2018 Annual Conference

The Forum for the Future of Agriculture 2018 convened with a call for action by all stakeholders and society at large to work together in order to deliver real world solutions for a healthy future through healthy farming practices and healthy food production. The Forum brought together leaders from politics, industry and society, who highlighted the importance of biodiversity for healthy food production, presented emerging farming technologies and best practices in artificial intelligence and sustainable forest management among others, as well as considering options on how to reduce food waste.
FFA2018 came at a time when real world action is needed to put the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into practice and a new cycle of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is starting to take shape. This is coupled with growing public interest in farming practices, along with increased environmental awareness and health consciousness related to food consumption.

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FFA2018 opening statement

Janez Potočnik

FFA2018 special address

Her Majesty Queen Noor Al Hussein of Jordan

FFA2018 Session 1

Hilal Elver, Cyriaque Sendashonga, Lawrence Haddad, Alexandra Brand

Confirmed speakers (in alphabetical order)

Jean Arthuis

Chair of the Committee on Budgets, European Parliament

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Jean Arthuis

Chair of the Committee on Budgets, European Parliament

Jean Arthuis graduated from the École supérieure de commerce in Nantes (Nantes business school) and the Institut d'études politiques (Institute of political studies) in Paris. He is a chartered accountant and founder of a firm specialising in accountancy and handling financial hearings. He was a member of the Senate from 1983 to 2014, served as general rapporteur for the budget from 1992 to 1995, chaired the Centrist Group from 1998 to 2002 and the Finance Committee from 2002 to 2011 and was mayor of Château-Gontier from 1971 to 2001. He was also President of the Conseil général de la Mayenne (Mayenne regional council) from 1992 to 2014, a post which he relinquished in order to devote himself fully to his mandate as MEP. He served as secretary of state to the labour minister from March 1986 and from January 1987 to the Minister for the economy, finance and privatisation, with responsibility for consumer affairs and competition (until May 1988). He was Minister for the economy and finance from 1995 to 1997, during which time he laid the groundwork for the changeover to the single European currency. In July 2017, he was appointed Employment Minister’s Special Representative responsible to develop Erasmus-Pro for Apprentices.

Massimo Bottura

Chef Patron of Osteria Francescana & Founder of Food for Soul

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Massimo Bottura

Chef Patron of Osteria Francescana & Founder of Food for Soul

Massimo Bottura is an Italian restaurateur and the Chef Patron of Osteria Francescana, a three-Michelin-star restaurant based in Modena, Italy which has been listed in the top 5 at The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards since 2010 and has received many top ratings and awards. In 2016, Massimo founded the non-profit association Food for Soul to empower communities to fight against food waste in the interest of social inclusion and individual wellbeing. Food for Soul creates and sustains community kitchens around the world by bringing together both public and private organisations, as well as professionals from diverse fields including chefs, artisans, food suppliers, artists and designers. They source quality and in-date ingredients, that are perfectly edible but would otherwise go to waste, then transform them into delicious and nutritious multi-course meals to serve to the guests from vulnerable backgrounds.

Alexandra Brand

Regional Director Crop Protection EAME, Syngenta

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Alexandra Brand

Regional Director Crop Protection EAME, Syngenta

Alexandra Brand leads one of Syngenta Group’s largest and most profitable businesses as the Crop Protection Regional Director for Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EAME). From 2018 – 2020, Alexandra Brand was Chief Sustainability Officer of Syngenta Group where she led the newly created Business Sustainability Group to evolve existing sustainability initiatives including The Good Growth Plan and to drive forward the company’s sustainability agenda. The group aligned the company’s Regulatory Affairs, Sustainability and Stewardship, External Affairs and Communications activities. Alexandra joined Syngenta in late 2015 as Regional Director of Syngenta’s crop protection and seed operations across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Before joining Syngenta, Alexandra held various positions in the BASF Group, including senior vice president of its global Animal Nutrition business unit, vice president of the Global Marketing Pharma Ingredients unit as well as chief of staff for BASF’s chief executive officer. Alexandra gained international experience through her role as director of BASF’s Sub Regional Operating Manager Intermediates in South Asia, with its headquarters in Mumbai, India. She began her professional career in global research at BASF. Alexandra studied chemistry at the Technische Universität in Darmstadt, Germany, from 1990 to 1998 and completed her studies with a doctorate.

