The Forum for the Future of Agriculture (ForumforAg) Annual Conference was held on March 28, 2023, consisting of live broadcasts, moderated panel discussions and dialogues, interactive interventions, networking opportunities and exhibitions, all live in Brussels and online. The image above is a visual representation of the discussion during the day and videos of the dialogue sessions plus exclusive interviews.
Click on the image below to watch how the visual summary was made during the day.
During the ForumforAg Annual Conference we asked delegates to add their comments to our visual wall on the key areas addressed in the Forum’s Call to Action and the visual below shows the contributions we received.
During the Annual Conference we asked delegates to complete a visual drawing and the result can be seen below. You can also download a copy to complete at home if you wish.
Videos from this event
2023 Annual Conference – Introduction
Stephen Sackur, Rose O’Donovan
2023 Annual Conference – Welcome address
Janez Potočnik
2023 Annual Conference – Keynote address Frans Timmermans
Frans Timmermans
Summaries from this event
Jul 19, 2023
Read NowApr 07, 2023
Read NowArticles/News
2023 Annual Conference summary - Second session
Apr 07, 2023
Read NowArticles/News
2023 Annual Conference summary - Third session
Apr 07, 2023
Read NowArticles/News
2023 Annual Conference summary - Fourth session
Apr 07, 2023
Read NowArticles/News
2023 Annual Conference summary - Final session
Apr 07, 2023
Read NowConfirmed speakers (in alphabetical order)
Tasso Azevedo
Coordinator MapBiomas & SEEG initiatives, forester, former Chief of Brazilian Forest Service
Tasso Azevedo
Coordinator MapBiomas & SEEG initiatives, forester, former Chief of Brazilian Forest Service
Tasso Azevedo is founder and General Coordinator of MapBiomas, a collaborative network of more than 70 organisations in Brazil and 14 other countries that monitors land use to promote conservation and sustainable management of natural resources.
Stefanie Beck
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
Stefanie Beck
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
On February 20, 2023, Stefanie Beck was appointed Deputy Minister (DM) of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).
Prior to joining AAFC, Stefanie Beck held the position of Associate Deputy Minister for the Department of National Defence for 13 months. Between October 2020 and January 2022, DM Beck served as Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Alternate Representative to the International Maritime Organization. Prior to that, she was the Assistant Secretary to Cabinet, Priorities and Planning at the Privy Council Office, where she led work on Whole of Government priority setting and policy development, including through transitions to new mandates, and most recently, through the COVID crisis. Previously, DM Beck held leadership roles at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Global Affairs Canada, as well as several senior positions responsible for common services at Canada’s diplomatic missions abroad, including cross-government governance.
DM Beck joined the Government of Canada in 1990 with the Department of External Affairs, working abroad as a political officer and an ambassador in various missions. She served in Dakar, Senegal, Canberra, Australia, and in Cambodia and Croatia. DM Beck grew up on several continents, attended high school in Singapore and St. Catharine’s, Ontario, and has a Bachelor of Arts in German and Italian from McGill University.
Professor Tim Benton
Research Director, Emerging Risks; Director, Environment and Society Programme, Chatham House
Professor Tim Benton
Research Director, Emerging Risks; Director, Environment and Society Programme, Chatham House
Ted Bilyea
Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) Distinguished Fellow
Ted Bilyea
Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) Distinguished Fellow
Ted Bilyea is a Distinguished Fellow in Strategic Trade at CAPI and former Chair of the Board. As the previous President of Maple Leaf Foods International, Ted Bilyea led the largest exporter of food in Canada. Mr. Bilyea has served as a board member for several global food companies and was inducted into the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2018.
