Virtual Workshop: Sustainability and Traceability of Agri-Food System - Towards a Future Vision in Romania
Created Jan 17 2022, 2:56 PM
by
Vivek Prasad
- Digital Agriculture
- Data-driven Digital Agriculture
- Agriculture Data Platform
- AgTech
- Digital Finance
- Agriculture Information Systems
December 7 and 8, 2021
Objective: The objective of the workshop was to feature international experiences and best practices on technical and regulatory aspects of an effective food safety and traceability system, approaches to implementing quality and marketing of agri-food products and selected digital technology solutions for agri-food traceability and food safety, and discuss the relevance of these experiences and practices in the context of Romania as it embarks on the early steps towards operationalizing the EU Farm-to-Fork Strategy.
Background: The European Green Deal represents the EU’s ambitious plan to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The Farm-to-Fork Strategy, which is the core element of the Green Deal, seeks to set in motion a sustainability transition in the EU’s agri-food system. This sustainability transition involves three main dimensions: reducing the agri-food systems environmental and climate footprint; improving the availability of nutritious food that meets highest safety and quality standards; and providing new economic opportunities and securing affordable food supply. The COVID-19 pandemic is further underlining the importance of a robust and resilient food system that can function in all circumstances and can ensure access to a sufficient supply in times of crisis.
From a social and public health perspective, better nutrition, obesity, and food quality and safety are important aspects of the agenda. New economic opportunities are seen in developing sustainability trademarks for agri-food products that strengthen the global competitiveness of the EU’s agri-food products and in pushing for a global convergence with EU standards.
As Romania is embarking on early steps towards operationalizing the Farm-to-Fork Strategy, an important step in this direction is to develop a new approach or improve existing systems to manage the traceability of agricultural and food products from agriculture producers to processors and to consumers. Besides ensuring food quality and safety, such systems are expected to also have the capability to trace environmental and climate footprints of agri-food products. Developing country-wide traceability systems will involve assessing structures and patterns in the existing agri-food system, as well as vulnerabilities and risks that could undermine food quality or safety, or pose environmental/climate risks; developing an adequate regulatory framework for agri-food traceability; building adequate institutional capacity; assessing technology options for effectively tracing agri-food products, and engaging stakeholders.
To support this process, the workshop aimed to highlight international experiences and best practices on the various legal, regulatory and administrative aspects of agri-food traceability and food quality systems to inform the reform process in Romania.
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Day 1 – December 7, 2021
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| Welcome by Moderator: Ms. Madalina Neagu |
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Opening remarks
- Adrian-Ionuț Chesnoiu, Minister, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Romania
- Martien Van Nieuwkoop, Global Director, Agriculture and Food, World Bank
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Keynote address
• Farm to Fork Strategy: fostering food system sustainability beyond safety (Alexandra Nikolakopoulou, Head, Farm to Fork Strategy Unit, DG for Health and Food Safety, EU Commission) I Presentation
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Session 1: Food Safety System Reform – Best Practices
The objective of this session is to feature international experiences and best practices on technical and regulatory aspects of an effective food safety system and discuss how these may need to be updated in the context of the Farm-to-Fork Strategy
Moderator: Madalina Neagu
• Food safety and traceability in Ireland (Orla Moore, Head, Food Incidents Department, Irish Food Safety Agency) (10-15 min) I Presentation
• Food traceability in New Zealand (Kateryna Onul, Policy Lead, IFC Global Food Safety Advisory) I Presentation
• Food safety system – lessons learned from the Chinese experience (Sitaramachandra Machiraju, Senior Economist, World Bank) I Presentation
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| Session Q&A and Moderated Discussion (Madalina Neagu) |
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Session 2: Digital Solutions for Food Traceability – Panel Discussion
The objective of this session is to feature international experiences with innovative digital solutions to agri-food food safety and traceability systems and discuss their relevance in the context of the Romania’s agri-food system
Session moderator: Madalina Neagu
Panel moderator: Parmesh Shah, Global Lead for Data Driven Digital Agriculture, World Bank
• Setting the Stage by Panel Moderator, Parmesh Shah (5 min)
• Building blocks of a good digital traceability system (John Keogh, Professor of Practice, McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics, McGill University) I Presentation
• Digital technologies for sustainable intensification in Uruguay (Katie Freeman, Senior Agriculture Economist, World Bank) Presentation
• The experience of France: Digital solutions for food systems traceability, Isabelle Piot-Lepetit (Institute Convergence on Digital Agriculture #DigitAg, France ) I Presentation
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| Session Q&A (Parmesh Shah) and Moderated Discussion (Madalina Neagu) |
Day 1 wrap-up: conclusions and next steps
• Gabriela Girboan, Project Manager and Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Romania
• Anna Akhalkatsi, Country Manager, World Bank, Romania |
| Adjourn |
| Day 2 – December 8, 2021 |
Day 2 Opening Remarks
• Irina Klytchnikova, Lead Agriculture Economist, World Bank |
Session 3: Quality and Marketing of Agri-Food Products
The objective of this session is to carry out a deep dive discussion of the selected models to establish food quality certification schemes with dedicated agencies, and draw conclusions about their relevance for the Romanian model
Moderator: Madalina Neagu
• Agri-food marketing and export promotion policies (Dmitry Zvyagintsev, Policy Officer, Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, UN FAO) I Presentation
• Food promotion policy for the Austrian food market (Rainer Haas, Institute of Marketing and Innovation, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences of Vienna, Austria) I Presentation
• Food promotion policy in Poland (Dariusz Goszczynski, Vice President, Original Foundation, Poland) I Presentation |
| Session Q&A and Moderated Discussion (Madalina Neagu) |
Day 2 wrap-up: conclusions and next steps
• Gabriela Girboan, Project manager and Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Romania
• Frauke Jungbluth, Practice Manager, ECA Sustainable Development, World Bank |
| Adjourn |
Blog » Virtual Workshop: Sustainability and Traceability of Agri-Food System - Towards a Future Vision in Romania
Virtual Workshop: Sustainability and Traceability of Agri-Food System - Towards a Future Vision in Romania
December 7 and 8, 2021
Objective: The objective of the workshop was to feature international experiences and best practices on technical and regulatory aspects of an effective food safety and traceability system, approaches to implementing quality and marketing of agri-food products and selected digital technology solutions for agri-food traceability and food safety, and discuss the relevance of these experiences and practices in the context of Romania as it embarks on the early steps towards operationalizing the EU Farm-to-Fork Strategy.
