Our research
We are not just an ordinary research project that only delivers scientific output; our work extends much further. We create and manage a transdisciplinary and scientifically grounded platform that strives to bring about change. While we conduct research that is published in scientific journals, we also organize meetings and interactions between various actors within the food system. We design dialogues and webinars to discuss what the scientific findings mean in practice and how we can collectively achieve a system-wide transformation. Additionally, we engage with policy development and contribute knowledge to various societal issues, for example through participation in Almedalen, parliamentary seminars, and policy briefs.
Research for the Future
Food accounts for a quarter of our climate impact, and global food production and land use are among the leading causes of the ongoing loss of biodiversity. The way we produce and consume food must fundamentally change if we are to meet the challenges of the future. How can we create a sustainable food system that provides healthy food for all, without depleting nature and without greenhouse gas emissions?
A Sustainable Food System
Mistra Food Futures is a research program focused on a sustainable and resilient food system. The program is led and coordinated by SLU in collaboration with the research institute RISE, the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University and The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
The Mistra Food Futures research program develops strategies to achieve a sustainable Swedish food system that delivers healthy food. These strategies will contribute to both short-term change (by 2030) and long-term system transformation (by 2045). With a broad coalition of universities, research institutes, authorities, companies, and industry organizations, the program takes a comprehensive approach to all aspects of the food system.
Mistra Food Futures is working to:
- Establish goals for what the Swedish food system needs to achieve by 2045
- Evaluate the current state and identify obstacles and opportunities for achieving these goals
- Develop strategies to transform obstacles into “leverage points” for system change
- Develop indicators to monitor and ensure progress
- Identify and develop measures that enable the Swedish agricultural sector to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, and make food processing, retail, and consumption more sustainable
- Identify implementation strategies that contribute to a comprehensive transformation of the food system
Our focus areas
COORDINATION, management, dissemination and
public affairs.
Alternative PATHWAYS to sustainable future food systems.
Next generation sustainability and resilience
INDICATORS for food system transformation.
Production-side MEASURES for reducing the
environmental load from food systems.
Sustainable food SYSTEMS with net-zero climate
impact.
POLICY related levers and barriers for change
across the food value chain.
Food supply chain ORGANISATION structure for
sustainability and resilience.
