Promoting Farmer-Driven, Science-Based, Solution-Oriented Policy Development
The World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) develops institutional policies and positions through a truly bottom-up, member-driven approach. WFO members identify key policy areas, draft position papers, and adopt them during the General Assembly, ensuring that each document reflects the needs, expectations, and realities of the global farming community.
This inclusive and democratic process guarantees that WFO policies are balanced, consensus-based, and regionally representative. Working Groups, Committees, and Task Forces – established by the General Assembly – play a key role in advancing this work by fostering ongoing collaboration among members on agreed priority areas.
WFO’s positions are further strengthened by scientific evidence and expert validation. The WFO Scientific Council, established in 2020, supports the development of credible and forward-looking policy documents.
Developed through a bottom-up approach.
Informed and validated by scientific evidence.
Aimed at proposing pragmatic, locally relevant solutions
Consensus-based Policies and Positions
WFO’s institutional policies and ad-hoc position papers are developed through a farmer-driven, bottom-up approach, led by members and approved by the General Assembly. These documents serve as the foundation of the Organisation’s global advocacy, capturing the voice and priorities of the farming community on key issues such as food security and nutrition, climate change, food systems transformation, trade, innovation, and more.
Each document reflects a collective consensus, ensuring they are both representative and actionable.
WFO remains committed to continuously updating its institutional policies to remain relevant in a rapidly evolving global context, while also developing focused positions to support advocacy and implementation efforts aligned with those overarching policy frameworks.
WFO is committed to achieving Sustainable Food Systems contributing to the process design, preparation and implementation, and to secure an opportunity for the voice of family farmers to be heard and for the world farmers to be kept at the heart of any sustainable food systems fair transformation.
WFO Policy on Sustainable Global Food Security and Nutrition – Revised and adopted by WFO General Assembly 2024
Farmers are the key to achieving Sustainable Global Food and Nutrition Security. What farmers produce is the precondition to attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2. Building upon the outcomes of the United Nations Food Systems Summit and findings from the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report 2023, it is evident there is a necessity to consider the detrimental effects on food security caused by various conflicts and crises that were not present during the first policy revision as well as the widespread, rapid and intensifying impact of climate change. In response, the General Assembly of WFO adopted an updated version of its institutional policy on Food Security and Nutrition.
WFO Position on Nutrition
Farmers play a crucial role in ensuring food security by producing nutritious food while maintaining sustainable agricultural practices. Food is not just a market commodity but the result of skilled farm labour, essential for human health and well-being. Farm-produced food supports a secure and resilient food systems transition. Strengthening the connection between farmers and consumers, as well as deconcentrating power in value chains, and ensuring fair remuneration for farmers are key to improving consumers’ access to fresh, healthy, and nutrient-rich food.
WFO Position on School Meal Programmes
School meals represent one of the most effective intersections between agriculture, nutrition, and education to food consumption. They go far beyond addressing classroom hunger, serving as instruments for health, learning, and social equity. When designed with local sourcing and community engagement, school meal programmes stimulate rural economies, empower women and youth, and create stable, predictable markets for farmers. This paper highlights key challenges and provides recommendations to strengthen farmer–school linkages and support more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable food systems.
WFO Policy on Food Loss and Waste
Building on the latest global data on food availability and waste, it is clear that addressing food loss and waste is essential to improving food security, reducing environmental impact, and supporting sustainable development. Recognisingthe limited role farmers play in downstream waste, yet acknowledging their vital position in the food chain, the WFO promotes practical, farmer-driven solutions, from improving post-harvest practices and infrastructure to enhancing market access and promoting circular economy approaches, reinforcing the role of farmers in shaping more efficient and resilient food systems.
WFO Recommendations for Eliminating Rural Poverty and Achieving Food Security
More than 1 billion people in the world live in absolute poverty. 925 million people do not have enough food in order to sustain life and work. The great majority of these people live in the rural areas, and most of them are farmers. Farmers constitute about one third of the world´s population, but half of the world´s hungry.
