Vision and aims

The overarching vision of the programme Mistra Food Futures is to create a science-based platform to enable transformation of the Swedish food system into one that is sustainable (in all three dimensions: environmental, economic and social), resilient and delivers healthy diets. By taking a holistic perspective and addressing issues related to agriculture and food production, as well as processing, consumption and retail, Mistra Food Futures aims to play a key role in initiating an evidence based sustainability (including environmental, economic and social dimensions) and resilience transformation of the Swedish food system.

The overarching vision of the Mistra Food Futures programme is to create a science-based platform to contribute to enabling transformation of the Swedish food system into one that is sustainable. We consider sustainability in all three dimensions of the concept: environmental, economic and social. A system that is resilient and delivers healthy diets to all.

Mistra Food Futures centres around four main strategies:

  • Identification and synthesis of on-going research, in Sweden and beyond (not encompassed by funding in the program), on how to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas and sustainable agricultural systems and sustainable food value chains, which can be leveraged by Swedish food actors to achieve efficient and rapid transformation;
  • Research for action to fill key knowledge gaps for achieving sustainable transformation, at all levels across the food system;
  • A holistic approach to sustainable development, covering its environmental, economic and social dimensions. This is important as it caters for solutions and strategies that do not solely focus on single aspects of sustainable development but where all three are simultaneously taken into consideration;
  • Initiation and coordination of a transformation processes and experiments together with stakeholders to initiate implementation of new practices.