Open conference sessions submitted by attendees will be listed here as they are submitted. Sessions that are listed here include papers from the session organisers, and invite additional abstract submissions from other Agrifooders who are interested in the session topic.
If you are interested in submitting an abstract to an open session, please state this when submitting your abstract to agrifooders@gmail.com
OPEN SESSION | Agri-food Technoscience in Action
Session organisers:
Karly Burch, karly.burch@auckland.ac.nz
Sarah Edwards, EdwardsS@landcareresearch.co.nz
Susanna Finlay-Smits, Finlay-SmitsS@landcareresearch.co.nz
Catherine Phillips, catherine.phillips@canterbury.ac.nz
In the special issue “Contested Agri-food Futures,” Gugganig et al. (2023) showcased scholarship in the emerging field of agri-food technoscience. As an inherently interdisciplinary field, agri-food technoscience draws on theoretical and methodological insights from critical agri-food studies and science and technology studies (STS) to: 1) investigate the complex, dynamic relationships between, science, technology, and agri-food; and 2) identify opportunities for intervention. This panel invites papers contributing to this emerging field of scholarship. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: digital agriculture and its infrastructures; the bioeconomy and biosecurity; responsible innovation; standards and metrics in agri-food; and the role of capitalist, imperial, or colonial technoscience in shaping agri-food presents and futures.
OPEN SESSION | It Starts with Soil: origins, theories, practices and legacies
Session organisers:
Leane Makey, leane.makey@auckland.ac.nz
Waitangi Wood, waicommsltd@gmail.com
Charles Hyland, charles.hyland@soilandhealth.org.nz
Emma Sharp, el.sharp@auckland.ac.nz
This interactive session will focus on where most food originates from – the soil. Te toto o te tangata he kai, te oranga o te tangata, he whenua, he oneone. Land, soil and food are inextricably bound together. Separating land from soil, and soil from food, was (is) a deliberate westernised idea that has led to linear economies and the industrialisation of agriculture (Shiva 2022) where spiritual and material based knowledge and wisdom systems were conceived of as unscientific, esoteric, or, frivolous (Hoskins & Jones 2017). Indigenous Māori culture speaks of whakapapa to soil and soil agency. Ideas of biodynamic agriculture, organics, permaculture, agroecology, hua parakore, and ‘naturalness’, hold strong historic legacies, with feminist, ecological, place-based, cosmic, and spiritual underpinnings. This session calls for scholars, activists, practitioners, and artists to consider the more-than-human nature of soil beyond human perspectives and interventions, and its affect/effect on soil societies and futures. We are interested in papers and/or interactive formats (e.g., discursive, artistic, material) that are theoretical, methodological, and/or empirical in nature. We also welcome papers that engage in the construction of soil-human co-produced knowledges, and welcome presentations on pathways toward a just and sustainable soil legacy, asking what the implications of these conceptualisations of human-soil relations are at a time of ecological crisis.
OPEN SESSION | Dignity, Rights and Food Charity: Reframing Hunger Through Lived Experience
Organiser
Kitty Cresswell Riol, ksecresswellriol@gmail.com
This session explores how the rise and normalisation of food charity in settler-colonial, high-income contexts like Aotearoa New Zealand reflects a deeper erosion of welfare and human rights under neoliberalism. Drawing on the framing of human dignity as both intrinsic and relational, the session interrogates how food insecurity is governed as a problem of individual failure rather than systemic injustice. It will centre the voices of people with lived experience of food insecurity and food charity, highlighting how these experiences reveal the emotional and moral dimensions of hunger-including shame, stigma and constrained agency.
In doing so, the session addresses gaps in scholarship by grounding theory in lived realities, returns to long-standing debates about food and justice with new insights from critical geography, and demonstrates the multi-disciplinarity of agri-food research by bringing together scholars, practitioners and community members.
By foregrounding lived experience, the session challenges the boundaries of expertise and asks: What does it mean to uphold dignity in food systems? What would a rights-based, participatory approach to hunger look like? And how might this reframe justice across interconnected sectors?