Ranveer Chandra
Managing Director for Research for Industry, and CTO of Agri-Food, Microsoft
Ranveer Chandra
Managing Director for Research for Industry, and CTO of Agri-Food, Microsoft
Ranveer Chandra is the Managing Director for Research for Industry, and the CTO of Agri-Food at Microsoft. He also leads the Networking Research Group at Microsoft Research, Redmond. Previously, Ranveer was the Chief Scientist of Microsoft Azure Global. His research has shipped as part of multiple Microsoft products, including VirtualWiFi in Windows 7 onwards, low power Wi-Fi in Windows 8, Energy Profiler in Visual Studio, Software Defined Batteries in Windows 10, and the Wireless Controller Protocol in XBOX One. His research also led to a new product. Ranveer is active in the networking and systems research community, and has served as the Program Committee Chair of IEEE DySPAN 2012, ACM MobiCom 2013, and ACM HotNets 2022.
Ranveer started Project FarmBeats at Microsoft in 2015. He also led the battery research project, and the white space networking project at Microsoft Research. He was invited to the USDA to present his research to the US Secretary of Agriculture, and this work was featured by Bill Gates in GatesNotes, and was selected by Satya Nadella as one of 10 projects that inspired him in 2017. Ranveer has also been invited to the FCC to present his work on TV white spaces, and spectrum regulators from India, China, Brazil, Singapore and US (including the FCC chairman) have visited the Microsoft campus to see his deployment of the world’s first urban white space network. As part of his doctoral dissertation, Ranveer developed VirtualWiFi. The software has over a million downloads and was among the top 5 downloaded software released by Microsoft Research. It is shipping as a feature in Windows since 2009.
Ranveer has published more than 100 papers, and holds over 150 patents granted by the USPTO. His research has been cited by the popular press, such as the Economist, MIT Technology Review, BBC, Scientific American, New York Times, WSJ, among others. He is a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE, and has won several awards, including award papers at ACM CoNext 2008, ACM SIGCOMM 2009, IEEE RTSS 2014, USENIX ATC 2015, Runtime Verification 2016 (RV’16), ACM COMPASS 2019, and ACM MobiCom 2019, the Microsoft Research Graduate Fellowship, the Microsoft Gold Star Award, the MIT Technology Review’s Top Innovators Under 35, TR35 (2010) and Fellow in Communications, World Technology Network (2012). He was recently recognized by the Newsweek magazine as America’s 50 most Disruptive Innovators (2021). Ranveer has an undergraduate degree from IIT Kharagpur, India and a PhD from Cornell University.
Sean de Cleene
International Food Systems Partnership Expert
Sean de Cleene
International Food Systems Partnership Expert
Boris Erg
Director, IUCN European Regional Office
Boris Erg
Director, IUCN European Regional Office
Andrea Erickson-Quiroz
Global Director for Water Security, Deputy Managing Director for the Food and Water Systems Priority,...
Andrea Erickson-Quiroz
Global Director for Water Security, Deputy Managing Director for the Food and Water Systems Priority, The Nature Conservancy
Martin Frick
Director, World Food Programme Global Office Berlin
Martin Frick
Director, World Food Programme Global Office Berlin
Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle
Director Strategy and Policy Analysis, DG AGRI, European Commission
Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle
Director Strategy and Policy Analysis, DG AGRI, European Commission
Since 1 January 2023, Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle has been Director Strategy and policy analysis at DG AGRI (European Commission). From 1 September 2020 to 31 December 2022, she was Director at the General Secretariat of the Council, responsible for Veterinary and Plant Health Questions, Food and Forestry. Between December 2019 and August 2020, she was Deputy Head of Cabinet of the EU Commissioner responsible for agriculture and rural development. Between 2013 and 2018, she was responsible for the implementation of the CAP in France, in her capacity as Director general for Economic and Environmental Performance of Enterprises. Between 2006 and 2013, she was Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Prior to that, she was Director General of the Food Department within the French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. She also worked at the European Commission from 1991 to 1993.
Jane Goodall
UN Messenger of Peace, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute
Jane Goodall
UN Messenger of Peace, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute
Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and UN Messenger of Peace, is
a world-renowned ethologist and activist inspiring greater understanding and action on behalf of the
natural world.
