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. 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 a revised FAO statement on biotechnology and increased awareness of the potential of biotechnologies with a Call for Action for achieving efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems. 

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.

Please register through the link above in the side-bar.
The deadline for in-presence registration is 9 May 2025 (6 PM Rome, Italy Time).

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AGENDA

Day 1: Setting the stage: Taking stock and looking to the future

Morning (09:30–12:00): Setting the Stage (High-level opening plenary session)

Welcome Addresses

Keynote Addresses: 

• Biotechnologies as catalysts for agrifood systems transformation and its role in achieving multiple SDGs
• The State of Knowledge in Biotechnology: Taking stock of the past achievements 
• Recent breakthroughs in biotechnological research and development  

Panel Discussion: 

• Looking at the Future: Biotechnologies for achieving efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems and food security 

Lunch Time Side Event (12:30 – 13:45)

Thematic Technical Session (1)

Afternoon (14:00–15:30): Biotechnological innovations and sustainability frontiers

• Gene editing and synthetic biology for resilient and sustainable agrifood systems: Opportunities and Challenges
  • Focus on small-scale producers, ethical implications, and policy frameworks.
  • Exploring synthetic biology's role in food processing, diet, nutrition and ecological sustainability
  • The emerging opportunities in vaccines, diagnostics and precision fermentation.

Parallel Technical Sessions (16:00 – 17:30): Taking stock and looking to the future

• Genetic improvement for sustainable crop production systems: The key topics will include past lessons, recent advancements and future trends in tissue culture, molecular markers, genetic transformation, genome editing and rapid multiplication of disease-free planting materials.
• Biotechnological Innovations in livestock genetic improvement and management: Biotechnologies and its applications in animal breeding, genetic diversity, feed quality and vaccine development, including selected cases of past experiences, recent advancements and future trends.

Networking Session (1)

Evening (18:00–19:30): Networking Reception

• Interactive exhibition of biotechnology innovations

Day 2: Exploring Innovation Pathways for development, scaling and localization

Thematic technical session (2)

Morning (09:00 – 10:30): Exploring innovation pathways for development and localization of biotechnologies

• Biotechnology and AI: How AI enhances gene-editing applications and genomic research.
• Good practices and experiences in integrating digital technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and Bioinformatics
• Localizing biotechnology: From research labs to rural communities
• Strategies for ensuring equitable access to biotechnologies in low- and middle-income countries.
• The role of technical cooperation and the importance of international finance

Parallel Technical Sessions (11:00 – 12:30): Taking stock and looking to the future

• Fish breeding, diagnostic tools and vaccines for aquatic animals: Application of biotechnologies in fish breeding, development of diagnostic tools and vaccines for fisheries and aquaculture.
• Improving forest tree genetic resources and sustainable landscapes: Biotechnologies for understanding and improving forest trees, use of tree genetic resources for sustainable forests.
• Improving nutrition and food quality: Biofortification of staple food crops: Biofortification of staple food crops, progress and future activities; role of biotechnologies in improving fish nutrition.

Lunch Time Side Event (12:45 – 14:00)

High-Level Plenary Session

Afternoon (14:30–17:30): High-Level Panel Discussions

• Scaling and localizing Innovations in Biotech: From research to context specific adoption by rural communities
  • Focus on strategies for ensuring equitable access to biotechnologies and context specificity of low- and middle-income countries
  • Demand from markets and consumers shaping biotechnology development and adoption
  • Transfer of biotechnological solutions for sustainable agrifood systems 
  • Multi-stakeholder collaboration and financing mechanisms.
  • Role of technical cooperation and the importance of international finance

Networking Sessions (2)

Evening (17:30–19:00): Role of youth, women and private sector in biotechnologies 

• Youth and women in Biotech: Innovating for Tomorrow
• Private sector in development, uptake and scaling of biotech solutions 

Day 3: Closing the Gap – Policy and regulations for ensuring inclusion, safety and equity 

Thematic Technical Session (3) 

Morning (09:00–10:30): Policies in Biotechnology: Ensuring innovation and equity, balancing regulatory frameworks 

• Recognizing regulatory efforts, public trust, and transparency
• Evidence-based regulations and legislation to ensure food safety
• How biotechnology is addressed in climate, biodiversity and environmental global agreements and bioeconomy strategies’ targets: building policy coherence towards action
• Policies for equitable, and responsible application of biotechnologies and addressing consumer concerns
• Collaboration by connecting policymakers, scientists, and private sector experts, farmers and primary producers to drive inclusive biotechnological solutions 
• Ethical considerations in agricultural biotechnologies

Parallel Technical Sessions (11:00 – 12:30): Taking stock and looking to the future

• Biotechnologies for ensuring food safety: Community of practices: Methodologies to ensure safety for foods derived from biotechnologies, community of practices for food safety assessment, relevant international databases (FAO, CBD-BCH, OECD Biotrack).
• Climate-Resilient Future: Adapting to biotic and abiotic stresses through biotechnologies: Biotechnologies for climate-resilient future - past lessons, recent advancements and future trends in biotechnologies and its applications.
• Bioeconomy: Biotechnological applications in agro-industry: Biotechnologies and its applications in fermentation techniques, feed additives, increasing storability and shelf-life.

Afternoon (14:00–15:30): Closing Plenary

• Reporting outcomes and summary from the sessions.
• Presentation: Revised FAO Statement, and a Call for Action on biotechnologies for achieving efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems
• Highlights of the conference from different perspective – academic and research institutions, civil society, private sector 
• Closing Remarks

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