Please type your questions into the chat box with name, affiliation, and country. The event video, presenter slides, and podcast will be available in the days following the event.

Around the world, agrifood systems are changing rapidly as populations grow, incomes rise, technological innovations emerge, and the climate shifts. But how will these systems continue to evolve over the next 25 years? Anticipating and preparing for change requires us to learn from the past and anticipate future dynamics. While near-term forecasts and medium-term outlooks on agrifood systems are readily available, information on longer-term challenges is limited. Helping decision-makers in low-and middle-income countries strategically plan for future agrifood system challenges requires a comprehensive longer-term outlook.

Join us for this virtual event to launch the Global Agrifood Systems Outlook to 2050, a new IFPRI report that explores plausible futures for diets, agricultural production, trade, food security, and natural resource use under various scenarios. Prepared as part of the CGIAR Science Program on Policy Innovations, this report aims to help inform the decisions needed to ensure healthy and sustainable agrifood systems in the decades ahead.

The event will feature key findings from the report, thematic highlights on productivity and resources, and a regional focus on Africa and trade. A panel discussion with leading experts will examine the report’s implications for the future of agrifood systems, including perspectives from development, policy, research, and practice, before concluding with a Q&A session and discussion of the report’s relevance for CGIAR and the broader policy research agenda.

Welcome & Setting the Scene

• Moderator Welcome: Evgeniya Anisimova, Media and Digital Engagement Manager, IFPRI
• Why Look Ahead? The Importance of Looking Ahead to the Future of Agrifood Systems: Clemens Breisinger, Director, CGIAR policy Innovations Program

Introducing the Global Outlook Report

• Overview: Keith Wiebe, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI
• Thematic Highlight: Productivity & Resources: Abhijeet Mishra, Research Fellow, IFPRI
• Regional Highlight: Africa & Trade: Faaiqa Hartley, Scientist, IFPRI

Panel Discussion: What Does the Outlook Mean for Agrifood Systems?

A discussion with leading experts on the implications of the report’s findings for the future of agrifood systems, including perspectives from development, policy, research, and practice.

• Rob Bertram, Chief Scientist, Food Security Leadership Council
• Valeria Piñeiro, Director Technical Cooperation, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
• Elisabetta Gotor, Director, Land Resource Economics Unit, Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT

From Outlook to Action

• Connecting the Findings to the CGIAR and Policy Research Agenda: James Thurlow, Director, Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit, IFPRI