Scaling sustainable food system initiatives
About this expertise
In short- Scaling ideas into impact
- Building strong coalitions
- Systemic food system change
- Real-world testing & learning
- Lasting transformative partnerships
Many promising agrifood innovations do not make it at a larger scale of implementation, due to barriers in collaboration, policy, in- or exclusion of certain stakeholders, or economic constraints. What is needed to scale up successfully? Wageningen University & Research (WUR) can offer you the knowledge and case studies to understand barriers and help you move forward.
WUR helps organisations and businesses scale ideas and initiatives that accelerate the transition to sustainable food systems. Scaling, for us, is not about reaching ever larger numbers, but about creating systemic change that responds to real needs.
Experience shows that initiatives succeed only when they are embedded in wider processes that connect practices, institutions knowledges and mindsets. This will need a mix or bundle of innovations: technological, informative, institutional, social, legislative, financial, and market.
We bring together partners across science, business, government and civil society to co-create pathways for change. By combining insights into food system dynamics with coalition building and multi-stakeholder engagement, we help promising initiatives grow in reach, depth and impact. Living labs, policy platforms and farmer field schools provide real-world spaces for testing and learning. In this way, scaling becomes about more than expansion—it is about strengthening leadership, fostering collaboration, and creating lasting transformations that benefit people, markets and the environment.
Scaling up - what is needed?
In many places, new and innovative practices emerge that improve biodiversity in the food system. Unfortunately, they often stay niche. How can such practices become more mainstream in society? A team of social, environmental and economic reseachers dove into this question, focusing on case studies of Dutch dairy, Cameroonian cacao and the financial sector, to come up with key recommendations for scaling up and bending the curve of biodiversity loss.
We analyse food system dynamics to identify leverage points, co-design strategies for scaling out, up and deep, and facilitate learning platforms where initiatives are tested, adapted and strengthened in practice.
Transformation cannot happen in isolation. WUR collaborates with businesses, governments, NGOs and knowledge institutes to scale initiatives in ways that are inclusive, responsible and resilient.
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Get in touch with our expert
Do you have a question about scaling sustainable food system initiatives or opportunities to work with us? Please get in touch.
ir. HJ (Herman) Snel
Projectmanager