Proposed Format: The session will run as a 90-minute roundtable, beginning with a brief framing (5–10 mins) from the organiser. This will be followed by 5–6 short provocations (5–7 minutes each) from a mix of scholars, practitioners and individuals with lived experience of food insecurity and food charity. The remaining time (approx. 40 minutes) will be dedicated to facilitated group discussion.
Cultivating Resilience: Intertwined Legacies of Food, Culture, and Climate Adaptation
Session Organisers:
Saule Burkitbayeva, Australian National University, School of Law, saule.burkitbayeva@anu.edu.au
Elena Briones Alonso, Independent researcher and interdisciplinary bridgebuilder, elena.brionesalonso@gmail.com
Liz Ignowski, World Vegetable Center, liz.ignowski@worldveg.org
Topic: This session aims to critically examine, through a transdisciplinary lens, how past practices and present innovations in food cultivation can contribute to (climate) resilient food systems. Food resilience interventions too often end up reinforcing, redistributing, or generating new types of vulnerabilities and risk. A key pitfall is inadequate localization – superficial contextual understanding, undervaluation of locally transmitted practices and innovations, inequitable stakeholder participation, and retrofitting of resilience and adaptation into existing development agendas. The challenge remains: finding pathways to equitable and sustainable food systems that harness both local cultivation legacies and present innovations. Through research presentations and group discussion, this session will explore how deeper engagement with local contexts and cultural insights can foster more equitable and resilient food futures.
Dr. Briones Alonso will discuss cross-disciplinary research on the value of locally transmitted community-level food cultivation legacies, and the potential benefits and pitfalls of interventions bringing in social and economic innovations in such contexts. Key findings will be illustrated by a case study of ‘old and new’ climate change adaptation strategies on the nexus of food cultivation, forest conservation, and biodiversity protection in Morocco.
Dr. Burkitbayeva will discuss how the global push for decarbonization has demanded innovations in emissions accounting practices for agricultural products, which has led to a “wild west” of public and private initiatives for emissions accounting producing a host of tools and frameworks. This is resulting in confusion, greenwashing, and excessive regulatory burden for various stakeholders including farmers, companies, and governments across supply chains, highlighting the need to establish transparent and interoperable frameworks.
Finally, Dr. Ignowski will reflect on practical experiences in local food production and urban gardening, which demonstrate how grassroots initiatives can build adaptive capacity and resilience, offering valuable lessons for bottom-up adaptation strategies.
Proposed Format: Three 15-minute paper presentations followed by a 45-minute facilitated group discussion with presenters and the audience, fostering dynamic and interactive dialogue.
Panel Discussion: Measuring Impact in Agrifood Systems Research
Session Organisers:
Professor Alana Mann alana.mann@utas.edu.au
Dr Kiah Smith k.smith2@uq.edu.au
This panel discussion, convened in conjunction with the publication of Reimagining Food Systems: Connecting Research with Citizen Politics (Smith, Mann, and Freeman (eds.), forthcoming), will critically explore the challenges of measuring impact in agrifood systems research. The book calls for a reorientation of food systems scholarship—one that foregrounds citizen agency, political engagement, and relational values in shaping transformative change.
Traditional approaches to impact assessment often rely on quantifiable outputs, overlooking the intangible yet vital dimensions of food systems transformation, such as care, trust, solidarity, and civic participation.
This panel will address key questions including:
- How can impact be conceptualized to reflect the political and relational dimensions of food systems?
- What methodologies are suited to capturing intangible outcomes such as care, empowerment, and citizen engagement?
- How can researchers align impact measurement with the priorities and values of communities and food citizens?
- What role can participatory, narrative, and systems-based approaches play in advancing more inclusive and reflexive evaluation practices?
The session will bring together researchers and practitioners from diverse disciplines and sectors to share insights, case studies, and methodological innovations. It aims to contribute to the broader discourse initiated by Reimagining Food Systems: Connecting Research with Citizen Politics, advancing the field’s capacity to evaluate and communicate systemic, citizen-driven change.