The Asia-Europe Environment Forum (ENVforum) Annual Conference 2021 focused on Circular Food Systems as possible solutions to reverse climate change. One of the sessions of the Conference was “Agriculture and food”. This session focused on challenges and solutions for implementing the principles of a circular economy in agriculture, in the context of climate change. In particular, experts and other participants of the session explored pathways for transitioning towards regenerative agriculture and agroecology as potential transformative approaches to food systems. Besides the need for transitioning to circular food systems, the urgent need for addressing increasing trends in Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) was outlined and discussed.

Key messages:

• Conventional agriculture and food production practices are not in line with the principles of a circular economy, contribute to climate change, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss, among other impacts.
• The overuse and misuse of antimicrobials, including for food production, is leading to an increasing trend in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which poses serious threats to human, animal and environmental health.
• Regenerative agriculture and agroecology present opportunities for aligning agriculture and food production to the circular economy and other principles, reducing the negative impact of food systems while increasing resilience to climate change.
• Addressing AMR, as part of a shift to regenerative agriculture, will bring about increased societal wellbeing, reduced health costs, and increasing flows of ecosystem services.
• Phasing-out subsidies to agricultural practices that damage people’s health, contribute to climate change, and negatively impact biodiversity is essential.
• A One Health approach that recognizes dependencies of human, animal and environmental health should be maintained for guiding the definition and implementation of coherent policies and monitoring tools.