Dr. Goodall is known for groundbreaking studies of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National
Park, Tanzania, which forever changed our understanding of our relationship to the rest of the animal
kingdom. This transformative research continues today as the longest running wild chimpanzee study
in the world. Jane’s work builds on scientific innovations, growing a lifetime of advocacy including
trailblazing efforts through her international organization the Jane Goodall Institute which advances
community-led conservation, animal welfare, science, and youth empowerment through JGI’s Roots
& Shoots program.
Today, Jane continues to connect with worldwide audiences, despite the challenges of the pandemic,
through ‘Virtual Jane’ including remote lectures, recordings, and her podcast, the “Jane Goodall
Hopecast.” In 2021, Jane was the recipient of the Templeton Prize, and her newest book, “The Book
of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times,” was published.
Jane is a global icon spreading hope and turning it into meaningful positive impact to create a better
world for people, other animals, and the planet we share.
Mark Hall
Head of Sustainable Farming, Europe, Africa & Middle East, Syngenta
Mark Hall
Head of Sustainable Farming, Europe, Africa & Middle East, Syngenta
Richard Heath
Executive Director, Australian Farm Institute
Richard Heath
Executive Director, Australian Farm Institute
Prior to joining the Australian Farm Institute (AFI), Richard was Associate Professor of Agronomy and Farm Management at the University of Sydney and before that was involved in a large family farming business in North West NSW. Richard is a director of the Grains Research and Development Corporation and sits on the Advisory Committee for CSIRO Agriculture and Food. He is a Nuffield scholar and was a director of Nuffield Australia.
Angelika Hilbeck
Institute for Integrative Biology in the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich
Angelika Hilbeck
Institute for Integrative Biology in the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich
Janez Potočnik
Chair ForumforAg and Chairman RISE Foundation
Janez Potočnik
Chair ForumforAg and Chairman RISE Foundation
Shari Rogge-Fidler
President and CEO, Farm Foundation
Shari Rogge-Fidler
President and CEO, Farm Foundation
Shari is president and CEO of Farm Foundation with over 25 years of global leadership and executive experience. She has a unique perspective, developed through her experience as a fifth-generation farm owner and operator, entrepreneur in the organic branded food industry, founder of an agribusiness consulting firm and leader of a soil health technology firm. Shari also served as CEO for a suite of service companies for 1,000 farms across the US. She began her career in London in financial services and continued in Europe with the Boston Consulting Group. Shari has served on several corporate boards, including Farm Credit Mid America and Coastal Pet. She currently serves as a trustee for The Nature Conservancy, and advisory boards of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, and Lewis & Clark Agrifood Fund.
Claudia Sadoff
Executive Managing Director, CGIAR
Claudia Sadoff
Executive Managing Director, CGIAR
Dr. Claudia Sadoff is Executive Managing Director of CGIAR, the world’s largest network of agrifood-focused research centers. She served as the Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a CGIAR Center headquartered in Sri Lanka, working globally to find water solutions for sustainable, climate-resilient development. Prior to joining IWMI, she spent over 20 years at the World Bank where she held multiple positions, including Lead Economist and Global Lead for Water Security and Integrated Water Resource Management. She served as a Member of the Scientific Group of the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit and was recently named an Honorary Member of the International Water Resources Association. She also served as a member of the CGIAR System Management Board, acting as CGIAR Gender Champion. She holds a PhD in Economics.
Virginijus Sinkevičius
Commissioner for Environment, European Commission
Virginijus Sinkevičius
Commissioner for Environment, European Commission
Truke Smoor
Global Water Lead, Cargill
Truke Smoor
Global Water Lead, Cargill
Katharina Stenholm
SVP, Chief Sustainability Officer Europe, PepsiCo
Katharina Stenholm
SVP, Chief Sustainability Officer Europe, PepsiCo
Katharina Stenholm is SVP, Chief Sustainability Officer Europe at PepsiCo and member of the PepsiCo Europe leadership team. She also works as Executive Coach. Katharina is passionate about transformation towards a more sustainable food system and resilient, responsible leadership.
