Keynote conferences

Conference : " From Cascading Crises to Equitably Resilient Food Systems "

Presented by Evan Fraser, Director of Arrell Food Institute

November 5, 2025 - from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Today we rely on global food systems to bring us sustenance each day from all corners of the planet. Many experts worry that this means civilization is only ever nine meals away from anarchy - if the food trucks and planes stop arriving at our cities, it would take approximately three days, or nine meals, for us to run out of key supplies. Ever since COVID, those of us who study food systems have become increasingly worried that a cascading series of crises (which include the war in the Ukraine, the affordability crisis, climate change, and disruptions to the supply chain) threaten our daily bread. 

But what is resilience and how do we build it into a food system? And how might novel technologies such as AI and genomics play a role?

Broadly speaking, resilience involves at least three key dimensions. The first is that a resilient food systems need to keep feeding people, no matter what happens. Resilient food systems also need to bounce back quickly after a crisis. The final dimension of resilience is less intuitive. If the underlying system that persisted before a crisis imposed major problems for people or planet, then how meaningful is it to talk about a food system that ‘bounces back’? For example, if farmers were mired in poverty, or if consumers were consuming unhealthy food, we need systems to transform. This leads the third dimension of resilience, which is an ability to bounce forward and reorient into a better form.

We can use these three dimensions of resilience to imagine how to transform food systems in a way that is not only resilient, but also more sustainable, nutritious and equitable. 

At the farm level, this might involve innovations that build up the soil’s organic matter as healthy soils are able to remain productive during droughts. Supply chains innovations can help increase local production can make food systems better able to function during crises. Governments can help in multiple ways, such as by creating early warning systems and incentives for investors to fund startups working in this space. 

Novel technologies such as AI and genomics will be key to unlocking many of these strategies. But to ensure that these technologies deliver the sort of equitable and transformative resilience the world so desperately needs, technologies must be developed in partnership with people on the ground so that innovations serve the needs of the people who depend on the food system, both for their food but also for their livelihoods. 

 Today, the world facing a huge challenge of how to provide good nutrition for all in a time of great global upheaval. But while this challenge seems great, so too is our capacity to adapt - and novel technologies offer one part of the solution to this great global challenge. So long as innovations are embedded in the real-world of local problems then we can use innovations to build systems that are truly equitable, nutritious, sustainable and resilient.