Ariel Brunner

Senior Head of Policy for Europe and Central Asia, Birdlife International

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Ariel Brunner

Senior Head of Policy for Europe and Central Asia, Birdlife International

Ariel Brunner coordinates the work of BirdLife Europe on a wide range of EU policies ranging from nature and biodiversity conservation, to climate and energy, fisheries and agriculture. Over the last decade he has been deeply involved in debates on reform of the Common Agriculture Policy and is widely recognised as prominent expert on the environmental impacts of EU farm policies. He has chaired DG Agriculture’s Advisory Group on Agriculture and Environment and has been a member of its Expert group on Public Goods, and of the European Commission’s High level steering group on the European Innovation Partnership on agriculture. He has also played a leading role in the NatureAlert campaign and has been very active in debates over the sustainability of renewable energy and in particular of bioenergy. He has also been involved in numerous studies, policy developments and political processes linked to the EU Renewable energy Directives, the sustainability criteria for biofuels, the Indirect Land Use Change controversy etc. Before moving to Brussels he was following the implementation of EU nature conservation legislation in Italy and has been instrumental to the designation of the country’s Special Protection Areas network (sites protected under the EU Wild Birds Directive).

Markus Eerola

Farmer, Knehtilä Farm, Finland

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Markus Eerola

Farmer, Knehtilä Farm, Finland

Markus Eerola is a farmer whose organic farm is situated in Hyvinkää, Southern Finland. Eerola has educated himself as an Agricultural Technician and Licenciate in Art, and he is the 3rd chair of the Farmer´s Union. Eerola received the WWF Baltic Sea Farmer of the Year Award in 2015. He has been very innovative in developing the farm and has projects with several agricultural equipment companies. One of the projects is an agroecological symbiosis together with other farms, a local energy company and the University of Helsinki. Photo © Helena Eslon.

Hilal Elver

Special Rapporteur on Right to Food, United Nations

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Hilal Elver

Special Rapporteur on Right to Food, United Nations

Hilal Elver is a Research Professor and global distinguished fellow at the University of California Santa Barbara LA Law School Resnick Food Law and Policy Center. She has a law degree, a Ph.D. from the University of Ankara Law School, and SJD from the UCLA Law School. She started her teaching career at the University of Ankara Faculty of Law. During this period, she was also appointed by the Turkish government as the founding legal advisor of the Ministry of Environment, and the General Director of Women’s Status. In 1994, she was appointed to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Chair in Environmental Diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta. Throughout her career, she has done extensive work with national and international human rights NGOs. She was appointed Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food by the Human Rights Council in May 2014.

Philipp Schulze Esking

Member of the Board and Vice President, DLG (German Agricultural Society)

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Philipp Schulze Esking

Member of the Board and Vice President, DLG (German Agricultural Society)

Philipp Schulze Esking, born in 1978, has been Chairman of the DLG Exhibitions Department, also serving as DLG Vice President since 2015. He studied agronomy at the University of Göttingen in Germany and the University of Cordoba in Spain. Since 2005 he has managed his parents' pig farm in Billerbeck, in addition to being in partnership with four other agricultural businesses. He is currently Deputy Chairman of the Interest Group of pig farmers in Germany (ISN) and as a member of the DLG executive committee and agriculture committee.

Louise O. Fresco

President of the Executive Board, Wageningen University & Research

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Louise O. Fresco

President of the Executive Board, Wageningen University & Research

Louise Fresco is the President of Wageningen University & Research in The Netherlands. Louise combines a long academic career as a professor at both Wageningen and Amsterdam with an extensive involvement in policy and development, with many programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America and teaching in Sweden, Belgium and the US. Louise O. Fresco is a member of eight Scientific Academies. Ten years of her career was spent as Assistant-Director General at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, as well spending extensive periods in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She served on the boards of companies including Rabobank and Unilever, and also serves in various philanthropies. Her successful book, Hamburgers in Paradise, the stories behind the food we eat, was translated in several languages. In total she published twelve books of fiction and non-fiction, while she also writes a bi-weekly column in NRC, the leading evening paper of The Netherlands. She presented a six part documentary on food and development for Dutch public television. You may have seen her TED talk in Palm Springs in 2009.