Katharina Stenholm was as SVP, Chief Cycles & Procurement Officer responsible for the Global Procurement function and the Nature Sustainability team at Danone 2017-2021.
Prior to Danone, Katharina was Global CPO at SABMiller where she built and led the SABMiller global procurement organization and oversaw the successful transition of a major part of the business to AB InBev.
Katharina has a strong background in research, business development, marketing & sales and leadership including previous roles as Commercial Director for Viking Malt Ltd and Group CEO of Polttimo Group Ltd.
Originally from Finland, Katharina holds a Doctorate of Technology in Biotechnology and a Masters in Chemical Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology.
Johan Swinnen
Managing Director, Systems Transformation, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and Director General, International...
Johan Swinnen
Managing Director, Systems Transformation, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Dr. Johan Swinnen is Managing Director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR and Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
From 2005 to 2019, he was professor of economics & director of the LICOS Centre for Institutions & Economic Performance at KU Leuven (Belgium) and senior research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. Earlier he was lead economist at the World Bank (2003-2004) and economic adviser to the European Commission (1998-2001). He has been a visiting professor at various universities and a frequent adviser to institutions such as the World Bank, OECD, FAO and EBRD.
Dr. Swinnen earned his PhD from Cornell University and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Göttingen and the Slovak University of Agriculture. He is a fellow of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) and of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE). He served as president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (2012-2015).
Dr. Swinnen has published extensively on agricultural & food policies, international development, political economy, institutional reforms, trade, & global value chains. His recent books The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies (2018) and COVID-19 and Global Food Security (2020) received awards from the AAEA and EAAE.
Jurgen Tack
Secretary General, European Landowners' Organization
Jurgen Tack
Secretary General, European Landowners' Organization
Jurgen Tack studied biology (marine ecology) at Brussels Free University where he also obtained his PhD in Sciences. Within the Framework of the Kenya Belgium Project in Marine Sciences (Coastal Farms Kenya) he developed a number of oyster farms along the Kenyan coast. In 2000 he joined the team of the Belgian Biodiversity Platform (Belgian Science Policy Office) where he was responsible for European and international science policy in the field of biodiversity and biodiversity related research. In 2007 he became the CEO of the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (a research organization under the umbrella of the Flemish Authority). In 2015 he became Secretary-General of the National Science Foundation (Flanders) In 2016 he took the position of Scientific Director at the European Landowners’ Organization (ELO), CEO at Landelijk Vlaanderen (Flemish Landowners’ Organisation) and CEO of the Aanspreekpunt Privaat Beheer Natuur en Bos (an advisory organ for private landowners on the management of nature and forest). In 2023 he became Secretary-General of the European Landowners Organisation (ELO). He coordinates several EU projects on private land conservation. On behalf of ELO he chairs the European Commission’s Large Carnivore Platform and acts as expert for the EU Biodiversity Platform and the EU Expert Group on Cultural Heritage.
Frans Timmermans
Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for the Green Deal
Frans Timmermans
Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for the Green Deal
Mark Titterington
Co-Founder & Director, Forum for the Future of Agriculture
Mark Titterington
Co-Founder & Director, Forum for the Future of Agriculture
Žiga Vavpotič
Director of Partnerships LoginEko
Žiga Vavpotič
Director of Partnerships LoginEko
Eva Weijber
Farmer and Landowner, Sweden
Eva Weijber
Farmer and Landowner, Sweden
Confirmed Moderators (in alphabetical order)
Rose O’Donovan
Journalist & Editor AgraFacts
Rose O’Donovan
Journalist & Editor AgraFacts
Rose O’Donovan has been Editor of AGRA FACTS since March 2010, having previously served as Deputy Editor on the agricultural publication for nearly three years. Prior to working as a journalist, she dealt with international relations on the EU satellite navigation programme at the Galileo Joint Undertaking. Following the completion of a Master of Science at University College Cork (Ireland), Rose moved to Brussels in 2004 to work as an intern in the Cabinet of former European Parliament President, Pat Cox. Hailing from a farming background in West Cork, Rose is also the Brussels correspondent for The Southern Star - a regional newspaper based in Skibbereen. More information Twitter – @agrafacts LinkedIn - rose-o-donovan-91927517
Stephen Sackur
Journalist
Stephen Sackur
Journalist
Stephen Sackur has been a journalist with BBC News since 1986. Since becoming presenter of HARDtalk in 2004, he has interviewed prominent international personalities, cultural figures, leaders and politicians from around the world. Before taking over on the BBC News Channel and BBC World flagship current affairs interview programme, he was based in Brussels for three years as the BBC's Europe Correspondent.
