9th DCAW on the future of agri-food systems successfully held

The 9th Sino-German Agricultural Week (DCAW) took place in Bengbu, Anhui Province, China, from Oct 31 to Nov 3, 2023. The DCAW is organised by the Sino-German Agricultural Centre (DCZ), a project of the bilateral cooperation programme of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), which is implemented by IAK Agrar Consulting GmbH (lead partner) in consortium with the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).

For the first time since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, the hybrid event (in person and online) offered stakeholders from Germany the opportunity to travel to China to exchange ideas with their colleagues in person. The German delegation was led by Ophelia Nick, Parliamentary State Secretary of the BMEL, and was made up of political decision-makers and high-ranking representatives of the German agricultural sector and the industry's leading organisations. The Chinese side was represented by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ma Youxiang, high-ranking provincial and municipal officials and representatives of international organisations such as the FAO. Sven Gehlhaar, Managing Director, and Stanimira Penkova, Team Leader, were on site for IAK.

The overarching theme of the conference was the future of agri-food systems. As Ms Nick emphasised in her opening speech, this is a challenge that Germany and China must tackle together. Participants from politics, research and business discussed how Germany and China can work more closely together to transform the agricultural and food systems towards greater ecological sustainability and climate resilience while at the same time providing sufficient healthy food for all. At a business roundtable, e.g. German companies in China were able to exchange ideas with political decision-makers and identify potential cooperation partners in China. A field day in turn took participants from the conference rooms to the fields, where they were able to gain a first-hand impression of agricultural development in China.

German start-ups from the agricultural sector were also represented at the DCAW for the first time. Two of them, ReGood and Cultimate, presented their innovative solutions together with two start-ups from China at the "Sustainable Diets Slam" (a competition on sustainable nutrition).

The debates highlighted many common challenges: from population decline in rural areas to the urgent need to improve the environmental footprint of the agriculture and food sector. New technologies can help to make agriculture more resource-efficient. However, the future of agri-food systems also requires a greater focus on regenerative agricultural practices that help to improve the long-term health of soils and protect biodiversity. Here, both countries can already draw on extensive experience and exchange innovative technologies.

Further impressions and contributions from the DCAW can be found on the DCZ YouTube channel.