2019 Annual Conference

The Forum for the Future of Agriculture returned to the Square in Brussels on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 for FFA2019: The next generation.

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FFA2019 Phil Hogan keynote

Phil Hogan

FFA2019 opening statement

Janez Potočnik

FFA2019 climate change keynote

Miguel Arias Cañete

Confirmed speakers (in alphabetical order)

Michel Barnier

European Chief Negotiator for the United Kingdom Exiting the European Union

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Michel Barnier

European Chief Negotiator for the United Kingdom Exiting the European Union

Michel Barnier engaged at an early age in the Gaullist party in his native Savoie and was elected at the age of 27 as Member of the French National Assembly, and then as President of the department. In that capacity he organized, together with three-time Olympic champion Jean-Claude Killy, the XVI Olympic Winter Games in 1992 in Albertville. Michel has been a minister in several governments in France, as Minister of Environment (1993-1995), for European affairs (1995-1997), for Foreign affairs (2004-2005) and for Agriculture and Fisheries (2007-2009). From 1999 to 2004, he was European Commissioner responsible for Regional policy and Institutional reform. In 2007, the newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy appointed him Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. In June 2009, Michel Barnier led the French campaign for the European elections and a few months later he was appointed European Commissioner for Internal market and Services. It is in this capacity that he proposed and built the Banking Union, with the support of President José Manuel Barroso.

Faustine Bas-Defossez

Principal Policy Analyst and Head of Agriculture and Land Management Programme, IEEP

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Faustine Bas-Defossez

Principal Policy Analyst and Head of Agriculture and Land Management Programme, IEEP

A French national with far-off German origins, Faustine Bas-Defossez is a true European. She spent eight years leading the largest Federation of Environmental NGOs' (the European Environmental Bureau - EEB) campaign on the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), advocating for a more sustainable agriculture and farming across Europe. That experience not only provided Faustine with excellent advocacy skills, it also deepened her knowledge of the CAP and farming systems and policies across Europe. Before that, she worked for the European Commission Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development on the European Food Aid for the most deprived Program and the public goods delivered by the agriculture sector. She joined the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) in April 2018 as Head of the Agriculture and Land Management Programme and is currently leading a team of ten policy analysts.

Hendrik Bourgeois

Vice President Corporate Affairs for the EMEA region at Cargill

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Hendrik Bourgeois

Vice President Corporate Affairs for the EMEA region at Cargill

In his role as Vice President Corporate Affairs for the EMEA region at Cargill, Hendrik designs and implements government affairs strategies for Cargill across the region that are underpinned by strong communications, brand and corporate responsibility, and sustainable development activities. He also provides strategic leadership for Cargill’s businesses in EMEA in engagements with government, stakeholders, media, civil society and employees.  Before joining Cargill, Hendrik served in executive positions at General Electric (GE) including most recently as GE’s General Counsel Europe and head of European Affairs. Prior to joining GE, Hendrik was an attorney with Jones Day, based in Washington, D.C. and Brussels, where he practiced mainly U.S. antitrust and European competition law. Hendrik obtained his law degree at the Rijksuniversiteit Gent, Belgium, and has an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School.

Jean-Marc Bournigal

General Manager of the Wheat Producers Association (AGPB), France

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Jean-Marc Bournigal

General Manager of the Wheat Producers Association (AGPB), France

Graduate of the National Veterinary School of Toulouse, General Inspector of the Veterinary Public Health, Jean-Marc Bournigal first worked within the General Directorate of Food of the Ministry of Agriculture. From 1995 to 1997, he joined the cabinet of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as a technical adviser. Head of the International Health Coordination Mission and then Agricultural Counsellor at the French Embassy in Italy, Jean-Marc Bournigal became the Delegate for European Agricultural Affairs at the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union in 2002, and in 2006 he was the Director General of Food and then the Director General of Agri-Food, Agricultural and Territorial Policies in 2009. From 2010 to 2012, he was the Director of the cabinet of Bruno Le Maire, then Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. From 2012 to 2017, he was the Executive President of the National Institute for Research in Science and Technologies for the Environment and the Agriculture (IRSTEA). Since 2017, Jean-Marc Bournigal has been the General Manager of the Wheat Producers Association (AGPB) and Advisor to the UNIGRAINS President.

