How can businesses, particularly those in the food retail and processing sectors, forge long-term partnerships with small-scale farmers to ensure fair prices, sustainability, and reliable supply chains?

Young people in Africa’s agricultural sector face heightened vulnerability to the climate crisis, yet they remain at the forefront of innovation in adaptation. This table explores how empowering youth and women with resources, technology, and support can accelerate sustainable, inclusive, and climate-resilient agri-food systems, mobilizing them to lead agricultural adaptation efforts across the continent.

How can we address the imbalance between countries that overproduce and waste food, and those that face food insecurity? What international trade, policy, and business collaboration can ensure fairer, more sustainable food distribution?

Transparency is the cornerstone of trust and accountability in today’s agri-food systems. For sustainability, emissions cuts, and fair practices to succeed, the process must be open, traceable, and accountable. Stakeholders must be held to their promises, with every step—from production to distribution—measured and shared. Explore how transparency builds consumer trust, shapes policy, and opens up new opportunities in markets and fair trade.

There are strong economic incentives for commercial farming – how do we create equally strong incentives for the transition to regenerative agriculture?

Together with IKEA Foundation, Hand in Hand delivered a large-scale regenerative agriculture training pilot to almost 2,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya, increasing incomes by 155%. This contradicts the previously held assumption that sustainable practices are costly and labour intensive, at the same time as boosting soil health, incomes and food security.

Join Hand in Hand International CEO, Dorothea Arndt as she shares findings from the project and opens-up the conversation on the critical challenge faced by the movement as a whole: what incentives are needed to ensure regenerative practices become a viable and scalable option across the agri-food system? And what role must businesses, governments, citizens, academics and civil society play?

What strategies can ensure food systems remain resilient amid extreme weather events and shifting climates? How can collaboration between farmers, NGOs, and policymakers lead to practical climate adaptation measures?

How can AI be deployed to enhance resource use, such as water and fertilizers? What mechanisms can ensure that smallholder farmers benefit from AI innovations without being left behind.

If food waste were a country, it would be the third highest greenhouse gas emitter. How can businesses from farm-to-fork help to transform the broken food system into a sustainable, circular one? One where greenhouse gas emissions, food loss and waste, and water usage are reduced dramatically. This session will explore the challenges to delivering net zero and how they might be overcome.

Indicators are powerful tools that can drive food systems convergence, aligning efforts towards transformative change. In this session, we will explore how food systems indicators can serve as powerful tools to align efforts towards Africa’s food systems transformation goals, leveraging opportunities presented by the Africa Common Position on Food Systems and the post-Malabo agenda.

Reducing the environmental impact of food is a mission of many—but how can each segment of the food value chain get value from sustainability solutions? How are public companies, NGOs, government and private marketplaces and supply chains working together in different parts of the world to create and find both environmental as well as economic value in sustainability solutions.

An end-to-end value chain conversation to explore ways that biodiversity can intersect with sustainable agriculture, climate goals and economic stability. We’ll look at strategies to incentivize biodiversity-supporting practices through policy and subsidies; practical methods to reintroduce biodiversity into farmland without compromising productivity; building a case for biodiversity as a driver of long-term agricultural resilience and brand reputations.

Modern agriculture is embracing old wisdom. In this session, we’ll dig into the power of low-tech and ancestral techniques to reshape food systems. Join us as we explore the practical applications of agroforestry, biochar, and crop diversification for healthier soil, reduced waste, and resilient farming. We’ll discuss how blending traditional methods with innovative approaches can unlock multiple revenue streams, enhance biodiversity, and offer scalable, sustainable solutions. No technical jargon—just real-world insights from experts on the frontlines of agricultural transformation.

What incentives and support mechanisms are needed to help adopt sustainable regenerative agriculture? How can business leaders and policymakers drive the shift toward more planet-friendly methods?

Data alone doesn’t drive action—stories do. Explore how to transform powerful, data-driving insights from agri-food systems into compelling stories that inspire public engagement and climate action.

Peer-led sessions where delegates bring forward their own challenges or emerging issues in agri-food systems, creating a space for exploratory and surprising conversations.