Today, on October 16th, we celebrate World Food Day, an important opportunity to reflect on the importance of building more sustainable and inclusive food systems. This year’s theme, “Right to food for a better life and a better future” is a goal that the Food4CE project fully embraces.
At the heart of our project is the commitment to support Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) in Central Europe, which promote Short Food Supply Chains and reduce the carbon footprint of food distribution by fostering direct connections between ethical producers and conscious consumers.
Through the creation of 5 local Innovation Hubs and 1 Transnational Hub, Food4CE aims to strengthen Alternative Food Networks by helping them tackle challenges related to logistics collaboration, digitalization, and distribution systems, thus promoting innovation and sustainability in both the food and logistics sectors. These hubs, organized as “living labs,” focus on developing innovative tools to improve the logistical efficiency of AFNs and promote sustainable practices.
By means of the Knowledge Transfer Platform (KTP) and the Matchmaking Platform (MP), Food4CE facilitates the sharing of best practices in logistics and the creation of new business solutions. The KTP helps AFNs improve the use of sustainable and digital logistics solutions, while the MP directly connects local producers with specialized logistics partners and new markets, fostering collaborations and improving supply chain efficiency.
The Food4CE pilot activities in Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Poland lay the groundwork for a more resilient European food system, capable of reducing carbon emissions and ensuring greater equity and sustainability. Building this unique support network among various actors will not only strengthen AFNs, but also inspire new initiatives in other European and global regions.
On this World Food Day, we want to remind everyone how crucial it is to support initiatives that help build fairer, more resilient, and sustainable food systems, which are key objectives to ensure a better future for all. Today, we celebrate the power of innovation, cooperation, and sustainability.
Together, we can transform the way we produce, distribute, and consume food, for a greener and fairer future for everyone.