Miguel Arias Cañete

Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, European Commission

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Miguel Arias Cañete

Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, European Commission

Miguel Arias Cañete is the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy. He has served in the role since 1st November 2014. Mr. Arias Cañete studied law at the Complutense University of Madrid. After graduating in 1974, he joined the Spanish Civil Service working as a State Attorney. In 1978, he became a Professor of Law at the University of Cadiz. In 1982 he left his teaching post as he was elected a Member of the Parliament of Andalusia until 1986. After serving in the Andalusian Parliament, he became a Member of the European Parliament upon Spain’s accession in 1986. He stayed until 1999, heading the Committees on Agriculture and on Regional Development during his time as MEP. Mr. Arias Cañete served as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Spain from 2000 until 2004. He also served as Minister for Agriculture, Food and Environment in the Spanish Government from 2011 until 2014, before being selected to head his Party List in the European Parliamentary elections.

Ertharin Cousin

12th Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme (2012-2017)

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Ertharin Cousin

12th Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme (2012-2017)

Ertharin Cousin is the Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a Distinguished Fellow in FSI’s Center on Food Security and the Environment and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. Cousin also serves the Chicago Council on Global Affairs as a Distinguished Global Fellow. She previously served as executive director of the UN World Food Programme from 2012 until 2017. In 2009, Cousin served as the US Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome. In this role she served as US Representative for all food, agriculture and nutrition related issues. Prior to her global hunger work, Cousin helped lead the US domestic fight to end hunger while serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of America’s Second Harvest-now Feeding America. Cousin also served as Senior Vice President for Albertson’s Foods and was appointed by the US President to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development where she helped oversee US government agriculture research investments worldwide. Before Albertsons, Cousin served as the White House Liaison to the State Department. Cousin is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago; the University of Georgia Law School and the University of Chicago Executive Management Finance for Non-Financial Executives program. Cousin has Honorary Doctorate degrees from Universities around the globe. She has been listed numerous times on the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women List, as the Fortune Most Powerful Woman in Food and Drink, on Times’ 100 Most Influential People list, and as one of the 500 Most Powerful People on the Planet by Foreign Policy magazine.

Daniel Calleja Crespo

Director-General DG ENVI, European Commission

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Daniel Calleja Crespo

Director-General DG ENVI, European Commission

Mr Calleja has been Director-General of DG Environment since September 2015. Previously he was Director-General of DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (Jan 2015 to Aug 2015) and Director General of DG Enterprise and Industry, Special Envoy for SMEs (Feb 2012 to Jan 2015). Before that he was Deputy Director General of DG Enterprise and Industry (Feb 2011 to Jan 2012). Mr Calleja was Director for Air Transport at the European Commission (2004 to 2011). Between 1999 and 2004, he was Head of Cabinet of the Vice-president of the European Commission and between 1995 and 1999 was the Head of Cabinet for Commissioner Marcelino Oreja, In 1995, he was the legal adviser in the Cabinet of the President of the European Commission. In earlier roles he advised the Transport Commissioner and was Member of the Legal Service of the Commission and represented the institution in numerous cases before the European Court of Justice. Mr Calleja is the author of several publications and has lectured in European Law in several universities and institutes of various Member States. Mr Calleja has a degree in Law and in Business Administration from the University of Comillas, Madrid.

Wiebe Draijer

Chairman of the Managing Board, Rabobank

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Wiebe Draijer

Chairman of the Managing Board, Rabobank

Wiebe Draijer became Chairman of the Managing Board (CEO) of Rabobank in October 2014. He graduated INSEAD Business School from their MBA programme specialising in Finance in 1992 and also has a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Delft University of Technology. Previously he served as President of the Social and Economic Council of The Netherlands (SER) (2012-2014), Consultant and Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company (1990-2012), was a Researcher at Philips Research Laboratories (1987-1989) and was also a freelance journalist (1987-1989). Wiebe Draijer holds additional positions as Member of the Board of the Dutch Banking Association, Member of the Board of the European Association of Cooperative Banks (EACB), Member Supervisory Board Kröller Müller Museum, and Member Supervisory Board Staatsbosbeheer.

