BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Memento EPFL// BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:EESS Seminar talk on "Transforming Food Systems through Diversific ation and Environmental Monitoring for Sustainability" DTSTART:20261215T121500 DTEND:20261215T131500 DTSTAMP:20261016T232330Z UID:9b42f9b306f990ef64b83123f4b5c69da825d89d31cc907752f63bbf CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars DESCRIPTION:Prof. Thomas Wanger\, Agroscope\nAbstract\nThe “Green Revolu tion” was one of the 20th century's great successes\, boosting global ce real production to feed billions of people. Yet these gains came at an inc reasing environmental cost\, while the efficiency of the inputs behind the m steadily declined. Today\, food systems are a major driver of global cha nge\, accounting for roughly 30% of greenhouse-gas emissions and an estima ted USD 15 trillion in hidden annual costs\, while remaining essential to human health and livelihoods. This raises the question that guides my rese arch: how can we transform food systems to be both profitable and sustaina ble at scale?\nIn this talk\, I argue that the solution lies at the inters ection of complex agricultural systems\, environmental monitoring technolo gy\, and people\, with agricultural diversification at its core. Recent gl obal syntheses spanning up to 120 years of data show that diversification benefits increase by up to 200% compared with conventional agricultural sy stems across decades. I then show how environmental monitoring technology — embedded AI cameras\, passive acoustic monitoring\, and plant phenotyp ing deployed through large research networks — can optimise these benefi ts and close critical data gaps\, from cocoa pollination in China to wheat performance in Switzerland. A third theme examines the little-studied thr eat of plastic pollution in agricultural landscapes\, its interaction with climate and pollinators in endangering food security\, and how diversific ation can buffer these effects. Finally\, I show how farmer surveys\, indu stry knowledge\, and policy engagement turn this science into practice.\n\ nBio\nProf. Thomas Cherico WANGER is a Group Leader at Agroscope\, Switzer land\, and Adjunct Professor at the Academy of Global Food Economics and P olicy at China Agricultural University. His research advances global food- systems transformation through diversified agriculture and AI-based enviro nmental monitoring. He extends this work through major research platforms he and his teams founded\, including the China Rice Network and the Swiss Plant Phenotyping Network.\nProf. Wanger led the first assessments of dive rsification benefits for global rice and rubber production\, developed emb edded AI devices for ecosystem monitoring\, and helped integrate diversifi ed agriculture into policy discussions globally. He has translated researc h into tangible outcomes for farmers across several continents and regular ly represents academia and the Swiss government at high-level UN meetings. \nProf. Wanger earned his PhD from the University of Adelaide and was a po stdoc at Stanford University\, SLU in Sweden\, and the University of Gött ingen in Germany. His work is published in over 100 papers in leading outl ets\, including Nature and Science\, and has been cited over 16K times. He has won multiple awards for research excellence and student mentoring. He is a member of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management and the Agroec ology Coalition\, and he founded ecoNect Ltd. and TCW Consulting.\n\n  LOCATION:GC B1 10 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==GC%20B1%2010 https://epfl.zo om.us/j/69011077410#success STATUS:CONFIRMED END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR