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Partners Add Momentum to ASABE Initiative on Circular Economies

Tuesday, December 08, 2020
Partners Add Momentum to ASABE Initiative on Circular Economies

St. Joseph, Michigan--Momentum is building for an ASABE initiative to promote circular agricultural and environmental systems, with several peer organizations formally joining the effort and others signaling  strong interest in collaboration.

The ASABE initiative, Circular Economies for Food and Agricultural Systems, will advance the transition of food and agricultural systems into circular systems by 2050, to meet the increasing demands of the growing global population while sustaining availability of natural resources and the health of ecosystems. 

Formally joining the coalition are the Agronomy Society of America, the Crop Science Society of America, and the American Society for Soil Science--collectively known as the Tri-Societies--and the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association. Additional organizations, as well as federal agencies, have expressed interest in joining or otherwise supporting the initiative, including the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). 

Crucial support for the concept was provided by NASEM’s Board of Agricultural and Natural Resources, which in February 2020 approved an ASABE proposal to conduct a consensus study and make recommendations for pathways to make the transition. BANR is now seeking assistance within NASEM and with stakeholders to raise an estimated $1.5 million to conduct the study. 

ASABE has pledged support toward the study and encourages the collaboration of a broad complement of partners, to ensure that initiative benefits from strong, multidisciplinary input. 

"Identifying how to move to circular systems will be critically important for the U.S.", says ASABE Executive Director Darrin Drollinger, "in order to maintain its position as a global leader in food and agriculture and to have a continued impact on commerce, the environment, health, and security.  Creating a societies coalition to undertake these activities that promote convergent systems for developing knowledge and technology will be key to successfully transitioning to circular systems.” 

Those with an interest in the initiative are invited to contact ASABE Executive Director Darrin Drollinger. Among the activities planned in the near term is a mini-symposium to the held at the 2021 ASABE Annual International Meeting

ASABE is an international scientific and educational organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering applicable to agricultural, food, and biological systems.