Jenny Du

Co-founder and Vice President of Operations, Apeel Sciences

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Jenny Du

Co-founder and Vice President of Operations, Apeel Sciences

Jenny earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Chemistry and her PhD in Chemistry from Queen’s University (Kingston, ON, Canada) where, during her graduate studies, she was awarded an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada in recognition of her research work. Following completion of her doctoral degree, she joined the Chemistry Department at UCSB as a postdoctoral researcher where she worked for 2 years prior to joining Apeel Sciences as Employee #2 and the Director of Extraction Engineering. She is now the Vice President of Operations at Apeel Sciences, where she is responsible for leading the company’s efforts in Regulatory Affairs & Compliance, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Logistics, IT, Facilities, and EH&S.

Teleri Fielden

First generation farmer / shepherdess, Llyndy Isaf Farm, Wales

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Teleri Fielden

First generation farmer / shepherdess, Llyndy Isaf Farm, Wales

28 year old Teleri is a 'first generation farmer' who, despite not growing up on a farm, has always wanted to be in agriculture - announcing to her Mum at the age of four that she wanted to be a 'lady farmer'! In September 2017, she took on the role of managing Llyndy Isaf, a 600 acre upland hill farm in Snowdonia with a strong emphasis on conservation farming, as part of a scholarship scheme. This scheme, run by the National Trust and Wales Young Farmers Club, was established to allow a young farmer a step onto the farming ladder. The trials and tribulations of her first year learning the ropes at Llyndy Isaf has been documented in 'Snowdonia Shepherdess'- a documentary on BBC One. Teleri's passion for agriculture has taken her to California to work at a food policy think tank, to France to study and work on a research farm in the Rhone Alps, and in various marketing and business roles in Wales for farming unions and the Welsh Government.

Stefan Goethaert

Managing Director, Colruyt Group Fine Food & Retail Services

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Stefan Goethaert

Managing Director, Colruyt Group Fine Food & Retail Services

Stefan Goethaert is Director of Colruyt Group Fine Food, the Belgian retailer's food production company with approximately 1,200 employees. He is also responsible for innovating and increasing the sustainability of the group's private labels and for a range of supporting retail services. The further improvement of the sustainability of the private labels is high on his agenda, as are a healthy nutritional composition, more sustainable packaging and a reduction of the environmental impact. Furthermore, Stefan is in charge of the initiatives that Colruyt Group takes in the agri-food sector, with a particular focus on innovative forms of partnership throughout the chain. The research and development project on vertical farming is another one of his focus areas. Stefan is also a member of the management committee of Collibri Foundation, the fund that supports young people in difficult situations, both in Belgium and in developing countries. Before joining Colruyt Group, Stefan had a 20-year international career in the chemical business, in various positions including that of Chief Operating Officer of the Prayon Group, a Belgian company specialising in the production and worldwide distribution of technical and food phosphates. In that capacity, he was responsible for the production departments of the group, as well as the activities in the United States and Canada.

Fred J. Gorrell

Assistant Deputy Minister, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

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Fred J. Gorrell

Assistant Deputy Minister, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

Fred Gorrell has been Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) of the new integrated CFIA-AAFC International Affairs Branch (IAB) since January 2018. IAB is responsible for international market access, market development and regulatory trade issues across both the CFIA and AAFC. He reports directly to the Deputy Minister of AAFC and the President of the CFIA. Prior to this appointment, Fred was the ADM of the Market and Industry Services Branch (MISB) at AAFC, responsible for increasing the competitiveness of the agriculture and food processing industries. In 2009, Fred was appointed Director General of the newly created Market Access Secretariat, responsible for bilateral Market Access issues, the Agri-Food Trade Commissioner Service, Trade Shows and Market Development Coordination, and Market Intelligence reporting. Fred has over 20 years of experience in dealing with agriculture and agri-food trade issues both domestically and internationally, working for AAFC, CFIA and Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. Fred served as Agriculture Counsellor at the Canadian Embassy in Washington from 2004 to 2007. A native of the province of Ontario, Fred has Bachelor of Science degrees in Agriculture and Geography from the University of Guelph and Queen’s University respectively.

