Popis: |
Central to advancing the ambitious United Nations’ seventeen sustainable development goals (SDG) is the challenge of meeting the growing global demand for food and agricultural products while minimizing negative impacts on natural resources. Such a formidable mission requires both contributions from science, technology, and innovation (STI) to engineer sustainable production systems and the establishment of solid cross-sectoral policy frameworks supporting those efforts. This chapter identifies key leverage points across agricultural production systems, effective STI contributions, and policy frameworks aiming at meeting the global food demand in sustainable ways. The soybean production complex in Brazil is presented as a case study through which cross-sectoral efforts focused on developing sustainable agri-food systems are analyzed. Emphasis is placed on approaches contributing to harmonize agricultural production with the conservation of land ecosystems and key soil functions (SDG15, terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity), since those support the achievement of interlinked SDGs aiming to reduce poverty and hunger (SDGS 1, 2) and improve societal (SDGs 3, 6, 8) and environmental well-being (SDGs 12, 13, 15). Examples of successful partnerships (SDG17) between stakeholders across the agri-food supply chain are also discussed. |