Background: The European Green Deal represents the EU’s ambitious plan to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The Farm-to-Fork Strategy, which is the core element of the Green Deal, seeks to set in motion a sustainability transition in the EU’s agri-food system. This sustainability transition involves three main dimensions: reducing the agri-food systems environmental and climate footprint; improving the availability of nutritious food that meets highest safety and quality standards; and providing new economic opportunities and securing affordable food supply. The COVID-19 pandemic is further underlining the importance of a robust and resilient food system that can function in all circumstances and can ensure access to a sufficient supply in times of crisis.
From a social and public health perspective, better nutrition, obesity, and food quality and safety are important aspects of the agenda. New economic opportunities are seen in developing sustainability trademarks for agri-food products that strengthen the global competitiveness of the EU’s agri-food products and in pushing for a global convergence with EU standards.
As Romania is embarking on early steps towards operationalizing the Farm-to-Fork Strategy, an important step in this direction is to develop a new approach or improve existing systems to manage the traceability of agricultural and food products from agriculture producers to processors and to consumers. Besides ensuring food quality and safety, such systems are expected to also have the capability to trace environmental and climate footprints of agri-food products. Developing country-wide traceability systems will involve assessing structures and patterns in the existing agri-food system, as well as vulnerabilities and risks that could undermine food quality or safety, or pose environmental/climate risks; developing an adequate regulatory framework for agri-food traceability; building adequate institutional capacity; assessing technology options for effectively tracing agri-food products, and engaging stakeholders.
To support this process, the workshop aimed to highlight international experiences and best practices on the various legal, regulatory and administrative aspects of agri-food traceability and food quality systems to inform the reform process in Romania.
Day 1 – December 7, 2021
Opening remarks
Keynote address
• Farm to Fork Strategy: fostering food system sustainability beyond safety (Alexandra Nikolakopoulou, Head, Farm to Fork Strategy Unit, DG for Health and Food Safety, EU Commission) I Presentation
Session 1: Food Safety System Reform – Best Practices
The objective of this session is to feature international experiences and best practices on technical and regulatory aspects of an effective food safety system and discuss how these may need to be updated in the context of the Farm-to-Fork Strategy
Moderator: Madalina Neagu
• Food safety and traceability in Ireland (Orla Moore, Head, Food Incidents Department, Irish Food Safety Agency) (10-15 min) I Presentation
• Food traceability in New Zealand (Kateryna Onul, Policy Lead, IFC Global Food Safety Advisory) I Presentation
• Food safety system – lessons learned from the Chinese experience (Sitaramachandra Machiraju, Senior Economist, World Bank) I Presentation
Session 2: Digital Solutions for Food Traceability – Panel Discussion
The objective of this session is to feature international experiences with innovative digital solutions to agri-food food safety and traceability systems and discuss their relevance in the context of the Romania’s agri-food system
Session moderator: Madalina Neagu
Panel moderator: Parmesh Shah, Global Lead for Data Driven Digital Agriculture, World Bank
• Setting the Stage by Panel Moderator, Parmesh Shah (5 min)
• Building blocks of a good digital traceability system (John Keogh, Professor of Practice, McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics, McGill University) I Presentation
• Digital technologies for sustainable intensification in Uruguay (Katie Freeman, Senior Agriculture Economist, World Bank) Presentation
• The experience of France: Digital solutions for food systems traceability, Isabelle Piot-Lepetit (Institute Convergence on Digital Agriculture #DigitAg, France ) I Presentation
• Gabriela Girboan, Project Manager and Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Romania
• Anna Akhalkatsi, Country Manager, World Bank, Romania
• Irina Klytchnikova, Lead Agriculture Economist, World Bank
The objective of this session is to carry out a deep dive discussion of the selected models to establish food quality certification schemes with dedicated agencies, and draw conclusions about their relevance for the Romanian model
Moderator: Madalina Neagu
• Agri-food marketing and export promotion policies (Dmitry Zvyagintsev, Policy Officer, Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, UN FAO) I Presentation
• Food promotion policy for the Austrian food market (Rainer Haas, Institute of Marketing and Innovation, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences of Vienna, Austria) I Presentation
• Food promotion policy in Poland (Dariusz Goszczynski, Vice President, Original Foundation, Poland) I Presentation
• Gabriela Girboan, Project manager and Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Romania
• Frauke Jungbluth, Practice Manager, ECA Sustainable Development, World Bank