Christine Gould

Founder & CEO of the Thought For Food (TFF) Foundation

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Christine Gould

Founder & CEO of the Thought For Food (TFF) Foundation

Christine Gould is the Founder & CEO of the Thought For Food (TFF) Foundation, the world's leading next-generation innovation platform to solve global food and agriculture challenges. So far, TFF has engaged a 15,000+ strong community from 160 countries, catalyzed the creation of thousands of new ideas and helped launch 50 startups. This year, Christine and her team are supercharging their program with a new content and collaboration platform, and by opening up the TFF Challenge - their annual collaborative prize competition - to both pre-acceleration and pre-seed stage startups. Christine has a track record of successfully implementing open innovation and new types of business models in the ag industry, and was instrumental in the creation of Syngenta’s open licensing platform. She is also an invited public speaker and contributor on the new minds, methods and technologies shaping the future of agriculture. Christine holds an MPA in Science & Technology Policy from Columbia University. She sits on the Board of Young Professionals in Ag Development and is a Founding Member of the Ashoka Changemakers League of Intrapreneurs.

Rob Hamer

Vice President Agrifood External Affairs, Unilever

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Rob Hamer

Vice President Agrifood External Affairs, Unilever

Rob Hamer graduated in (bio-)chemistry from the State University of Utrecht in 1981, and obtained a PhD degree in medicine (1986) from the same university. He started his career as a food chemist at the TNO Cereals, Flour and Bread Institute. In 1997 he was appointed as Director at the newly founded Top Institute Food & Nutrition. In 1999, Rob was appointed part-time Professor in Technology of Cereal Proteins at the Food Chemistry group of Wageningen University. Rob has published over 160 articles in international journals, is the author and editor of several books, and received various prizes for his achievements in cereal science. In 2007 Rob was elected as President of AACC International, the American society of cereal chemists and technologists. Rob was the first European to serve in this function. In 2009, Rob joined Unilever and became responsible for Unilever’s global research activities in Foods. In 2012, he was also appointed head of lab and director of Unilever R&D Vlaardingen bv. In 2018, Rob was appointed in his current role as VP Agrifood External Affairs.

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.

Bernie Krause

Soundscape ecologist

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Bernie Krause

Soundscape ecologist

Born in 1938, Bernie Krause was somewhat of a young musical prodigy, performing on a violin, cello, bass, viola, and harp, ultimately choosing guitar as his primary instrument. While an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, he did occasional studio sessions for Motown Records and also worked as a recording engineer and producer. From 1964 to 66, he studied electronic music with Pauline Oliveros and Stockhausen at Mills College in Oakland, California. While at Mills, Krause teamed with Paul Beaver. Beaver & Krause's album “In A Wild Sanctuary”, recorded in 1968 and '69, was the first to incorporate natural soundscapes as a component of the orchestration, and also to address the theme of ecology. By 1981, Krause, who found himself more interested in natural soundscapes than synthesizers, completed a doctoral degree with an internship in marine bio-acoustics. He continued his mission recording and archiving old growth bioacoustic environments from around the world, the scientific data of which has been recently transformed into large format works of art in Paris, Shanghai, Seoul, Milan, and London. The Krause natural soundscape collection consists of more than 5,000 hours of recordings - marine and terrestrial - of which, sadly, it is now estimated that over 50% comes from habitats that are altogether silent or so compromised by human intervention that the natural soundscapes are no longer viable.

Philippe Lamberts

Member of the European Parliament, Co-chair of the Greens/EFA group

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Philippe Lamberts

Member of the European Parliament, Co-chair of the Greens/EFA group

Philippe Lamberts studied Engineering in applied mathematics at the Catholic University of Louvain. From 1987 to 2009, he worked at IBM in various business positions. He was elected in June 2009 for a first term in the European Parliament. In May 2014, he was re-elected for a second term and appointed Co-President of the Green group in the European Parliament. His political career within the Belgian green party (Ecolo) started in 1991, where he served both at the local and federal levels. Since 1999, he became more and more involved with European politics and more specifically through the European Green Party (former European Federation of Green Parties), he was co-president from 2006 to 2012. As a Member of the European Parliament, he focuses on economic and financial questions, and has become a specialist on fiscal, banking and macroeconomic issues. Philippe Lamberts is currently Co-chair of the Greens/EFA political group with Ska Keller. During this term, he aims to reinforce the Greens both within and outside the EU institutions, and with civil society, and to continue his work on the financial regulation and social justice front. He is also a member of the Brexit steering group for the European Parliament.

