FAO Global Agrifood Biotechnologies Conference

As part of its 80th Anniversary celebrations, FAO is organizing a Global Agrifood Biotechnologies Conference entitled “Biotechnologies for a Sustainable Future: Driving Agrifood Systems Transformation” from 16 to 18 June 2025 at FAO headquarters, Rome, Italy. The conference aims to discuss the latest advancements, opportunities and risks associated with biotechnologies, and to examine how biotechnologies can drive agrifood systems transformation, ensuring equitable access and delivering meaningful impacts at all levels.

The need for transformative shifts in agrifood systems has never been more urgent. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for integrated solutions to overcome barriers to transformation and recognizes the pivotal role of agrifood systems in linking people, planet, and prosperity. Guided by its Strategic Framework 2022–31, FAO aims to create agrifood systems that are more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable - delivering better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

The FAO Science and Innovation Strategy highlights the importance of leveraging diverse scientific disciplines and knowledge sources, technologies, and innovations, with biotechnologies playing a critical role in this effort. Biotechnologies hold immense potential to enhance food production, improve nutrition, and reduce environmental impacts and enhance resilience of agrifood systems, while ensuring food safety and efficient use of resources. To harness this potential, FAO’s work on biotechnologies covers technical assistance, capacity development, knowledge sharing on good practices, policy development and serving as a neutral platform for Members to discuss benefits and risks of application of biotechnologies in food and agriculture. 

Despite notable progress, biotechnologies remain unevenly adopted across regions, often limited by capacities, infrastructure, policies and financial resources. Building on the years of FAO’s work on biotechnologies and its previous international conferences, and the 2024 Science and Innovation Forum, this Global Agrifood Biotechnologies Conference entitled “Biotechnologies for Sustainable Future: Driving Agrifood System Transformation” will provide a neutral platform to examine how the biotechnological tools can drive transformation to sustainable agrifood systems. 

Objectives 

• Highlight past achievements, recent advancements and future trends in biotechnologies and their transformative potential for achieving efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems.
• Explore how biotechnologies, including low-tech tools and advanced innovations, such as genome editing and synthetic biology, can empower small-scale producers, processors, traders and retailors to enhance food security, improve nutrition, and build resilience to climate challenges.
• Share good practices in integrating digital technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and bioinformatics, to advance research, improve access, and scale biotechnological innovations.
• Discuss the experience in development of policies and legislation to ensure the safe, equitable, and responsible application of biotechnologies, addressing risks and building public trust.
• Foster global collaboration by connecting policymakers, scientists, civil society organizations, private sector, and other relevant stakeholders to drive inclusive biotechnological solutions, ensuring no one is left behind in the transformation of agrifood systems.

Expected outcomes: The expected outcomes of the conference include fostering knowledge exchange on a wide range of biotechnological options for agrifood system transformation and increased awareness of the potential of biotechnologies with a Call for Action for achieving efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems. The consolidated summaries of the plenary and technical sessions are expected to inform the update of the FAO statement on biotechnology after the conference.

Target audience: The target audience for the conference includes representatives of governments, international and inter-governmental organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society organizations, private sector (including philanthropic foundations) and producer organizations.

Format: The conference will consist of high-level plenary sessions, technical sessions on thematic topics, parallel sessions focusing on agrifood system sub-themes, networking sessions and side events. The individual sessions will be organized by adopting innovative and interactive formats.

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