Food Security, Sovereignty & Resilience: The Role of Short Food Supply Chains

 

In a world of growing geopolitical tensions, climate disruptions, and fragile global supply chains, building resilient local food systems has never been more urgent. Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are emerging as a key lever for strengthening food sovereignty and ensuring communities can withstand shocks — but realising their full potential requires the right policies, knowledge, and innovation.

As part of the EU4Advice and COREnet projects, we invite you to join our upcoming advisinar:

Food Security, Sovereignty & Resilience: The Role of Short Food Supply Chains

March 16 | 10:00–11:30 CET –  Online

The session opens with a 15-minute keynote on French food security regulation, followed by a roundtable discussion with experts examining local food systems through four lenses — regulatory, technological, social innovation, and business — and their role in building food security and resilience. The floor will be open for active participation from attendees.

We welcome advisors, policymakers, and anyone working in or interested in agri-food systems.

 Register here!

Speakers:

  • Yuna Chiffoleau is an agronomist with a PhD in sociology and Research Director at INRAE (France). Her research focuses on food systems, short food supply chains, and social innovation in agriculture, exploring how collaboration between farmers, consumers, and local actors can build more sustainable food systems. She has led numerous projects on the relocalization of food systems and territorial food policies, and is widely recognised for her contributions to understanding the social dynamics of agri-food transitions in Europe.
  • Inés Jordana is a policy officer in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI), where she works on food security and food systems within the Markets Directorate. She holds a background in Earth sciences and two master’s degrees—one in ecology and another in agronomy and rural development. With over 15 years of experience across the public, private, and third sectors, she joined the European Commission in 2023. Her previous immediate role focused on working with NGO platforms to advance sustainable food systems.
  • Alejandro Wonenburguer leads R&D, strategic planning, and operations at Plant on Demand, an all-in-one ERP, CRM, and e-commerce platform for the agri-food sector. The platform digitises and automates processes for local producers, food hubs, and cooperatives, helping small-scale producers improve their competitiveness and facilitate direct sales. His work is driven by the conviction that digital transformation is a key lever for accelerating the transition toward more equitable and sustainable agri-food models.
  • Thomas O’Connor is a farmer and owner of Manna Organic Farm and Store in Kerry, south west of Ireland, where he produces organic vegetables, salad, and fruit, and manages 15 acres of native Irish woodland and 4 acres of permaculture. He is actively involved in TalamhBeo, an organisation promoting agroecological farming and land access, and in Transition Kerry, a community-led sustainability initiative. His experience offers a grounded practitioner perspective on short food supply chains rooted in place, trust, and ecological values.
  • Zoltán Dezsény is an agricultural engineer in environmental management and co-founder of MagosVölgy Ecological Farm in Hungary. With over a decade of experience in small-scale, bio-intensive organic vegetable production, his farm demonstrates that human-scale, regenerative agriculture can generate both ecological value and a viable business model. Central to his work is community-based marketing built on short food supply chains and stable producer-consumer relationships. He now focuses on mentoring and consultancy, supporting farmers in establishing robust short supply chain systems through hands-on knowledge transfer.

 

 

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