Sustainable Food Production

Full course description

One of the most important challenges of our time is to ensure a sustainable future. It is no coincidence that the United Nations (UN) has designated sustainability as a global challenge. We are in need of sustainable solutions for complex, regional and global issues that affect our health and the food system. These issues include – among others – climate change, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and water shortages. Sustainable food production and consumption requires achieving a new balance between planetary boundaries and agricultural practices without negatively affecting the survivability of the industry.

This course introduces you to food systems in relation to their environmental and economic impact. Increasing or ensuring the availability of safe and healthy food is a complex undertaking, with many challenges related to production, processing, transport, and consumption of food. Circular engineers can play an important role in making production systems more efficient and sustainable. However, as the various components of modern food production systems are inextricably linked, it is difficult to accurately assess the ecological and economic footprint of these systems. This course is centered on global, regional and local case studies involving food production challenges. You will learn how tools and methods of sustainability assessment are applied in the industry (some of which you came across in the first year of the programme).

To bring about changes towards more sustainable food production, it is also necessary to know the different stakeholders involved and to evaluate different possible scenarios. Special attention is paid to the role of consumer acceptance of biotechnological innovations, as this could limit the adoption of more sustainable practices in food production.