Berlin – Bioeconomy as a driving force of the agrifood transformation promises a future where agriculture feeds the world while nurturing planet and people. In the final communique of the 2025 Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) in Berlin, agricultural ministers emphasized prioritizing food security, nutrition and agrifood systems transformation within sustainable bioeconomy initiatives. At the Forum, FAO highlighted its groundbreaking work on bioeconomy over the past decade ranging from supporting country strategies, developing metrics and strengthening international cooperation and coordination.
Ministers unanimously supported the initiative of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture to support FAO to develop a global multi-stakeholder bioeconomy partnership for sustainable agrifood systems.
Held annually by the German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture, the GFFA is an international conference that addresses key issues for the future of sustainable agriculture and food policies. The seventeenth GFFA took place on 15-18 January 2025 with the participation of over 80 countries and international organizations, focusing on the overarching theme ‘Farming a sustainable bioeconomy’.
The bioeconomy encompasses the sustainable production, utilization, conservation, and regeneration of biological resources. This concept integrates related knowledge, science, technology, and innovation to provide sustainable solutions for a more efficient, fair, and environment-friendly economy. FAO has incorporated bioeconomy as a dedicated work area within its Strategic Framework 2022–31. Through its initiative, FAO offers guidance and technical support to assist policymakers to develop a sustainable bioeconomy that aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
At the GFFA, the FAO delegation, led by Kaveh Zahedi, Director of FAO’s Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, underlined the central role that agriculture and agrifood systems play in the bioeconomy, highlighting the call from FAO governing bodies to bring together a global partnership to serve as a catalyst for the development of policies, strategies, and plans, building capacities, knowledge systems, and incentives.
In the closing statement of the Berlin Agricultural Minister’s Conference, Zahedi emphasized that a sustainable bioeconomy offers one of the most promising pathways to address the cascading crises of conflicts, economic slowdowns, and climate change that are stalling poverty eradication and progress on food security and reaffirmed FAO’s commitment to supporting a global partnership to promote exchange of experiences, metrics, innovations, technologies and action that can transform agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.
The FAO-moderated breakout session at the seventeenth Berlin Agriculture Ministers’ Conference underlined the importance of addressing both inequalities within countries and between countries in the move towards bioeconomies. Concerning the social aspects of bioeconomy, participating ministers made several commitments, including to support just transition and strengthen the implementation of the Right to Adequate Food, empower women, youth, and vulnerable groups, support rural development, improve land access, and ensure fair benefit-sharing. Key challenges included higher production costs for bio-based products, higher tariffs on processed bio-based products, and a lack of infrastructure in rural areas of low- and middle-income countries. To address these issues, the ministers proposed advocating for policy changes, supporting research on consumer behavior, and accelerating rural area development worldwide. These proposed solutions underscore the need for increased multilateral cooperation across trade and sustainable development sectors.
Bioeconomy innovations to solve global crises
Highlighting the potential of bioeconomy innovations for food loss and waste reduction was at the centre of the FAO-organized high-level ministerial event on food loss and waste on 17 January, discussing tools, solutions and approaches with representatives of countries, international financial institutions and development partners to spur agrifood systems transformation.
Speakers included Leonard Mizzi, Head of the European Commission’s Directorate-General on Sustainable Agri-Food Systems and Fisheries, Gunther Beger, Managing Director at UNIDO, Anila Denaj, Albania’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Julie Collins, Australia’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Shobha Shetty, Global Director at the World Bank, and Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, who have shared their vision for advancing sustainable bioeconomy development through food loss and waste reduction. Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitaliy Koval talked about the need for decentralized food storage facilities to ensure food security in the conflict-affected country. Looking ahead, panelists identified several critical areas requiring focus: insufficient infrastructure, inadequate investments, and lack of reliable data. They emphasized the need to strengthen and expand international cooperation, partnerships, and coordination.
Furthering a global bioeconomy partnership
An FAO expert panel convened on 17 January, co-organized with Agri-Food Canada and the International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy and Agriculture, to discuss advancing the global bioeconomy through international cooperation. The experts identified several challenges hindering bioeconomy advancement, including uneven access to resources, science, technologies, and innovation; differing institutional capacities; lack of data and global monitoring frameworks; and diversity of bioeconomy strategies. These obstacles present significant hurdles to furthering sustainable investments and action on the ground. They also stressed the importance of learning from successful national experiences, promote knowledge and technology transfer, ensure policy coherence, and enhance access to finance.
Zahedi highlighted the transformative potential of the bioeconomy for advancing the sustainable development agenda, particularly in the Global South. His insights underscored the importance of leveraging bioeconomy strategies to address pressing global challenges. Carina Pimenta, National Secretary for Bioeconomy at Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, shared experiences from countries participating in the G20 Initiative on Bioeconomy launched last year. The session concluded with a broader discussion involving the audience, exploring ways to identify opportunities and overcome barriers to global cooperation on bioeconomy.
At the sidelines of the GFFA, the second ministerial meeting of the Moldovan Agri-food Partnership Platform was jointly organized by FAO, the European Union and the Republic of Moldova on 18 January. The event brought together key partners to discuss pathways to channel more investments into the agriculture and food sectors and ways to ensure a strengthened support to and facilitate concrete actions for improved sustainability of the food and agriculture sectors of the Republic of Moldova.
Speakers included Cem Özdemir, German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Ludmila Catlabuga, Moldovan Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, as well as Raimund Jehle, FAO Regional Programme Leader and Representative in the Republic of Moldova, together with ministers of Estonia and Lithuania, and high-level representatives of France, Latvia, the Netherlands and Romania.