WFO Policy Paper on Climate Change and Agriculture
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Farmers and foresters are on the frontline of this change as the lives and livelihoods of those who feed, clothe and fuel the world are directly affected by a changing climate and weather extremes. At the same time, agriculture is expected to meet the future needs of a more urban and affluent population of 9 billion by 2050. Consequently, agricultural production will need to increase significantly. Along with food, global demand for water, energy and land will also increase, putting additional pressure on the world’s natural resources and threatening the very ecosystems we rely upon.
WFO Position on Carbon Markets
The introduction of voluntary carbon offsetting schemes was seen as an opportunity to reward farmers for implementing practices that foster the storage of carbon in soil. The design of carbon markets should be consistent with the Paris Agreement which recognized “the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger” and aims to strengthen the global response to climate change “in a manner that does not threaten food production”. This is critical in ensuring that humanity achieves all Sustainable Development Goals. To ensure that opportunities are maximized, and risks minimized, it is critical that carbon markets put the needs of farmers, the agriculture sector, and rural communities at the heart of policy design.
WFO Position on Sustainable Water Management
Water is a foundational and strategic resource that underpins food production, climate adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity preservation, and the prosperity of rural communities. As the agricultural sector faces increasing water scarcity and more frequent hydrological events, farmers play a critical role as frontline custodians of water systems. This Position calls for supportive policy frameworks, investment in water infrastructure and innovation, integrated approaches based on the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus, and the active participation of farmer organisations to strengthen sustainable water management and food security.
Declining biodiversity, soil health, and water quality and availability are not only a crisis in and of themselves; they exacerbate the effects of climate change and directly impact food, fibre, and fuel production and, therefore, on farmers’ income and livelihoods. A sound environmental policy that halts and then reverses the decline is simply in the interest of the world’s farmers who depend on biodiversity and natural resources like soil and water for essential services such as pollination, natural pest control, maintenance of soil structure and fertility and water regulation. Just as farmers depend on the environment, often the environment depends on farmers, who actively and in cooperation with nature, manage over 1/3 of the world’s land. Too often, government decisions and policy settings have little consideration for the services that our agroecosystems provide to society, whereas distorted market incentives and inappropriate top-down regulations are driving down the ability of farmers to increase the efficiency of on-farm production without impacting environmental outcomes worldwide. There is an urgent need to recognise the role of farmers as not only food producers but also stewards of the environment and develop adequate incentive structures to help them sustainably manage biodiversity and natural resources as an integral part of their farming operations.
Farmers and farmers’ cooperative organisations can play many roles and perform different functions, from facilitating services delivery, mobilisation of local resources, and collective marketing, to members’ empowerment at local level and engagement with policy and service providers by creating an enabling environment to build farmers’ capabilities. We call on policy makers to create an enabling environment for this boost to structured organization for farmers by legal systems, political support and inclusion within relevant fora of discussion. Promoting fair trading practices and stronger relationships between food production and consumption, and among value chain actors, developing different networks of distribution and exchange could bring concrete solutions to global challenges contributing to the sustainability of food systems and security of food supply. Giving more freedom of choice to farmers together with more value added can contribute to global food security ensuring sustainable food systems that respect producers’ work, consumers and environment.
WFO Position on Real Agriculture
A stronger connection between consumers, policymakers, and the agricultural and rural world is essential to move towards greater economic, social and environmental sustainability. Increasing productivity and its stability by enhancing the resilience and adaptability of farming systems, sustainably utilising resources in agriculture and increasing soil fertility are the critical issues for an ever-growing population to nourish itself adequately, successfully and sufficiently. But to achieve these goals, it is imperative to continue investing in agriculture focusing on those who have always defended and protected land, soil, biodiversity, and nature: farmers. It is on these assumptions that the WFO is embracing an approach to innovation that is bottom-up, science-based and results-oriented, but rejects any attempt to replace the food resulting from the work of farmers with lab-grown food and to further concentrate power in the value chains, dismissing the work of farmers and pushing consumers towards a single and homogenous dietary model, which does not value the tradition, diversity, richness, quality, and peculiarities of each region of our planet.