Lawrence Haddad

Executive Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

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Lawrence Haddad

Executive Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

Dr. Lawrence Haddad became GAIN’s Executive Director in October 2016. Prior to joining, he was the founding co-chair and lead author of the Global Nutrition Report (GNR). From 2004-2014 Lawrence was the Director of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), the world’s leading development studies institute, and prior to that, he was a research Director at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). He was the UK’s representative on the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the UN’s Committee on Food Security (CSF) from 2009-2010. He is an economist and completed his PhD in Food Research at Stanford University in 1988. In 2018, Lawrence was awarded the World Food Prize for his: “relentless leadership and advocacy in mobilizing political will to make nutrition the focal point of development strategies.” More information Website – www.gainhealth.org Twitter – @l_haddad LinkedIn - lawrence-haddad-5809b916b

Phil Hogan

Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission

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Phil Hogan

Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission

Phil Hogan has served as EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development since November 2014. Commissioner Hogan grew up on a farm in rural Kilkenny, in south-east Ireland. From 1989 until he became Commissioner, he represented the Carlow/Kilkenny constituency in Dáil Éireann, the Irish Parliament. Between 2011 and 2014, he served as Irish Minister for the Environment and Local Government. His policy priorities include modernising and simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), strengthening European farmers' market resilience and their position on the food chain, and developing new export markets for EU agri-food products. Notable achievements during his mandate include: effective management of the EU agri-food market problems arising from the Russian ban on EU food and drink products; new EU rules on Unfair Trading Practices (UTPs) to strengthen the farmer's position in the food supply chain; establishing Task Force Rural Africa to improve EU-Africa cooperation in the field of agriculture and sustainable, responsible rural investment; new rules governing organic production; several waves of simplifying the CAP; central involvement in improving the EU's global trade profile in agri-food, including conclusion of the Canada and Japan trade deals; and an updated EU Bioeconomy strategy. Priorities for the last year of his mandate include: guiding the Commission's future CAP proposal through the co-decision process and improving the development of, access to and uptake of financial instruments tailored to the needs of the agri-food sector.

Her Majesty Queen Noor Al Hussein of Jordan

International public servant & advocate for cross-cultural understanding & conflict prevention

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Her Majesty Queen Noor Al Hussein of Jordan

International public servant & advocate for cross-cultural understanding & conflict prevention

Her Majesty Queen Noor is an international public servant and advocate for cross-cultural understanding and conflict prevention and recovery issues such as refugees, missing persons, poverty, climate change and disarmament. She received a degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from Princeton University. She married His Majesty King Hussein bin Talal of Jordan in 1978. Queen Noor’s work in Jordan and the Arab world has focused on national and regional human security in the areas of education, conservation, sustainable development, human rights and cross-cultural understanding. Queen Noor has made environmental priorities an essential component of her work to promote human security and conflict resolution. She was a patron of Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature and internationally she has focused on environmental conservation and human security with emphasis on water and Ocean health and protection issues. She is Patron of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Founding and Emeritus President of BirdLife International, Trustee Emeritus of Conservation International, a member of the Ocean Elders and has received a variety of awards and honours for her activism.

Dik Kruijthoff

Chairman of the supervisory board, CZVA

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Dik Kruijthoff

Chairman of the supervisory board, CZVA

Dik Kruijthoff is the Chairman of the supervisory board of CZVA, a dutch cooperative in southern Netherlands which includes 3100 active agricultural entrepreneurs, within all sectors of farming. The efforts on his farm paid off in 2017, when they won the Agricultural Enterprise of the Year award. He’s also knowledgeable in horticulture.

Ariane Lotti

Agricultural entrepreneur, Managing Partner Tenuta San Carlo

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Ariane Lotti

Agricultural entrepreneur, Managing Partner Tenuta San Carlo

Ariane Lotti is an agricultural entrepreneur and the Managing Partner of Tenuta San Carlo, an organic farm in central Italy that produces grain crops, has agritourism activities, plus includes land and forests managed for conservation goals. Before moving to Italy, she worked for over five years in Washington, D.C., on U.S. federal sustainable food and agriculture policy, with a particular focus on food safety regulations and the farm bill. She is a published author, and has worked and conducted research on organic and conventional farms in the U.S. and Europe. She is a representative from Italy to Ceja (the European Council of Young Farmers), the Vice President of Confagricultura Grosseto, a Trustee of Friends of Spannocchia, and an advisor to the Chewonki Foundation. She holds a Bachelors of Arts and a Masters of Environmental Management from Yale University.

