Food systems are under strain: aquifers are running dry, rivers are overdrawn, topsoil is disappearing, and nitrogen pollution is overwhelming ecosystems. Climate change is amplifying these pressures, bringing more frequent and more extreme weather events. At the same time, diet-related diseases are rising everywhere, and no country is on track to halt (let alone to reverse) the growing rates of adult obesity and diabetes.
Food systems are also failing the people who sustain them. Farming is highly labor-intensive, with relatively low returns compared to other activities. Farmers face volatile markets, unstable livelihoods, and persistently low incomes, even as value and profits concentrate elsewhere along the food chain.
Trade rules and policies can be a powerful lever for change. If designed differently, trade policies could realign incentives, reward sustainability, and support fairer outcomes across food systems. With this ambition in mind, an international group of experts from across regions and disciplines came together to rethink global trade rules for food and agriculture from the ground up. The Agreement on Agriculture Reimagined project is coordinated by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) at the University of Bern and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) as a key partner.
Rather than proposing piecemeal adjustments to current agricultural trade rules, this initiative puts forward a comprehensive set of principles and disciplines, articulated in a model multilateral treaty to govern international trade in food and agriculture in support of sustainable food systems.
In October 2025, after three years of intensive dialogue and expert exchanges, the group released the draft Model Treaty on Agricultural Trade for Sustainable Food Systems. The text is currently under consultation, and the group is actively seeking input from a broad range of stakeholders.
The draft Model Treaty provides an overview of how trade rules for food and agriculture could work differently (and better). At its core, the Model Treaty starts from a simple idea: trade should serve people, the planet, and future generations, not the other way around. Its opening section lays out the objectives and guiding principles that anchor the agreement. These include respect for all human rights, including the right to food, the SDGs, the protection of nature, and a commitment to “do no harm” across borders.
One of the treaty’s new features is its clear assignment of responsibility: governments are expected not only to participate in the trade of food and agricultural products, but also to use trade as a tool to support more sustainable food systems. These responsibilities are not invented from scratch: they build on existing international commitments in environmental, human rights, and labor law, including treaties, general principles of law, and customary law related to Indigenous Peoples, cultural heritage, Traditional Knowledge, and human and animal health.
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Importantly, the treaty makes clear that governments have the right to adopt policies they consider necessary to support the transition to sustainable food systems. This includes measures to protect farmers’ livelihoods, promote environmental sustainability, and improve nutrition.
The release of the draft Model Treaty on Agricultural Trade for Sustainable Food Systems comes at a pivotal moment for the multilateral trading system (MTS). Agriculture remains one of the most politically sensitive and persistently unresolved areas of reform at the World Trade Organization (WTO), where decades of negotiations continue to expose the limits of existing rules in addressing today’s economic, social, and environmental challenges.
Rather than offering a readymade solution, the treaty is meant to spark reflection and conversation about the future of agricultural trade. It is a thought exercise that invites agriculture negotiators to reimagine how trade rules could better support the transition toward sustainable food systems in the face of food insecurity, climate change, and biodiversity loss. Even if not used as a template in its totality, the treaty can offer inspiration on how sustainability could be better integrated in rules governing trade in food in agriculture.
If you would like to read the draft Model Treaty or learn more about the initiative, please visit the project website or email aoarei@iatp.org.
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This article was originally published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and is republished here as part of an editorial collaboration with the IISD. It was authored by Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, Vice-President Global Strategies and Managing Director, Europe, IISD.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of Impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit: Red Zeppelin.
