Ten years of new knowledge, connections and synergies
A new report on the Mercator Program on Agroecology and Organic Farming highlights the projects and activities implemented and shares exemplary stories that showcase the impact, connections and synergies created by the program.
At the World Food System Center, the Mercator Program on Agroecology and Organic Farming supports research, education, and outreach that explores the role and potential of agroecology and organic production systems to contribute to improved food security and sustainability in food systems.
Research
Mercator Research Program on Organic Production Systems supported 14 research projects aiming to explore the role and potential of certified and non-certified organic production systems to contribute to global food security. With 3.7 million Swiss francs in funding, the program supported 16 doctoral students to work in projects crossing disciplines, sectors and scales and engaging a broad range of stakeholders. The cross-disciplinary and solution-oriented projects spanned a large range of food system topics and involved around 57 partner organizations. Novel and reliable scientific information on the contribution of organic and low input agriculture was generated and made accessible to key stakeholders concerned with food security and food systems at all levels. Results from the program have been published in 30 peer-reviewed articles.
Education
The Mercator Program enabled the World Food System Center to establish new and innovative education and training programs outside of the established curricular. This has provided unique training and development opportunities to an international network of over 200 students and young professionals, enabling them to explore the role and potential of organic and agroecological systems to tackle food system challenges. All of the education activities that have been implemented through this program have a strong focus on enabling collaboration across traditional boundaries (disciplinary, cultural, sectorial) and in building the knowledge, skills and mindsets necessary to lead the transformation to a sustainable food system.
Outreach
Through the Mercator Program, the Center engaged with a broad audience to increase awareness about challenges in the world food system and the approaches agroecology and organic production offer to creating solutions. In total, the Center held 50 public and specialist events reaching over 23,000 people from 2012-2021. Many events were jointly organized with WFSC members and partner institutions. Many of these events (21) were supported by the Mercator Program. The Center aims to consistently revamp and try new channels and products for an ever-changing media and user landscape.
The Report
The newly published evaluation report for 2012-2021 highlights the projects and activities implemented in the scope of the program and shares many stories that show the impact, connections and synergies created.
Download Download the full report: Mercator Program on Agroecology and Organic Farming Evaluation Report 2012–2021 (PDF, 4.8 MB)
For a transition towards more sustainable food systems we need the best approaches and strategies from basic and applied research, says Monika M. Messmer.
The fascinating touch points with the WFSC and the Mercator Program affected me professionally and personally in my daily life, says Nora Bartolomé Guitiérrez. The WFSC really knows how to setup environments where exchange between different researchers, but also among non-researchers and researchers is possible, says Lukas Wille. Support from the Ambassador Grants really took me from thinking about what I can do, to actually doing it, says Benjamin Gräub. I understood that we can make this world a better place by putting our efforts together and start creating change wherever we can, says Daria Reisch. I think it is very important to bring research on agroecology from around the world to ETH Zurich, says Johan Six.
