A transformation from conventional systems involves the three stages of increasing efficiency, substituting synthetic inputs, and redesigning farms and agricultural production systems at the agroecosystem level to enhance biodiversity and resilience. At the food system level, it reconnects producers and consumers by fostering regional networks based on equity, participation, and justice.

India, with its diverse and mostly small sale farming system's is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation. And this not only through various farmer movements and pilot programs of civil society organizations but strongly through the political will and push towards sustainable agricultural practices as becoming reflected in multiple initiatives of the Government of India. Karnataka stands out as a pioneer in India promoting organic agriculture by constituting an official Organic Farming Policy in the year 2004. The state’s efforts have set benchmarks in promoting sustainable practices, empowering smallholder farmers, and creating markets for organic and sustainable products. The Support to Agroecological Transformation Processes (SuATI) project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany and implemented by the German Cooperation for International Collaboration (GIZ) has further advanced integrating agroecological principles into farming systems of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Assam. Meanwhile, organizations like the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) play a critical role globally by advancing organic farming practices, collaborating with farmers, NGOs, and institutions to promote sustainable food systems through research, knowledge transfer, and advisory services.

To strenghthen the Government of Karnataka’s initiatives in popularising organic production, as part of the “Millets & Organics International Trade Fair 2024”, the Department of Agriculture and the GIZ-SuATI project have co-organized the International Conference “Transformation into organic and agroecology-based agriculture in Karnataka”, to reflect on the lessons learnt and challenges of scaling organic production systems and introducing agroecological approaches in Karnataka. As a continuation, the International Conference 2025 “Transformation of Agrifood Systems through Agroecology: a global and regional perpective” has been organized to reflect on the challenges, experiences, and innvovations to support and facilitate the agroecological transformation of the agrifood system in India and globally. It includes national and international exchange of knowledge and experiences through dialogues, deliberations and presentations by eminent experts and national and international speakers and invites farmers, researchers, policymakers, institutions, and private-sector leaders to participate and share their insights in this critical event. We hope that the conference will generate new knowledge and will stimulate all stakeholders to Take Joint Actions for the Transformation of Agrifood Systems through Agroecology.

The program of the international conference is divided into six sessions:

Session 1 will reflect and present innovations from agricultural research and extension to increase efficiency and reduce chemical inputs at the farm level (Transformation level 1) towards more sustainble crop production systems building resilience against the effects of climate change with examples from India and internationally.

Session 2 will look into the transformation to organic production at the agroecosystem level by substituting chemical inputs (Transformation level 2). It will provide examples on how this can be achieved through crop and system diversification, importance of landraces and farmers seed networks, bioinputs, and soil health strategies.

Session 3 is planned to discuss the importance and the advances of redesigning agricultural systems at the landscape level towards increasing resilience and self-regulation (Transformation level 3). Different types of agroforestry systems, the introduction of diversity in farm structure and ecologically-based rotations, multiple cropping systems and the integration of livestock are playing here a crucial role. Experencies in scaling agroecological approaches at the landscape level will be presented.

Session 4 will cover and discuss aspects of the transformation at the food system level (Transformation level 4), connecting those who grow our food and those who consume it with special focus on organic markets, consumer awareness and interest, among others.

Session 5 will present and discuss best practices in policies, partnerships and knowlde exchange (Transformation level 5). It focuses on how the agriculture and food systems of the future can help reduce our ecological footprint recognizing that there are limits to growth, and what it really means to live sustainably. How will our agroecology-driven food system look like? What is the role of the society and what are the incentives needed to stimulate these changes? What are the essential changes in policy, support systems, and funding, and choices for producers and consumers?

In Session 6 , the conference will be finalized with concluding remarks from the organizers providing a summary of main lessons learnt and recommendations of the conference for Joint Actions for the Transformation of Agrifood Systems through Agroecology and The Road Map Ahead”.