Mette Lykke

CEO, Too Good To Go

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Mette Lykke

CEO, Too Good To Go

Mette Lykke is the CEO of Too Good To Go, the world's largest business to consumer (B2C) marketplace for surplus food. The app connects supermarkets, restaurants and bakeries that have surplus food with consumers who buy the food at a discount and save it from the bin. Too Good To Go is currently active in nine countries across Europe and has helped save over 10 million meals so far. Before joining the food waste revolution, Mette co-founded Endomondo, a popular social fitness community with 35 million users.

Emmanuel de Merode

Director, Virunga National Park

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Emmanuel de Merode

Director, Virunga National Park

Emmanuel de Merode was born in North Africa and spent his childhood in Kenya, where he developed a passion for the savannas and mountains of East Africa. He arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the early 90s to study the bush meat trade. In 2008, he was appointed director and chief warden of Virunga National Park - a UNESCO World Heritage Site in eastern Congo, African’s oldest national park and home to around a third of the world’s population of endangered mountain gorillas. Under Emmanuel’s leadership, Virunga National Park has embarked on an ambitious program known as the Virunga Alliance – with the aim to create 100,000 jobs over ten years by developing the sectors of tourism, clean energy and agricultural transformation in order to reduce poverty and promote peace in the region. Emmanuel is a certified pilot and has PhD in Anthropology from University College in London.

Heather Mills

Owner & Founder of VBites Food, entrepreneur & charity campaigner

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Heather Mills

Owner & Founder of VBites Food, entrepreneur & charity campaigner

Heather Mills is the founder of the international multi award winning plant based ethical Vegan food company VBites.VBites exports to 24 countries and growing, offers over 130 plant-based products and has won an incredible 80 awards. Heather has encountered an unusual life of extraordinary circumstances. A woman that has an inert ability to defy and conquer anything that falls in her path. In 1993 Heather suffered the loss of her left leg below the knee due to an accident. To save her amputated leg from constant infection she went on a plant-based diet, which ultimately inspired her to create a food range replacing meat, fish and dairy products with a direct plant based replication.

Rudolf Mögele

Deputy Director-General, DG AGRI, European Commission

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Rudolf Mögele

Deputy Director-General, DG AGRI, European Commission

Rudolf Mögele is a Deputy Director General in DG AGRI of the European Commission. He is responsible for Directorates AGRI.G "Markets and observatories", AGRI.H "Assurance and audit" and AGRI.I "Legal, institutional and procedural matters". In previous jobs in DG AGRI he was dealing with Legal and budgetary affairs, Enlargement and Cereals and oilseeds markets. Before joining the European Commission, he held a post in the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior in Munich. He holds a Law degree and a Doctorate in Law from the University of Augsburg and is an Honorary Professor for European Law at the University of Würzburg.

Jeremy Oppenheim

Founding Partner, SYSTEMIQ, representing the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU)

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Jeremy Oppenheim

Founding Partner, SYSTEMIQ, representing the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU)

Jeremy was a senior partner at McKinsey until April 2016, where he worked for 24 years serving some of the world’s leading companies in the finance, consumer goods, technology, healthcare and energy sectors. He worked extensively with multilateral development banks, the United Nations and governments in both developed and developing countries. In 2007, he set up McKinsey’s Sustainability & Resource Productivity Practice, supporting ambitious public, philanthropic and private sector clients to put in place low-carbon, resource-efficient strategies. Prior to this, Jeremy worked at the World Bank from 1988-1993, specialising in economic transformation programmes for middle-income countries. In 2013-2014, Jeremy was programme director of the New Climate Economy project. He sits on a number of non-profit boards, including Global Action Plan (as Chair), the Woods Hole Research Center and Rare (UK). Together with Martin Stuchtey, he is a Founder and Managing Partner of SYSTEMIQ.

