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As pressures from climate change, biodiversity loss, market uncertainty, and rising global food demand escalate, there is a growing need to consider how agricultural systems can be enhanced and reconfigured to withstand external shocks while advancing ecological, social, and economic sustainability. Responding to current crises calls for structured approaches that guide farmers, stakeholders, advisors, researchers, consumers and policymakers toward systemic solutions that address these overlapping challenges.

Various initiatives incite stakeholders and policy makers to innovate and develop multi-scale and multi-domain adaptation strategies for the agri-food systems. This implies to improve farmland environmental performance using sustainable practices, to reduce their CO2 emissions, and to protect the means of subsistence of farm households as well as natural resources, in particular water and soil, from the effects of climate change.

Moreover, innovations through value chains, driven by collaboration among diverse stakeholders, are proposed and tested for creating inclusive systems. Shifting toward bio-economy and circular economy models can minimize waste and promote resource reuse, enhancing sustainability in the agri-food sector. These innovations in agriculture cannot be efficient without enhancing the capacity of stakeholders and farmers with transformative learning through training and advisory services.

Decision-making and policy-making processes that support inclusive governance structures, involving a wide range of voices from farmers, scientists, policymakers, and civil society are essential for enhancing the adaptability and resilience of these systems.

This symposium aims to revisit progress and debates in co-designing and promoting sustainable Agri-Food systems to face crises and support multiscale decisions. There are many trade-offs to document but also many synergies to analyse when looking at transition pathways and impacts.

The IFSA 2026 Conference in Montpellier is organized by the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier (CIHEAM-IAMM).

Chairs of the IFSA Steering Committee: Hatem Belhouchette (CIHEAM-IAMM) and Paolo Prosperi (CIHEAM-IAMM, UMR MoISA)

Convenors: Teresa Pinto Correia, Julie Ingram, Elisa Marracini, Martin Thorsøe
Sub-Theme 1.1 - Changing roles of the different actors
Sub-theme 1.2 - Implications of natural capital private and public mechanisms
Sub-theme 1.3 - Landscapes in transition
Sub-theme 1.4 - Farms in transition

Convenors: Davide Rizzo, Intissar Ferchichi, Myriam Grillot, Tristan Berchoux, Lola Richelle
Sub-theme 2.1 - Solidarity, contestation, and disruption in rural areas
Sub-theme 2.2 - Harmonising agriculture and landscape management
Sub-theme 2.3 - Variability and diversity at the farm and landscape-level
Sub-theme 2.4 - Visualisation of socio-technical systems interactions
Sub-theme 2.5 - Scale-dependent processes in rural landscapes characterisation

Convenors: Alex Koutsouris, Andrea Knierim, Pierre Labarthe, Ruth Nettle, Simona Cristiano, Patrizia Proietti, Noelle Aarts, Cees Leeuwis
Sub-theme 3.1 - Conceptualizing and documenting learning processes
Sub-theme 3.2 - Advancing methods and tools for learning
Sub-theme 3.3 - Feeding policy debates on how to support and monitor learning process

Convenors: Georgios Kleftodimos, Anda Ādamsone-Fiskoviča, Mikelis Grivins, Irene Blanco Gutiérrez
Subtheme 4.1 - Food environments and sustainable production and consumption
Subtheme 4.2 - Territorial innovation and regional transitions of agri-food value chains
Subtheme 4.3 - WEFE Nexus integration into food systems
Subtheme 4.4 - Bio-economic modeling and decision-support tools
Subtheme 4.5 - Inclusive governance and resilience of agri-food value chains
Subtheme 4.6 - Digital and organizational transformations