Trade, alongside domestic agriculture, supported by effective domestic policies, delivers an opportunity to increase local, national and global food security and sovereignty worldwide in a fair and sustainable manner while contributing to economic prosperity and sustainable development. Improving the global trading system to make it more inclusive and fairer for all farmers is a big challenge but it has the potential to increase productivity and diversification of production, promote inclusiveness, and aid in achieving many SDGs. WFO is committed to the pursuit of ambitious trade policy objectives and the reinforcement of the rule-based global agricultural trading system. This allows farmers to operate in a fair, transparent, and predictable trading environment fulfilling their wider economic, social and environmental role.
WFO Policy on Land Use and Land Tenure
Secure land tenure, responsible land governance, and balanced land-use policies are essential to ensuring food security, sustainable agricultural production, and resilient rural communities. This policy promotes legal certainty, responsible investment, the protection of farmers’ land rights, balanced land-use planning, and informed decision-making to support environmental sustainability, generational renewal, and the sustainable management of land and natural resources.
Livestock production currently faces a number of global challenges in terms of global food security, food safety, animal diseases and welfare, antimicrobial resistance, economic viability, and expectations related to landscape and environment. On the other hand, the global community acknowledges that livestock farming has an essential role for poverty reduction and the achievement of food security and nutrition. It is highly relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as to the implementation of the 2014 Rome Declaration on Nutrition and to the fulfilment of the universal Human Right to Food.
WFO Policy on Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Livestock
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens the effective prevention and treatment of infections in humans and animals. Resistant bacteria and infectious diseases do not respect borders and are present in all parts of the world. Global action is needed to preserve the long-term availability of effective treatment of infections for future generations. AMR is of great importance to human and animal health and a One Health approach at global, regional and national level is crucial for tackling AMR. Close cooperation between stakeholders in human and veterinary medicine is needed and everyone must take part in the fight against AMR. WFO will support and encourage farmers, veterinarians, specialists in livestock production, and food specialists to join forces and combat AMR together to minimize the risk of it spreading, while taking into consideration the human, animal and environmental dimensions.
Cooperatives can be considered as an innovative business model and play a key role in boosting the potential of the farming sector. Indeed, agricultural cooperatives foster farmers’ economic, social and political inclusion as their members can get access to markets, value chains, opportunities that would otherwise be beyond their reach. Strengthening cooperatives is key to facilitate farmers’ access to resources, including land, technology, information education, funds, insurances, social services, that individual farmers may otherwise not be able to access alone, thus fostering development of rural communities.
WFO Policy on Innovation
Innovation is much more than the mere adoption of new technologies and should be adopted from different points of view: it should be technological, social, organisational. Indeed, it is considered as a key driver to improve the quality of production, as well as to boost the sustainability and resilience of food systems. Farmers are innovators by nature and innovation in agriculture has to be farmers driven, based on farmers’ needs, expertise and knowledge. Also, it has to be affordable for all farmers so to be an instrument for them to be game changers for achieving more resilient, inclusive and sustainable food systems.
WFO Policy on Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence
This policy sets out the WFO’s position on the responsible development, deployment, and governance of digitalization and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the agri-food sector. It outlines a farmer-centric approach that ensures all digital tools and AI systems empower farmers, enhance farm profitability and sustainability, and strengthen their capacity to address global development and environmental challenges. Rooted in the principles of co-creation, access to knowledge and technology, human agency, data protection and ownership, fairness, and transparency, the policy also highlights the urgency of closing the digital divide and harnessing technological advancements, particularly for women, youth, and farmers in underserved areas, through inclusive partnerships and interoperable solutions.