Agenda
Mar 28, 2023
Fixing tomorrow, today
Introduction and housekeeping
- Rose O’Donovan, Moderator
- Stephen Sackur, Moderator
Welcome address
- Dr. Janez Potočnik, Chair ForumforAg 2023 and Chairman RISE Foundation
Session moderator:
- Stephen Sackur, Moderator
Can we afford not to pay the price of change in today’s geo-political and economic reality?
Keynote
- Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President, European Commission
Dialogue session
- Dr. Martin Frick, Director, World Food Programme Global Office Berlin
- Sean de Cleene, International Food Systems Partnership Expert
Inspirational speech
- Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, UN Messenger of Peace, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute
Session moderator:
- Stephen Sackur, Moderator
Networking break
How to build a more resilient & sustainable food and agriculture system: what have we learnt from the energy crisis that enables us to overcome the challenges and exploit the opportunities?
Introduction to session by the moderator
- Rose O’Donovan, Moderator
Panel debate
- Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, Director Strategy and policy analysis, DG AGRI, European Commission
- Shari Rogge-Fidler, President and CEO, Farm Foundation
- Professor Tim Benton, Research Director, Emerging Risks; Director, Environment and Society Programme, Chatham House
- Eva Weijber, Farmer & Landowner, Sweden
How can Nature Based Solutions drive resilience and sustainability in the AGRI-food system and how do we better align incentives to accelerate change?
Introduction to session by the moderator
- Rose O’Donovan, Moderator
Panel debate
- Dr. Jurgen Tack, Scientific Director, European Landowners’ Organization
- Dr. Angelika Hilbeck, Institute for Integrative Biology in the Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich
- Dr. Boris Erg, Director, IUCN European Regional Office
- Dr. Johan Swinnen, Managing Director, Systems Transformation, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Networking lunch break
Inspirational talk: How we can use technology to better serve biodiversity?
- Ranveer Chandra, Managing Director for Research for Industry, and CTO of Agri-Food, Microsoft
Session moderator
- Stephen Sackur, Moderator
How can we act better: the case for improving biodiversity, soil health and water resilience?
Introduction to session by the moderator
- Stephen Sackur, Moderator
Keynote speeches
- Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, European Commission
- Tasso Azevedo, Coordinator MapBiomas & SEEG initiatives, forester & former Chief of Brazilian Forest Service
Panel debate
- Truke Smoor, Global Water Lead, Cargill
- Mark Hall, Head of Sustainable Farming EAME, Syngenta
- Andrea Erickson-Quiroz, Global Director for Water Security, Deputy Managing Director for the Food and Water Systems Priority, The Nature Conservancy
How can we help better: food, migration, climate change?
Introduction to session by the moderator
- Rose O’Donovan, Moderator
Opening speech
- Stefanie Beck, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
Panel debate
- Dr. Claudia Sadoff, Executive Managing Director, CGIAR
- Katharina Stenholm, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, PepsiCo Europe
- Richard Heath, Executive Director, Australian Farm Institute
- Žiga Vavpotič, Director of Partnerships LoginEko
- Ted Bilyea, Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) Distinguished Fellow
Call to action
- Mark Titterington, Senior Adviser, Strategy & Partnerships, Forum for the Future of Agriculture
Moderator signoff
- Rose O’Donovan
Close of the day
- Dr. Janez Potočnik, Chair ForumforAg 2023 and Chairman RISE Foundation
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