The Farm to Fork Strategy (2020) of the European Commission (EC) is at the heart of the Green Deal and aspires to transition towards a fair, healthy, and environmental-friendly food system. To this aim, the EC both emphasizes the importance of a collective approach involving stakeholders across the food value chain (EC,2020), and aims to launch a legislative framework for sustainable food systems by the end of 2023. Within this context, several areas relevant for building sustainable food systems have been identified: food production, food safety, food processing (including retail), food consumption, food labelling, food loss and waste, and combating food fraud.
This conference aims to bring practitioners, experts, and scholars together to unpack questions around the meaning of sustainability in the food and feed markets. Given the Commission endorsing an understanding of sustainability that covers ecological, social, and economic dimensions, the event organisers aim to explore the EC’s ambitions from various legal perspectives translated into three different themes: 1) food as a common good; 2) commercial contracts and consumer protection; and 3) technology.
The conference will touch upon various questions regarding sustainability, food systems, and the Farm to Fork Strategy, such as:
What kind of tensions can arise between the ecological, social, and economic understanding of sustainability? What is, can, or should be the role of law in sustainability transitions? How can a legal framework that incorporates sustainability develop adequately? What are key elements, values, and tensions relevant for developing an adequate legislative framework for sustainable food systems? Does the Farm to Fork strategy sufficiently cater to all dimensions of sustainability? How can technology contribute to realize the ambitions of the EC?
The event has currently a call for papers open. Find more details about the call and the programme here
Organizers and contacts
The conference is a joint project of Erasmus School of Law and the Erasmus Initiative Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity. Organizing Committee: Prof. Alessandra Arcuri, Dr. Lonneke Poort, Dr. Johan Vannerom, and Drs. Daniela Garcia-Caro. For questions about the submission procedure, write to [email protected].
