Agrifood systems in the bioeconomy

The transition to a bioeconomy is a potential game changer that may have a large impact on food and nutrition security, as well as on the ways in which agrifood systems are designed and operated. With breakthroughs in biotechnologies and a shift from fossil to renewable resources, the bioeconomy holds the potential to contribute to the sustainable development of agriculture and the countryside. At the same time, such game changing technologies and trends raise questions about the creation and evaluation of new markets and value chains, direct and indirect ecological effects at different scales and the effects of social inclusions and exclusion. Given that the bioeconomy is a relatively new field, there is significant demand for economic and interdisciplinary research to understand the potential of agricultural food systems in the transition to a bioeconomy.

The IAMO Forum 2021 will address the following topic areas:

• Land and labor market effects of bio-based products
• Land use effects of biomass production
• Trade-offs between sustainable development goals in the bioeconomy
• To own, to share or to cooperate? – social innovations in agrifood systems
• Governance instruments and institutions of the bioeconomy
• Bioclusters and regionalized value chains
• The role of innovation policy in regional economic development
• Economic effects of new bioeconomy crops
• The place of the agricultural sector in the circular bioeconomy
• No limits? – ethical and public debates around sustainability and new (bio)technologies

*** IAMO Forum & Covid-19 ***

IAMO Forum 2021 is planned as an on-site event on the premises of IAMO and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina  in Halle (Saale), Germany. Given the unpredictable course of the Covid-19 pandemic, the conference may be moved online. A final decision on the conference format will be announced by end of February 2021.

Submissions of extended abstracts and organized session proposals open until 24 January

IAMO Forum 2021
Agrifood systems in the bioeconomy
07 – 09 June 2021 │ Halle (Saale) │ Germany
#iamoForum21