, including a historic reflection on how and why this has improved over the past six years.

updated 2026 February

Diploma in Sustainable Food: For A Planet In Crisis (Chile, online in Spanish)

The Diploma in Sustainable Food: For a Planet in Crisis is an e-learning course offered in Spanish by the University of Chile, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Nutrition.

Sustainable nutrition and food arise as a response to the planetary crisis as a result of climate change that threatens the nutritional food security of the population. Addressing this requires an intersectoral and transdisciplinary approach that encompasses food systems, human nutrition, and planetary health.

The global interest in sustainable nutrition and food is inserted in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has defined sustainable diets as those that have a low environmental impact and contribute to food and nutritional security and a healthy life for present and future generations.

The Department of Nutrition (DNUT) is ideal for issuing this diploma, since the academic team has experience from different axes that are interrelated to seek answers to a complex problem.

The course targets graduates or professionals from careers related to health disciplines, nutrition, food, innovation, agronomy, environment, and others, who want to acquire knowledge and tools that complement their disciplinary area, in the context of nutrition and sustainable food.

Module 1: The current global food and health crisis.
Module 2: Food systems and their impact on nutritional food security.
Module 3: Food and the food industry: Impact on health and sustainability.
Module 4: Sustainable food for adequate nutrition in health and disease.
Module 5: Sustainable food systems applied to public health.

Register here: https://medichi.uchile.cl/diploma-alimentacion-sostenible/

Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation

Online Courses about Sustainable Food & Nutrition

Several food systems-related courses are offered by the Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation, which provides a dedicated portal for professional education.

Nutritionists and dietitians will find significant value in WUR’s flexible, science-driven programs that connect cutting-edge research on sustainable food systems, preventive health, healthy aging, and agrifood transitions to practical applications in clinical and community settings. These offerings enable professionals to strengthen evidence-based counseling on planetary health diets, nutrition policy, and systems-level interventions.

Key programs include executive education for leadership in food system transformation, online masters and short courses (ranging from 2 days to 2 years) focused on health and sustainability, in-house customized training for organizations, and thematic areas such as sustainable husbandry and biobased value chains.

Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Sustainable Nutrition (Bern, Germany)

**Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) Sustainable Nutrition**

The Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Sustainable Nutrition is offered at Bern University of Applied Sciences, in person, in German, at the Bern Campus. The course is generally held over seven months in two-day blocks on Fridays/Saturdays. It provides 12 ECTS credits, with a workload of 360 hours (incl. study days). There is a fee.

The CAS Sustainable Nutrition looks at global perspectives and Swiss contexts, and enables you to derive concrete nutritional recommendations for a healthy and sustainable diet in Switzerland. For this purpose, exemplary challenges are deepened, and solutions are discussed that you can network with your traditional professional field or carry into new occupational fields. A sustainable food system should give the entire world population access to safe and needs-based nutrition with fairly produced food produced taking into account planetary boundaries. This requires nutritionists who help shape the transformation of the nutrition system.

The target audiences for this course are nutritionists, food scientists, and other actors in the Swiss food system with a tertiary degree and a nutrition background.

Immerse yourself in the complexity of sustainable nutrition and become a mediator in the transformation of the nutrition system. In the CAS degree program you will:

explore the complexity of the different dimensions of sustainable nutrition.
discuss the Planetary Health Diet of the EAT Lancet Commission and other references as well as guidelines and recommendations and transfer global concepts to local conditions.
deal with the production and consumption of selected foods of animal origin such as meat and fish, the nose-to-tail approach and cultured meat.
design measures to reduce food loss or waste.
you will get to know the perspective of different actors in the nutrition system.
connect different aspects of a sustainable nutrition system with your own professional field and design a vision of your own role in it.
work on a self-selected topic to promote a sustainable food system.

updated 2026 February