Galina Peycheva-Miteva

Farmer, Bulgaria

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Galina Peycheva-Miteva

Farmer, Bulgaria

Galina Peycheva-Miteva studied Econometrics and Statistics in New York and graduated in 2005, when she joined the family farm. She started her active agricultural activity in 2007 by managing 1,650 ha of land. She was instrumental in creating the family vineyard, lavender fields and rose fields. She changed the direction of the family business towards crop diversity adding milk thistle, coriander, alfalfa, grass mixes, cotton and acacia to the traditional wheat, barley and sunflower. She changed the method of farming from conventional to minimum disturbance and has made numerous efforts to preserve and improve soil fertility, fight water and wind erosion and has in the process certified as biologic over 580 ha of arable land. She allocated 200 ha of her arable land to be converted to pasture grass land in order to ensure the sustainable long-term management of the land. For those efforts, she was awarded the prestigious Soil Award in Brussels, in 2017. She was named Business Woman of the Year for 2017 by the Agrobusiness Magazine of Bulgaria. Galina is the Vice-Chairman of the Bulgarian Landowners Association, holds a seat on the Board of the Association of Agricultural Producers in Bulgaria and is a member of the National Grain Producers Association. She is actively involved in policy-making and advocating the rights and responsibilities of farmers and landowners. In 2018, she joined the Wildlife Estates label and is passionate about promoting the message of sustainability and the active role of landowners in protecting and promoting biodiversity.

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

Lesley Rankin

Researcher, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

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Lesley Rankin

Researcher, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

Lesley is a researcher at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), a progressive UK think tank. She is currently working on a major project developing policy responses to environmental breakdown. The launch report, ‘This Is A Crisis: Facing up to the age of environmental breakdown’, finds that mainstream political and policy debates have failed to recognise that human impacts on the environment have reached a critical stage, potentially eroding the conditions upon which socioeconomic stability is possible. Lesley holds an MSc in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh, and a BA in French and German from the University of Exeter.

Valeriu Andrei Steriu

Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of Romania

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Valeriu Andrei Steriu

Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of Romania

Valeriu Andrei Steriu has a PhD in Agricultural Economics, at the University of Agricultural Studies and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest and has a substantial professional background in the field of agriculture. He started as an owner and manager of a dairy farm (1990– 2000) and then managed a World Bank project regarding research in agriculture, followed by the position of state secretary within the Ministry of Agriculture, in charge with the accession negotiations with the EU on behalf of Romania on the Chapter for Agriculture. In 2004 he won a senator mandate in the Romanian Parliament but he chose the private sector and so during 2005-2008 he managed the National Dairy Association and the National Food Industry Association. In 2008 he returned to politics and was elected member of the Chamber of Deputies in the Romanian Parliament, where he continued to support social politics aimed at increasing peoples’ quality of life. During his three mandates he was part of different Parliamentary Committees, such as the Committee for Agriculture, Forestry, Food Industry and Specific Services (2008-2010, 2012-2016, 2017- present day) and others.

Andreas Weber

Director, Institute of Plant Biochemistry Heinrich Heine University & representative of EU-SAGE

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Andreas Weber

Director, Institute of Plant Biochemistry Heinrich Heine University & representative of EU-SAGE

Andreas Weber was appointed Director, Center for Synthetic Life Sciences (CSL), HHU Düsseldorf in 2013 and previously was Professor (W3) and Chair, Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Department of Biology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany (2007 onwards); Adjunct Professor of Plant Biology, Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University (2007-2012); Associate Professor of Plant Biology, Department of Plant Biology Michigan State University (2002-2007);  Research Group Leader, Department of Plant Biology University of Cologne, Germany (1997-2002); Visiting Scientist (Honorary Fellow), Department of Botany University of Wisconsin-Madison (2000-2001) and Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Plant Biology University of Cologne, Germany (1996-1997). EU-SAGE is a network representing plants scientists at 134 European plant science institutes and societies that have joined forces to provide information about genome editing and promote the development of European and EU member state policies that enable the use of genome editing for sustainable agriculture and food production. More information Website – www.plant-biochemistry.hhu.de

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.

