Socio-Technical Innovation Bundles for Agri-Food Systems Transformation

This open access book is the result of an expert panel convened by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and Nature Sustainability. The panel tackled the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 head-on, with respect to the global systems that produce and distribute food. The panel’s rigorous synthesis and analysis of existing research leads compellingly to multiple actionable recommendations that, if adopted, would simultaneously lead to healthy and nutritious diets, equitable and inclusive value chains, resilience to shocks and stressors, and climate and environmental sustainability.

Christopher B. Barrett is the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management, and an international professor of agriculture at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, as well as a professor in the Departments of Economics and of Global Development, all at Cornell University. He is also co-editor-in-chief of the journal Food Policy.

Tim Benton is research director in energy, environment ,and resources at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House and professor at the University of Leeds.

Jessica Fanzo is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Food Policy and Ethics at Johns Hopkins University.

Mario Herrero is chief research scientist of agriculture and food at Australia’ Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Rebecca Nelson is a professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science (Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, and Plant Breeding and Genetics Sections) and the Department of Global Development at Cornell University.

Elizabeth Bageant is an applied research and outreach manager in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University.

Edward Buckler is a United States Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) research geneticist and adjunct professor in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cornell University.

Karen Cooper is the R&D program manager for climate change at Nestlé, with a background in nutrition, sustainable food systems, and product innovation.

Isabella Culotta is an undergraduate research assistant at Cornell University studying plant science and international agriculture and rural development.

Shenggen Fan is chair professor of China Agricultural University and was Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute from 2009-2019.

Rikin Gandhi co-founded and is the executive director of Digital Green.

Steven James is a senior director of global procurement at PepsiCo.

Mark Kahn is a managing partner of Omnivore, an agritech venture capital firm based in India.

Laté Lawson-Lartego is Oxfam America’s food systems theme department director. 

Jiali Liu is an undergraduate research assistant at Cornell University studying economics and statistical sciences.

Quinn Marshall is a human nutrition doctoral candidate and Center for a Livable Future–Lerner fellow at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Daniel Mason-D’Croz is a senior research scientist at CSIRO.

Alexander Mathys is a professor in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich, where he leads the Sustainable Food Processing group.

Cynthia Mathys is a senior manager of strategic partnerships at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

Veronica Mazariegos-Anastassiou is a co-founder and farmer at Brisa de Año Ranch, a small-scale organic farm in Pescadero, CA, and recently earned a master's degree in applied economics and management from Cornell University.

Alesha (Black) Miller is the vice president of strategy and partnerships at Digital Green.

Kamakhya Mishra is a corporate finance (M&A) analyst at Rabobank North America and a former undergraduate research assistant at Cornell University.

Andrew Mude is the division manager of agricultural research, production, and sustainability at African Development Bank.

Jianbo Shen is a professor in the Department of Plant Nutrition and vice dean for the National Academy of Agriculture Green Development in China Agricultural University.

Lindiwe Majele Sibanda is director of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence in Food Security. 

Claire Song is an undergraduate operations intern at Cornell University studying government, and environment and sustainability.

Roy Steiner is senior vice president for the Food Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation.

Philip Thornton is a principal scientist and leads the “Priorities and Policies for Climate-Smart Agriculture” flagship of the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi.

Stephen Wood is a senior scientist, Agriculture and Food Systems at The Nature Conservancy and associate research scientist at the Yale School of the Environment.