Janez Potočnik

Chair ForumforAg and Chairman RISE Foundation

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Janez Potočnik

Chair ForumforAg and Chairman RISE Foundation

Dr Janez Potočnik graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. After a successful career starting in 1989 in Slovenia as a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research, Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (1994), he was appointed Head of the Negotiating Team for the Accession of Slovenia to the EU (1998). He was also Director of Government Office for European Affairs (2000), Minister Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister (2001) and Minister responsible for European Affairs (2002). In 2004 he joined the European Commission, first as "shadow Commissioner for Enlargement and then as Commissioner responsible for Science and Research. In 2010 Dr Potočnik became Commissioner for Environment. His term ended in November 2014 and he was appointed as a Co-Chair of UN Environment International Resource Panel and was also appointed as a Chairman of The Forum for the Future of Agriculture and RISE Foundation and a Member of the European Policy Centre's Advisory Council. From April 2016 he is also the Partner in SYSTEMIQ. More information Twitter – @JanezPotocnik22 Facebook – potocnikjanez LinkedIn - janez-potocnik-872470a7

Morten Rossé

Partner & Head of Natural Solutions, SYSTEMIQ

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Morten Rossé

Partner & Head of Natural Solutions, SYSTEMIQ

Morten Rossé is leading SYSTEMIQ’s efforts on developing regenerative land use models that either create value from standing forest or create value with forest regrowth. He is convinced that, while tropical forests only cover 2% of the total surface of the Earth, they are the key to unlock the potential of regenerative development. He is also deputy team leader of Partnerships for Forests, which is a DIFD sponsored global incubator that supports the acceleration of sustainable land use and forest businesses in the tropics. Morten came to SYSTEMIQ after nine years at McKinsey & Company, where he was a leader in the Sustainability and Resource Productivity Practice. Morten has worked extensively with public-private partnerships to deliver sustainable economic development in particular around the topics of land use and circular economy. He for example helped establish Partnership for Indonesia’s Sustainable Agriculture, an agriculture public-private partnership to address Indonesia's food, climate change and poverty challenges.

Gary Tabor

Founder & Executive Director, Centre for Large Landscape Conservation

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Gary Tabor

Founder & Executive Director, Centre for Large Landscape Conservation

Dr Gary M Tabor is an ecologist and wildlife veterinarian (Cornell BSc, Yale MS, UPenn VMD) and founder of the Center for Large Landscape Conservation based in the Rocky Mountains of Montana USA to help people and institutions make better conservation decisions at the scale nature functions. Gary has worked on behalf of large scale conservation internationally for over 35 years with a dozen years of experience in Africa, South America and Australia and a dozen years as a leader within the U.S. philanthropic community.  Gary’s conservation achievements include the establishment of Kibale National Park in Uganda; establishment of the World Bank’s GEF Mountain Gorilla Conservation Trust; co-founding the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative; pioneering the field of Conservation Medicine and Ecohealth (now called One Health) and co-founding the Freedom to Roam campaign to conserve wildlife corridors for outdoor retailer Patagonia Inc. Gary is a Henry Luce Scholar. Gary is a recipient of the Australian American Fulbright Scholar award in Climate Change and Clean Energy. Gary is Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas' new Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group.

Frans Timmermans

First Vice-President of the European Commission, European Commissioner for Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, Rule of...

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Frans Timmermans

First Vice-President of the European Commission, European Commissioner for Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, Rule of Law & Charter of Fundamental Rights

Frans Timmermans is a Dutch politician and diplomat who currently serves as the First Vice-President of the European Commission and the European Commissioner for the portfolio of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, Rule of Law and Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Juncker Commission since November 2014. Timmermans previously worked in the Dutch Civil Service (1987–1998), as a member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party (1998–2007; 2010–2012), as Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs charged with European Affairs (2007–2010) and as Minister of Foreign Affairs (2012–2014). 1995-1998 he served as a Senior Advisor and Private Secretary to the High Commissioner on National Minorities of the OSCE, Max van der Stoel and 1994-1995 as a staff member for EU Commissioner Hans van den Broek. In 1993 and 1994 Timmermans worked as deputy head of the Minister for Development Cooperation’s EC Affairs Section, 1990 and 1993 as the Deputy Secretary of the Dutch embassy in Moscow. 1987-1990 he served as Policy Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1984-1985 he had postgraduate courses in European Law and French Literature at the University of Nancy. 1980-1985 he achieved a degree in French language and literature, Radboud University Nijmegen.