Fiona Harvey

Journalist

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Fiona Harvey

Journalist

Fiona Harvey is an award-winning environment journalist for the Guardian, the lead quality newspaper in the UK for environmental issues. Prior to this, she worked for the Financial Times for more than a decade. She has reported on every major environmental issue, from as far afield as the Arctic and the Amazon, and her wide range of interviewees include Ban Ki-moon, Tony Blair, Al Gore and Jeff Immelt. She has twice won the Foreign Press Association award for Best Environment Story and was named Environment Journalist of the Year at the British Environment and Media Awards in 2007. She was named one of the 1,000 most influential people in London by the Evening Standard and, in November 2012, Fiona won the Communication award from the Euro Mediterranean Conference for raising awareness about the New Energy Efficiency Directive.

Agenda

Apr 09, 2019

08:50 - 17:30 (CET)

08:50 - 09:00 (CET)

Welcome

• Femi Oke, Journalist
• Fiona Harvev. Journalist

09:00 - 09:10 (CET)

Introduction & Opening Statement

• Janez Potočnik, Chair FFA2019, Chairman RISE Foundation

09:10 - 09:45 (CET)

Opening Address

• Ertharin Cousin, 12th Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme (2012-2017)

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Femi Oke, Journalist

09:45 - 11:00 (CET)

Session 1

Climate change: Are we doing enough?

Keynote speaker:
• Miguel Arias Caöete, Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, European Commission
Discussants:
• Lesley Rankin, Researcher, Institute for Public Policy Research
• Philippe Lamberts, Member of the European Parliament, Co-chair of the Greens/EFA group
• Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director-General DG ENVI, European Commission
• Jean-Marc Bournigal, General Manager of the Wheat Producers Association (AGPB), France

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Fiona Harvey, Journalist

11:00 - 11:30 (CET)

Networking Break

11:30 - 11:40 (CET)

New Partners

• Janez Potočnik, Chair FFA2019, Chairman RISE Foundation
• Hendrik Bourgeois, Vice President Corporate Affairs EMEA, Cargill
• Christine Gould, Founder and CEO, Thought for Food

Moderator: Femi Oke, Journalist

11:40 - 12:40 (CET)

Session 2

Financing sustainability: What is growth in the 21st century?

Keynote speaker:
• Wiebe Draijer, Chairman of the Managing Board, Rabobank

Discussants:
• Emmanuel de Merode, Director, Virunga National Park
• Fred J. Gorrell, Assistant Deputy Minister, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Jeremy Oppenheim, Founding Partner, SYSTEMIQ, representing the Food and Land Use Coalition

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Femi Oke, Journalist

12:40 - 13:05 (CET)

Special Address

Michel Barnier, European Chief Negotiator for the United Kingdom Exiting the European Union

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Fiona Harve , Journalist

13:05 - 14:00 (CET)

Networking Lunch Break

14:00 - 14:30 (CET)

Afternoon Keynote

Heather Mills, Founder, VBites

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Femi Oke, Journalist

14:30 - 15:15 (CET)

New Perspectives

Inspiring the next generation
• Teleri Fielden, First generation farmer/shepherdess, Llyndy Isaf Farm, Wales
• Bernie Krause, Soundscape Ecologist
• Jenny Du, Co-founder and Vice President of Operations, Apeel Sciences

Moderator: Fiona Harvey, Journalist

15:15 - 16:15 (CET)

Session 3

The next generation of consumers

Discussants:
• Mette Lykke, CEO, Too Good To Go
• Professor Andreas Hensel, President, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment
(Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung)
• Stefan Goethaert, Managing Director, Colruyt Group Fine Food & Retail Services
• Rob Hamer, Vice President Agrifood External Affairs, Unilever

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Femi Oke, Journalist

16:15 - 17:15 (CET)

Session 4

A CAP for the next generation?

Keynote speaker:
• Phil Hogan, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
Discussants:
• Galina Peycheva-Miteva, Farmer, Bulgaria
• Valeriu Andrei Steriu, Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of Romania
• Rudolf Mögele, Deputy Director-General, DG AGRI, European Commission
• Faustine Bas-Defossez, Principal Policy Analyst and Head of Agriculture and Land Management Programme, IEEP

Dialogue & discussion
Moderator: Fiona Harvey, Journalist

17:15 - 17:30 (CET)

Closing

Closing statement
• Janez Potočnik, Chair FFA2019, Chairman RISE Foundation

Founding partners

Strategic partners

FFA friends

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