General Statement

Feeding the growing global population is one of humanity’s most pressing challenges, especially given changing weather patterns and rising global temperatures. As highlighted by most academic and industry presentations at the conference, innovative approaches and technologies that promote sustainability and productivity and enhance economic efficiency are essential for addressing these challenges. To further contribute to this effort and provide publication opportunities to the IFAMA community, the International Food and Agriculture Management Review (IFAMR) has formed a guest editorial team, as listed above.

The special issue editorial team invites all 2024 IFAMA conference presenters and other interested researchers to submit high-quality research related to food security, sustainability, and other conference themes (see below for details) or has significant implications for addressing these challenges to the special issue of our esteemed journal. Since the editorial team members also organized the 2024 IFAMA academic symposium and handled the review process, they are already familiar with most of the studies presented at the conference. The editors are also fully dedicated to providing a more streamlined publication process. Moreover, the team has adopted a more flexible review process, leading to the shortest publication process for well-written manuscripts, closely following IFAMR publication guidelines, and promptly responding to all review comments.

IFAMA 2024 Conference Themes

The following were the four main conference themes and examples of research questions emphasized in the 2024 IFAMA conference call for extended abstracts.

1.  Production Evolution and Transformation: To transform agriculture through innovation, science, and technology, collaboration among stakeholders across multiple sectors is needed.

Example: Will the innovative technologies improve farm productivity and food supply chain efficiency and enhance sustainability?

What types of innovations in collaborations are required across stakeholders to enhance sustainability in production, supply chain or marketing?

2.  Economic Competitiveness: Commercializing climate-resilient and sustainable innovations from farm to fork is necessary to ensure a net-positive future.

Example: What are the economics of sustainability? Can ESG be aligned with the sustainability of the food business?

3.  Sustainability through Legislation: Regulation promotes and enforces sustainable agriculture practices.

Example: Who should lead change? What role should governments, universities, and corporations play as agents of disruption in the existing systems?

How can legislation help increase food production and supply chain efficiencies and enhance sustainability?

4.  Societal Impacts: Food is central to our cultural identity. However, as the global population increases, access to nutritious food is inequitable, leading to i) food scarcity in some regions and ii) obesity epidemic and food waste in others.

Example: Can we create a better society through better food? How do we balance the needs for abundant food, nutrition, and healthy living with diminishing planetary resources?

Conference Special Edition Timeline

The following are tentative deadlines, and the review process will start as soon as the manuscripts are submitted. Editors are committed to providing an expedited review process by conducting a quick editorial review to determine whether the manuscript is suitable for publication, identifying highly qualified subject matter experts for reviewing manuscripts, and encouraging reviewers to submit their reports on time.