Food (and) Security - Lessons for a Warming World

Please join us for a seminar on  Food (and) Security – Lessons for a Warming World which will be delivered by Bram Govaerts, Director General (CEO) of CIMMYT, a leading international agricultural research and development organisation advancing food and nutrition security worldwide. 

📅 Date: Thursday, 15 October 2026
🕓 Time: From 2-4pm
📍 Location: Agrifood Innovation Institute, Gould Building #116, Daley Road, Australian National University

As Australia and its Pacific partners prepare for COP31 meetings in Turkiye in early November, a leading voice on global food security is calling for agriculture to be seen as strategic infrastructure central to geopolitical and economic stability, supporting food systems to withstand global shocks, from pandemics and climate stress to conflict.

🌟  About the lecture

Food security has always been about more than food. Agriculture provides livelihoods, anchors communities and economies, and can help build stability and cooperation even in times of profound political tension. CIMMYT's own history illustrates this connection: born from an international partnership during the Second World War, its science helped avert looming food crises in Mexico, India, and Pakistan and sustained scientific collaboration across political divides during the Cold War.

Bram will explore what this history can teach us about the challenges ahead. At a time of conflict, geopolitical competition, extreme weather, and disruption to energy, fertiliser, and global trade, he will argue that the task is not simply to respond to the current food security crisis, but to adapt forward, building food systems capable of withstanding the next shock.

Drawing on innovations in drought- and heat-tolerant crops, nitrogen management, artificial intelligence, pest and disease surveillance, and early warning, Govaerts will examine how science can help build this resilience. But technology alone is not enough. Farmers and consumers must be at the centre of innovation, and stronger systems are needed to connect scientific discovery with the people, markets, and communities it is intended to serve.

The lecture will have particular resonance for Australia. CIMMYT germplasm sits in the pedigrees of most Australian wheat varieties, while Australia's world-class capabilities in agricultural science, biosecurity, and climate adaptation have implications well beyond its borders. As food security, supply chains, and agricultural resilience become increasingly important to stability across Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Australia has an opportunity to help shape a new era of international agricultural cooperation.

Ultimately, the lecture will make the case that agriculture is not simply a development concern. It is strategic infrastructure and a foundation for economic and national security. And at a time when the international system is under growing strain, the shared necessity of feeding people can also provide something increasingly scarce: common ground.

🌟  About Bram Govaerts, Director General – CIMMYT

Bram Govaerts is Director General (CEO) of CIMMYT, a leading international agricultural research and development organization advancing food and nutrition security worldwide. Since joining CIMMYT in 2007 as a doctoral student, he has built an international career focused on translating science and innovation into impact for farmers and food systems. 

Appointed Director General in 2021, he leads CIMMYT’s global efforts to accelerate agricultural innovation, strengthen partnerships, and scale solutions across the Global South.

A bioscience engineer and widely published scientist, Govaerts has pioneered innovative approaches to scaling agricultural technologies, including the MasAgro innovation hubs in Mexico.

He serves on several international advisory boards and has received prestigious recognitions, including the Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application and the Commander of the Order of the Crown of Belgium.

This is your opportunity to hear from an international food security specialist.

Numbers are limited – registration is free but required for catering purposes so please register by COB Tuesday 13 October 2026.