Conference on Circular Economies for Food and Agricultural Systems

[Jones, James W]

The conference announcement below refers to the Circular@WUR conference being planned by Wageningen University and Research. Colleagues and I are helping organize one session in the conference to emphasize presentations on modeling food and agricultural systems for use in increasing circularity such that they reduce losses and wastes across the food and product value chains, keep resources in use, and regenerate natural systems. Below the announcement for the  conference is a summary of the types of abstracts that could contribute to this session.

 

I thought you might be interested in the conference and this session. If you are interested, follow the instructions in the conference announcement on how ot submit an abstract to the conference organizers. Do not send your submissions to me. Thanks.

Jim Jones

 

James W. Jones

Distinguished Professor Emeritus

Member of the National Academy of Engineering

Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL  32611

 

 

Online version   Call for abstracts is open - Join the Conference Circular@WUR     Based on the call for sessions, the organizing committee has developed an inspiring program that supports the identification of pathways to accelerate the transition towards a circular bio-based society. The program involves relevant and impactful keynotes, masterclasses and workshops in which you can learn and experience the circular challenge yourselves by participating in masterclasses, scientific sessions presenting the latest scientific developments and the opportunity to be inspired by visiting the most innovative circular companies in the Netherlands. We invite you to contribute to the program and submit your abstract for an oral presentation or poster at one of the sessions under the 4 conference themes Biosphere, Economy, Society and Partnerships. Look at the themes and their sessions for their interesting content and choose which session best fits your abstract. We look forward to receiving and reviewing your abstract. All information can be found on the circular@WUR website.  Themes Biosphere: Rethinking our food and bio-based systems   Society: Social organization and risk management in a circular bio-based society Economy: Economic perspectives in the circular bio-based society  Partnerships: Governance of transitions   Read more     Deadlines Deadline abstract submission 1 Sept 2021 Notification of abstract acceptance 15 Sept 2021 Early registration 30 Sept 2021 Backgrounds, Contact and registration www.wur.eu/circular-at-wur-conference circ...@wur.nl If you receive this invitation twice, we apologize for the inconvenience. Please feel free to forward this invitation to interested colleagues.   WUR is serious about data WUR cares deeply about the protection of your privacy and making our services transparent, personal and trustworthy. Our updated privacy policy gives a clear explanation of how we treat your data. Unsubscribe | Privacy statement

 

Session 1s5 (in Theme 1 - Biosphere: Rethinking our food and bio-based systems)

  

1s5 Models and tools for estimating circularity of alternative food and agricultural systems

James W Jones, ji...@ufl.edu, Brahm Verma, ve...@uga.edu, Bruno Basso, ba...@msu.edu

The purpose of this session is to explore models and other data analytic tools for estimating tradeoffs and outcomes of alternative options for transforming food and agricultural systems (FAS) into circular systems. The session will be organized to attract both modelers and non-modelers while clearly having a focus on models.

 

Food and agricultural systems are complex, varying considerably over space and time depending on physical, cultural, economic, political, and environmental conditions. Our existing mostly linear FAS lose considerable quantities of natural resources, degrade the environment, and discard large amounts of products as wastes. Having system performance dependent on multiple decision makers contribute to these outcomes. Continued incremental changes to existing FAS will not lead to systems that can meet future global demands for more food and changing diets, demands for reducing environmental degradation and losses of natural resources, and the critical need to address the climate change crisis. Transforming FAS into more circular economies has the potential to simultaneously meet increasing food demands, regenerate natural systems, reduce GHG emissions and degradation of water resources, and increase resource use efficiency.

 

Systems modeling and analytical methods are powerful tools to understand and compare performance and tradeoffs (productivity, economic and environmental benefits, and resource use efficiencies) of envisioned alternative circular FAS. These tools will be necessary for monitoring and evaluating system performance to enable consumer confidence and ensure accountability of outcomes to justify payments for environmental services.

 

Although there are existing models, data protocols, and analysis tools for some components, most are not designed to study holistic food and agricultural systems, that is, the entire value chain from production through consumption and loss of resources in wastes and discarded products.

 

Presentations in this session may review existing models, data, and analysis tools or describe new progress in developing and deploying integrated tools for advancing circularity in food and agricultural systems. Examples may include dynamic biophysical, industrial ecology, economic, and behavioral models; life cycle analyses; and performance measures for assessing food systems.

 

Other topics may include integrated system model analyses for different types of FAS; studies at different scales of analysis; data requirements for verification of system performance; data standards; tradeoff analyses at local and broader scales; feed/food competition; agent-based models that address interactions among decision makers across FAS value chains; and others. These presentations may address any one or multiple themes of the conferences. Presentations focusing on technical modeling aspects should also aim at communicating the context and core messages in a non-technical form for non-modelers.