Research priorities for sustainable agri-food systems and life cycle assessment

Recognizing that research for sustainable agri-food systems will be essential to meet global and European challenges in the coming decades, European countries participate in two Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs): Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE) and Healthy Diet for Healthy Life (HDHL). Mission oriented research agendas have been developed and are focused on delivering key outputs. For FACCE these are: i) to sustainably intensify European agriculture, ii) to operate agriculture within greenhouse gas, energy, biodiversity and contaminant limits and iii) to build resilience to climatic change in agricultural and food systems. HDHL focuses on: i) determinants of diet and physical activity, ii) developing healthy, high-quality, safe and sustainable foods, iii) diet-related chronic diseases. The role of life cycle assessment (LCA) in the context of these research priorities is discussed. Bridging nature capital, on the one hand, and health issues, on the other, with the assessment of the life cycle may lead to breakthroughs in the sustainability assessment of food systems.