CITAGRO: New Scientific Center Seeks to Transform Chile’s Agri-Food System

CITAGRO, the Research Center for Agri-Food Transformation, was launched on Tuesday, August 25, at Universidad Andrés Bello’s (UNAB) Antonio Varas Campus. The event brought together government officials; representatives from academia and the scientific community, agricultural associations and companies; small-scale farmers; and representatives of the institutions participating in the initiative. The new Center is led by UNAB and co-led by the University of Talca, with the University of Chile, Universidad de La Frontera, and UC Davis participating as partner institutions.

Over the next 10 years, CITAGRO will be tasked with generating scientific knowledge and evidence to help address the current and future challenges facing Chile’s agri-food system. The Ministry of Agriculture will participate as an Institution of National Interest, connecting the Center’s scientific work with the country’s priorities and needs.

Collaboration among institutions is one of CITAGRO’s pillars. For Universidad Andrés Bello President Julio Castro, the initiative’s value lies precisely in its ability to bring together different universities and the public sector around a common goal:

«Collaborative work is the only way to truly reach our destination. Another aspect that is very important to me, and that I value about this work, is that its ultimate goal is to develop public policies that help solve the problems facing Chile in the real world.»

For University of Talca President Arcadio Cerda, the creation of CITAGRO represents a milestone for scientific research. He also emphasized that the partnership brings together complementary capabilities and makes it possible to generate evidence reflecting different production contexts and regions across the country.

«CITAGRO’s multiregional perspective, initially encompassing the Metropolitan, Maule, and Araucanía regions, is a fundamental strength because it allows us to recognize the diversity of Chilean agriculture and contribute to the development of public policies with greater territorial resilience,» he said.

Science to Address the Challenges Facing the Agri-Food System

Agri-food systems play a central role in the economy and in the economic and social life of regions. They generate employment, sustain rural communities, use critical natural resources, and largely determine how food is produced, distributed, and consumed. In Chile, however, the system faces economic, environmental, climate-related, and social challenges that require new responses.

Against this backdrop, CITAGRO proposes a systemic, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approach to understanding the interactions among production, the environment, territories, the economy, and public policy. Its agenda includes, among other areas, the development of resilient crops, regenerative practices, circular economy models, more sustainable and inclusive agribusiness, and issues related to food sovereignty.

During the launch, Minister of Agriculture Jaime Campos highlighted the role scientific research must play in addressing these challenges:

«One of the strategic pillars underpinning our overall agricultural policy (…) is the importance we place on research, science, innovation, the adoption of new technologies, and knowledge.»

The Minister added that decisions and public policies must be grounded in knowledge and evidence, highlighting the contribution that a center bringing together the capabilities of different universities and institutions can make.

«It is through the knowledge you provide that political authorities can design and implement public policies with rigor and objectivity,» he said.

The launch also highlighted the Center of National Interest model promoted by the Ministry of Science and implemented by Chile’s National Research and Development Agency (ANID). According to ANID National Director Alejandra Pizarro, these initiatives respond to Chile’s need to make strategic decisions grounded in knowledge and research.

«It is about providing our country with public policies grounded in knowledge and research, so that when we make public policy decisions, we make them based on knowledge,» she said.

An Architecture for Transforming the Agri-Food System

Rather than addressing specific problems in isolation, CITAGRO seeks to understand the connections among the different challenges facing the agri-food system. Climate change, water scarcity, soil degradation, territorial inequalities, new market demands, and social and economic transformations are all part of a complex landscape that requires coordinated responses.

«All of these issues are deeply interconnected. That is why transforming the agri-food system requires more than new technologies. It requires a different way of organizing science, engaging with territories, and connecting knowledge with public decision-making,» explained Ariel Orellana, Director of CITAGRO and a professor at Universidad Andrés Bello.

The Center brings together researchers from disciplines ranging from biochemistry and molecular biology to sociology, anthropology, political science, and economics, integrating expertise in areas such as biotechnology, agronomy, ecology, governance, and innovation. This diversity is intended to combine scientific knowledge with other forms of knowledge rooted in communities and territories, incorporating them from the earliest stages of the research process. In this regard, Orellana said:

«We are an architecture designed to connect scientific capabilities, stakeholders, territories, and public policy. Our mission is to understand the barriers that hinder the transformation of the agri-food system and generate evidence that will help Chile develop a sustainable and resilient system in the face of an uncertain future.»

To advance this goal, CITAGRO plans to develop Living Labs, a methodology that will enable researchers to work directly with stakeholders in the territories where they operate. These are processes of experimentation and learning under real-world conditions in which problems are defined together with communities and other stakeholders, solutions are co-created and tested through pilot projects, and the resulting evidence is used to assess their potential for scaling.

«To achieve genuine transformation, all of these innovations need to come together, because transformations involve multiple changes that must take place in a connected and simultaneous way,» explained Laurens Klerkx, Deputy Director of CITAGRO and a professor at the University of Talca. He emphasized that these changes are not exclusively technological but may also involve social and institutional dimensions.

From Science to Public Policy

The launch concluded with the panel discussion «From Science to Public Policy: Why Does Chile Need to Transform Its Agri-Food System?» Moderated by prominent science journalist Andrea Obaid, the discussion brought together representatives from the private sector and academia, as well as stakeholders connected to the agri-food system.

The discussion provided an opportunity to examine the challenges currently facing the sector and explore how knowledge generation can contribute to developing solutions that respond to local and regional realities and translate into better public policy decisions.

Participants included Carolina Cruz, Agricultural Manager at Westfalia Fruit and Vice President of the Sociedad Nacional de Agricultura (National Agricultural Society); José Miguel Figueroa, co-founder of Spora Biotech and Director of the SER Research and Development Center; Juan Segundo Corvalán, President of the Unión Nacional de la Agricultura Familiar Campesina (National Union of Family Farming); and Lorena Vieli, a professor at Universidad de La Frontera and Principal Investigator at CITAGRO.

With a long-term perspective and a structure that brings together scientific capabilities, institutions, territories, and stakeholders across the agri-food system, CITAGRO is beginning a 10-year effort to generate evidence that can help Chile move toward more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive agri-food systems.