Ann Tutwiler

Director General, Bioversity International

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Ann Tutwiler

Director General, Bioversity International

Ann Tutwiler is the Director General of Bioversity International, an international research for development organization that is a CGIAR Research Centre. She is responsible for leading Bioversity International, forging effective research partnerships and overseeing the organization’s strategic priorities and research agenda. She has almost 30 years of experience in agricultural policy and development working in the public and private sectors and served as Deputy Director General, Knowledge at FAO, where she coordinated the development of cohesive Rome food agency positions on Rio+20 for FAO, with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP) and Bioversity International. She previously worked for the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), leading and coordinating USDA’s participation in the President’s 'Feed the Future' initiative and developing USDA’s international research strategy. She has also served as Senior Advisor of International Affairs for the U.S. Agency for International Development and she created and managed the agricultural markets program at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation from 2006 to 2009. Tutwiler was Government Relations Director for a multinational agribusiness firm for ten years and co-founded a global think tank in agricultural trade policy.

Confirmed Moderators (in alphabetical order)

Femi Oke

Journalist

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Femi Oke

Journalist

Femi Oke is an international journalist, broadcaster and moderator. Since the 1980s, she has worked for BBC television and radio, Sky TV, all UK terrestrial television networks, CNN and US public radio. Oke’s reporting has been recognised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Communications Agency and InterAction. She's British by birth, Nigerian by parentage and a Washingtonian by zip code.

Stephen Sackur

Journalist

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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 27, 2018

09:00 - 17:30 (CET)

09:00 - 09:10 (CET)

Introduction

Introductory comments

• Stephen Sackur, Journalist
• Femi Oke, Journalist

09:10 - 09:20 (CET)

Opening

Opening statement

• Janez Potočnik, Chair FFA2018, Chairman RISE Foundation

09:20 - 09:55 (CET)

Special Address

• Her Majesty Queen Noor Al Hussein of Jordan, International public servant and advocate for
cross-cultural understanding and conflict prevention

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Femi Oke Journalist

09:55 - 11:10 (CET)

Session 1

Global Session: Transitioning towards sustainable food systems for a healthy future

Keynote speaker:

• Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur on Right to Food, United Nations

Discussants:
• Inger Andersen, Director General, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
• Alexandra Brand, Chief Sustainability Officer, Syngenta

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Femi Oke Journalist

11:10 - 11:40 (CET)

Networking Break

11:40 - 12:10 (CET)

Keynote Address

Food for Soul

• Massimo Bottura, Chef Patron of Osteria Francescana & Founder of Food for Soul

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Femi Oke, Journalist

12:10 - 12:55 (CET)

Session 2

Healthy environment: Synergistic management of agricultural and natural systems

Keynote speakers:

• Gary Tabor, Founder & Executive Director, Centre for Large Landscape Conservation
• Ann Tutwiler, Director General, Bioversity International

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Femi Oke, Journalist

12:55 - 14:00 (CET)

Networking Lunch Break

Healthy future: Concrete solutions demonstrating systemic changes

Best-practice production and protection examples from the tropics
• Morten Rossé, Partner & Head of Natural Solutions, SYSTEMIQ

Farming ecologically, economically and socially more sustainable
• Markus Eerola, Farmer, Knehtilä Farm, Finland

Energy and environment friendly precision farming
• Dik Kruijthoff, Managing Partner, Novifarm, The Netherlands

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Stephen Sackur, Journalist

15:00 - 15:30 (CET)

Healthy Future

Agriculture and food: the future
• Louise O. Fresco, President of the Executive Board, Wageningen University & Research

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Stephen Sackur, Journalist

15:30 - 16:45 (CET)

Session 3

Future for EU farming: Could EU agriculture survive without the CAP?

Keynote speakers:
• Phil Hogan, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
• Jean Arthuis, Member, Chair of the Committee on Budgets, European Parliament

Discussants:
• Ariel Brunner, Senior Head of Policy for Europe and Central Asia, Birdlife International
• Ariane Lotti, Agricultural Entrepreneur, Managing Partner Tenuta San Carlo
• Philipp Schulze Esking, Member of the Board and Vice President, German Agricultural Society (DLG)

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Stephen Sackur, Journalist

16:45 - 17:15 (CET)

Closing Keynote Address

Working together towards a better and healthy common future
• Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President, Commissioner for Better Regulation, Interinstitutional Relations,
the Rule of Law and Charter of Fundamental Rights, European Commission

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Stephen Sackur, Journalist

17:15 - 17:30 (CET)

Closing

Closing statement
Janez Potočnik, Chair FFA2018, Chairman RISE Foundation

Founding partners

Forum partners

Exhibitors

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