YOUR INVITATION TO OUR
2025 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Progress and Prospects for Climate-Resilient Agrifood Systems:
Actionable Recommendations for Policymakers
and Practitioners

Monday 11 August
6pm – 9pm: Sir John Crawford Memorial Address and Networking Dinner
Great Hall, Parliament House

Tuesday 12 August
8.30am – 5pm: Conference
Great Hall, Parliament House

As Australia’s key food security event, the Crawford Fund’s Annual Conference is for many a highlight of the year. This year’s Conference’s theme, Progress and Prospects for Climate-Resilient Agrifood Systems: Actionable Recommendations for Policymakers and Practitioners, captures the urgency and complexity of transforming agrifood systems in response to climate change.

Addressing the trade-offs between food production and net-zero targets, pursuing sustainable intensification, and promoting inclusivity are essential for building resilient and equitable agrifood systems. These themes reflect the multifaceted approach needed to secure food security in a world increasingly vulnerable to environmental challenges.

By adopting innovative practices, supporting policies, and fostering inclusivity, agrifood systems can evolve to meet the demands of a growing population without compromising the planet’s health. It is our intention that the insights shared at the conference will provide actionable recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, and industry stakeholders, helping them navigate the challenges and opportunities of building climate-resilient agrifood systems. In doing so, we can create a future where food security and environmental sustainability go hand in hand, benefiting current and future generations alike.

The program can be found here. 

The Sir John Crawford Memorial Address, presented at our specially styled conference networking dinner, will be presented by our board member, The Hon Joel Fitzgibbon, Former Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry on Trade-offs and Tough Choices: Lessons in Leadership from the Frontlines of Policy.

We expect to once again attract delegates from development, research, academia, the private sector, primary production, NGO and advocacy groups, and from decision and policy-making. This will be complemented by a virtual audience, including many from overseas.

Once again we have used our wonderful network, built over more than three decades of operation and conferences, to bring together eminent international and Australian speakers, and many project partners from around the globe. Their experience, successes, lessons and recommendations for policymakers and researchers will add to the discussion on strategies that can secure food security while promoting environmental sustainability.

Our conference audience will again include views from science, agriculture, politics, business and civil society to help focus our attention on the way forward.

In addition to the Fund’s Chair, The Hon John Anderson, AC, FTSE; and  CEO, Shaun Coffey, a short listing of speakers includes:

• Dr Rachel Chicwamba (PhD, MBA), ACIAR Policy Advisory Council and CGIAR Integrated Partnership Board and Group Executive: Chemicals, Agriculture, Food and Health Division, The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa
• Prof Richard Eckard, Professor of Carbon Farming at the University of Melbourne and National Program Leader in the Cooperative Research Centre for Net Zero Agriculture
• Prof Wendy Umberger, CEO, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
• Dr Aditi Mukherji, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Impact Action Platform of the CGIAR
• Professor Graham Sem, Environmental Science & Geography Discipline Lead, University of Papua New Guinea

More details of the conference including the speaker profiles and program are available here. You can register here. Once again, we are providing special discounts for students, concession cardholders, former scholars, RAID members and groups. The event will be streamed live for online participants. For more details about online pricing and other discounts, see here.

We look forward to seeing you at our 2025 conference to bring your insights to improve understanding, appreciation and impact for all our work and help us reach our vision of a food secure world where sustainable agriculture and resilient agri-food systems reduce hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

Thank you to our sponsors for their support too! Please consider being a sponsor to have a presence at the event to show your support for, and involvement in, developing and transitioning partner country agricultural systems. Contact us for more details on sponsorship.

Please follow us on social media @CrawfordFund and use the conference hashtag #25CFConf

Conference Scholars
Our conference would not be the same without our conference scholars! We will be continuing our successful Conference Scholars Program, which started in 2010 and has received overwhelmingly positive feedback. The program this year not only offers 40 young researchers and scientists the opportunity to engage in the conference and the separate scholar activities, it also connects them with established specialists in their field to mentor them over the conference period. We hope many who attend the conference will volunteer as mentors or donate to the program when they are prompted in the registration process.