Highlights of this meeting included two inspiring keynote presentations: Prof. Sir Gordon Conway laid out the interconnected challenges towards feeding the world by 2050 in a sustainable manner and emphasized the need for different forms of sustainable intensification to meet future food needs. Prof. Tim Lang set out some provocative challenges in broadening concepts of food systems to include health and nutrition, fundamentally questioning what he described as the prevailing ‘productionist paradigm’ and calling for a complete revision and rethink of today's global food system.

 

Breakout sessions then described and discussed collective actions needed across a range of key areas of current concern, including nutrition, climate change, market access and financing issues. The meeting provided a very useful series of discussions around a range of topics that should lead to new actions and synergies in addressing these areas and greater coordination of donor objectives and support. GDPRD is now 10 years old and discussions also revisited its experiences and future role. The donor representative on GFAR’s Steering Committee, Nikita Eriksen-Hamel of CIDA, spoke on the research working group of GDPRD, which involves GFAR as a member.