2026: From evidence to action: strengthening innovation intelligence for resilient and inclusive agrifood systems.

Natalie Bidner-Swehla joined USCIB in 2024 as Director of International Agriculture Policy. Before joining USCIB, Bidner-Swehla worked at the World Food Prize Foundation, leading global agriculture and food security initiatives and programming. She also fostered synergetic stakeholder relationships and cultivated unique partnerships.

Prior to that role, Bidner-Swehla was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Iowa State University where she assisted professors in classroom instruction. She was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award in 2020 and the James A. Socknat Memorial Scholarship in 2019 for her work at the university. During her studies, she lived in Brussels and New Delhi interning with the State Department and Sehgal Foundation to better understand and strengthen the intersection between agriculture and policy.

Bidner-Swehla also served as the World President of the International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences (IAAS).  In this capacity, she led over fifty member countries, amplifying the youth voice in global forums and organizing impactful agriculture and science-based projects and events.

Bidner-Swehla holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from Iowa State University and dual degrees in Global Resource Systems and Political Science with a minor in Agronomy from the same institution.

With nearly three decades of global experience in agricultural research, extension, and innovation, Delgermaa Chuluunbaatar is passionate about co-creating solutions with farmers, researchers, and policymakers and recognizes importance of all voices for inclusive transformation of sustainable agrifood systems. As an Innovation Officer at the FAO’s Office of Innovation, she co-leads the Agrifood Systems Technologies and Innovations Outlook (ATIO) initiative.  Her expertise spans integrated farming systems, conservation agriculture, rural development, institutional reforms, portfolio sense-making, innovation scaling and systems thinking. Delgermaa’s career journey – from a farm agronomist in Mongolia to technical roles at FAO, IFAD, CIDA, and World Vision International – reflects her deep commitment to empowering farmers and institutions through knowledge, innovation, and capacity development. She holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Saskatchewan, with research spanning crop and soil science, rural sociology, and adult education. Her work bridges science and practice, with a focus on innovation processes, adoption behaviour, and systemic approaches to development.

Dorn Cox is a farmer who has long been in the vanguard of regenerative agriculture and open-source technologies — two ideas rarely spoken in the same sentence. He’s also a big champion of participatory science and knowledge commons to help improve agricultural practices.

Cox is the author of The Great Regeneration: Ecological Agriculture, Open Source Technology, and a Radical Vision of Hope, a highly readable book that synthesizes all of these topics.

With a deep background in earth system sciences and a PhD in natural resources, Cox is a man of the soil, the computer and science. He farms with his family on 250 acres in Lee, New Hampshire, and serves as research director for the Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment in Freeport, Maine. Cox is also a founder of the Farm OS software platform and Farm Hack, an open-source hardware project that designs and builds agricultural equipment. He’s helped develop the open technology ecosystem for agricultural management, called Open Team, which is a farmer driven, collaborative community dedicated to improving soil health and addressing climate change.

Dr. Vincent Martin is the Director of the Office of Innovation at FAO. With a wealth of expertise in Diplomacy, Global Health, Food and Nutrition Security, Epidemiology and Spatial Analysis, he has more than 20 years of field experience developing strategies and policies, exploring, and experimenting to source solutions to fight against hunger while championing the gender agenda. He has remained dedicated to finding innovative solutions to key development, political, peace and security issues. Dr. Martin joined FAO HQ in Rome, Italy, in the Animal Production and Health Division in 1998. Since then, he has held various positions at FAO and the UN, including Animal Health Officer of Infectious Disease Analysis and Early Warning, Senior Technical Advisor at the FAO Representation in China, Beijing, Head of Animal Health Early Warning System (EMPRES), FAO Representative in Senegal and Head of the Regional Resilience Team for West Africa and the Sahel in Dakar, Senegal. From 2016 to 2020, he was FAO Representative in China and in the Democratic Republic of Korea in Beijing, China. Since May 2020, he has served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator (UNRC) in Guinea, overseeing some 24 UN agencies, funds and programmes to support the national efforts to meet the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dr. Martin holds a University Diploma focused on Statistics and Epidemiology from Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris VI, a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine, an MSc and a PhD in Agronomic Sciences and biology engineering.  

Samuel Oslund is a Director of AgTech at 11th Hour Project. Previously, Samuel was a Researcher and Designer at Cobble and also held positions at Santropol Roulant.

Samuel received a M. A Environmental Design degree from UQAM. Université du Québec à Montréal and a B. A. (Hons) Anthropology from Concordia University.

Estefania Puricelli is the Secretary of the International Agri‑Food Network (IAFN), where she leads the Secretariat supporting the Private Sector Mechanism (PSM) to the UN Committee on World Food Security. She has worked at the intersection of markets, policy, and innovation, engaging through multistakeholder consortia and global platforms to advance solutions for food‑systems transformation.

In her previous roles, Estefania served as a lead economist for the NASA Harvest Consortium, enhancing the use of digital agriculture for food‑security applications in collaboration with academia, the private sector, governments, and international organizations. She also worked with the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) hosted at FAO, supporting efforts to improve data transparency and monitoring excessive food‑price volatility. Estefania holds an MSc in Agricultural Economics from the University of London, as well as bachelor’s degrees in Economics and other in Farm Management both from the University of Buenos Aires, where she is originally from.

Maria Elena V. Rebagay (Lany) is the Deputy Secretary General of the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA). She also manages the Asia-Pacific Farmers Program and Farmers Organization for Asia, which engage 54 federated organizations across 22 countries representing 25 million small-scale farmers. With expertise in building social infrastructure for innovation and rural development, Lany strengthens farmer-led solutions in Asia-Pacific. She holds master’s degrees in Development Economics and Business Administration.

Annette Schneegans is Deputy Permanent Representative of the EU Delegation in Rome. Before coming to Rome she was based in Brussels working for more than 20 years in the areas of European research policy, programming and funding, notably in the areas of crop production, crop breeding and natural resources management. She had a key role in developing and launching the Horizon Europe mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” and in building cross-sectoral and global partnerships to promote innovations for soil health. Annette has an academic and research background in agricultural sciences and international agricultural development.

With a strong foundation in economics and development studies, alongside advanced degrees from the Institute of Development Studies, the University of Siena, and Università di Bologna, Paola has cultivated expertise in policy analysis, rural development, and international program management. Her career highlights include senior roles within esteemed organizations such as the FAO and ILO. Currently serving as a Programme Officer at the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN), she specializes in offering technical coordination for flagship publications while fostering global partnerships to address critical food security challenges.

Mark is a Co-founder and a former Director of the Forum for the Future of Agriculture. He is now a Member of the Forum’s Advisory Council and a Senior Fellow at the Transatlantic Policy Network. Mark joined SpiritsEUROPE as their Director-General in September 2025, having enjoyed a long career in the agri-food sector, principally at Syngenta where he held several senior leadership and executive level positions in corporate affairs and business sustainability in the EAME region and globally. After leaving Syngenta in 2017, Mark became the CEO of EngineeringUK before joining Indigo Ag, where he held a variety of different roles before becoming Head of Corporate Affairs and a Member of the Executive Team in 2024.