Climate-Smart Agri-Food Systems has been launched

On October 10 approximately 30 of AGRO’s scientists participated in an inspiration meeting in Foulum regarding the research flagship Climate-Smart Agri-Food Systems (CAFS). AGRO has four research flagships and CAFS is one of them. The aim is to raise the awareness of the scientific profile nationally and internationally. The flagships represent research areas in which the department is particularly strong and from which we deliver results that contribute to solving national and global challenges and goals.  

We began the meeting with presentations of the current activities within climate-smart agricultural and food systems. There were presentations from all sections in Foulum but, unfortunately, none of the sections from Flakkebjerg were represented. It must be expected that there will be a significant input from Flakkebjerg to the flagship, so one of the proposals at the meeting was that the flagships are given time at the annual senior VIP meetings for discussions that span across Foulum and Flakkebjerg.

AGRO carries out considerable research and policy support regarding the interaction between the climate and agricultural production. This includes production systems that improve resource use efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide adaptations to climate changes. We also develop and use methods for quantifying the overall climate and environmental effects of the production of food and bio-based materials. We collaborate with many players in the supply chain on developing ways of collaborating and production systems that improve resource use efficiency, credibility and value creation.

Increased visibility
Many ideas as to how we can raise awareness of and improve collaboration in the flagship’s research area were put forward at the meeting. Some of the first things that will be dealt with are concerned with increasing the flagship’s visibility and include the following initiatives:

• Popular science communication. We will ensure a greater degree of dissemination of current research results in DCA’s newsletters. To achieve this all sections must be aware of providing input to Janne Hansen. One possible way of doing this is to invite Janne to section meetings.
• Flagship website, where there will be an improved description of our activities, competences and facilities. There is also a need for a list of relevant publications and projects. This will be done on the basis of registrations in the PURE database. A prerequisite for this is that all projects are registered in PURE, and that we have a relevant key word on the publications and projects. We will also try and collect our knowledge on the flagship website so that it is easy to access for external parties (and ourselves).
• ResearchGate. The flagship should be set up as a project on ResearchGate, which is increasingly the place where scientists share publications and knowledge about ongoing activities. 

In the long run the flagships will also set other things in motion:

• PhD courses. There is a need for more PhD courses in the area and AGRO should organise some of these.
• Establishment of a research centre with the aid of external funding.
• Scientific review articles. These would to a great extent comprise topics that span across the sections.
• Participation in international networks. There are many such networks. It is also an area of priority for the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark but can demand considerable resources and needs to be prioritized in the department.
• Organise conferences and theme days about specific subjects.