As project leader, Ruben Baert leads the Resource Project “Agroecological Transformation of Agriculture and Food”.
Ruben Baert brings extensive experience as an agricultural engineer, having worked with international development agencies such as FAO, WFP, and the Belgian Development Agency in Palestine, Tanzania, and Rwanda. He has also collaborated with both private and public research institutions in Belgium. His expertise lies in project management, particularly in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of agricultural value chain development, disaster risk reduction, sustainable agriculture, and circular economy projects. Additionally, Ruben has honed his research and analytical skills in food security and agricultural nutrient recycling and recovery.
«Having spent four years in the desert-like area of Israel-Palestine, once known as 'the land of milk and honey,' I am deeply fascinated by the interactions between landscape and climate at the nexus of agriculture, ecology, and society. Vegetation naturally occurs in specific climatic zones, but in return it also influences climate. Humans have replaced much of the world's vegetation with annual crops native to savannah climates and by disturbing the soil annually, we maintain our landscapes' ecosystem functions at near-desert levels. Consequently, our landscapes' rainfall patterns, temperatures, and nutrient retention behave accordingly.
We can choose to further develop technologies like drought and salt-tolerant crops to adapt to a 'hothouse earth' state, or we can focus on preventing a downward spiral towards an undesirable stable state of our global ecosystem. Although this is not an either/or-story, I believe we should focus more on the latter by designing productive landscapes that provide essential ecosystem services. Innovative agroecological approaches to food system design can help us find these solutions.»
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