World Food Day 2025: Current challenges and future perspectives on food security in a changing world
Background
UN World Food Day, held annually on 16 October, is a timely opportunity to showcase the progress, innovation and challenges in the field of sustainable food systems. In 2025, agrifood systems are facing unprecedented challenges. Extreme climate events threaten crop yields and livelihoods, while armed conflicts disrupt cultivation and trade. Economic shocks reverberate through fragile supply chains, exacerbating global inequalities and intensifying stress on the land, water, and biodiversity that sustain us all.
Transformative change demands access to knowledge, integrating novel approaches, and supporting those most at risk of food insecurity, all while ensuring our solutions work with nature, not against it.
Scope and submission topics
This Research Topic aims to further scientific innovation, policy ingenuity, and community wisdom to create a sustainable and food-secure future. We invite those working in these fields to share their analysis, opinions and research. Manuscripts should align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and advance our understanding and capability to foster resilient, equitable agrifood systems.
While studies need not necessarily present evidence at a global scale, they should be framed to offer insights relevant to the broader challenges facing the world food system, rather than focusing solely on local case studies
We welcome interdisciplinary contributions that examine, but are not limited to:
Resilience: Strategies for building food system resilience to conflict, climatic extremes, and economic disruptions.
Equity and inclusion: Research centered on policies and practices that empower marginalized communities and promote equitable access to resources and decision-making.
Technological integration: Digital, agroecological, and nature-based solutions supporting both food security and environmental sustainability.
Supply chain transformation: Approaches to enhance stability, resilience and transparency in supply chains, including diversification and traceability systems.
Innovative partnerships: Case studies of successful multi-stakeholder collaborations, including governmental, non-governmental, and community-led initiatives.
Bridging knowledge and action: Educational, participatory, and policy frameworks aligning scientific advances with local realities.
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Community Case Study
Conceptual Analysis
Data Report
Editorial
FAIR² Data
General Commentary
Hypothesis and Theory
Methods
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Article types
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.