Women play a key role in achieving global food security and making food systems more sustainable. However, their crucial role in taking care of families and communities, preserving local traditions and ecosystems, and their active contribution to the farming sector, remains often hidden and unpaid. Empowering women, providing them with the adequate skills and capacity-building opportunities to increase their self-leadership, as well as reducing inequalities in their access to resources, is a crucial precondition for the sustainable development of rural communities.
WFO Position on Women Farmers
Women farmers play a pivotal role for prosperity and profitability in family farming, for economic development in rural areas and for food security and social well-being. Tackling the challenges for women farmers successfully will considerably strengthen world agriculture going forward. Despite their significant contributions, women farmers face numerous challenges. This paper highlights some key contributions, challenges and recommendations that can enhance and better recognise the role of women in family farming.
Despite facing many challenges, including unemployment, lack of access to land, credit, resources, education, young farmers are a huge goldmine for the future of our food systems. Facilitating their access to education and training, financial and non-financial resources, as well as engaging them in the policy making processes, is key to unlock their potential to provide solutions toward a more sustainable farming sector.
Young Farmers’ Manifesto
Young farmers present a huge goldmine that can provide the solution to the main challenges of the 21st century as well as a strong potential to modernize an ageing agricultural sector that needs to be rejuvenated if a sustainable future and social stability for the Planet are to be achieved.
WFO strongly condemns all forms of violence against farmers and rural communities worldwide, including physical, moral, gender, racial, religious, social and economic violence.
WFO calls on governments to provide appropriate protection and security to farming communities.
Members Driving Policy Development
WFO operates on the basis of an authentic bottom-up approach, where member organisations lead the policy process from start to finish. To implement this model, the Organisation has established a series of Working Groups, Committees, and ad-hoc Task Forces, created to advance specific priority areas defined by the General Assembly.
These structures ensure that the voices of farmers from all regions are represented and heard. Each group is composed of one facilitator and twelve nominated members – with two representatives per regional constituency: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, and Oceania.
Through this inclusive and representative format, WFO guarantees that its policy development process remains democratic, regionally balanced, and truly member-led.
Cristina Chirico
FACILITATOR – CIA, Italy
c.chirico@cia.it
Saquina Mucavele
MUGEDE, Mozambique
Kumar Ravi
UFF, India
Gaku Izawa
JA-ZENCHU, Japan
Juha Ruippo
MTK, Finland
Nadine Trottmann
SFU, Switzerland
Ezequiel de Freijo
SRA, Argentina
Brodie Berrigan
CFA-FCA, Canada
Charlotte Wundersitz
NFF, Australia
Tamar Toria
FACILITATOR – GFA, Georgia
ttoria@gfa.org.ge
Gunsham Seeborun
Falcon Association, Mauritius
Kaburu M’Ribu
KENAFF, Kenya
Sok Sotha
CFAP, Cambodia
Kumar Ravi
UFF, India
Tobias Gräs
DAFC, Denmark
Darrell Leroux
FNSEA, France
Amanda Roza
CNA, Brazil
Tamisha Lee
JNRWP, Jamaica
Maria Camila Ajmat (Observer)
SRA, Argentina
Aaron Shier
US NFU, United States
Mitchell Newcombe
Federated Farmers, New Zealand
Warwick Ragg
NFF, Australia
Klaas Johan Osinga
FACILITATOR-LTO, Netherlands
kjosinga@lto.nl
Nandini Azad
FACILITATOR – ICNW LTD, India
nandiniazadicnw@gmail.com
Paul Zakariya
ZFU, Zimbabwe
Hildegunn Gjengedal
Norges Bondelag, Norway
Robin Manning
UK NFU, United Kingdom
Nicolas Ginatta
SRA, Argentina
Guy Nicol
NFF, Australia
Gary Wertish
FACILITATOR – US NFU, United States
gary@mfu.org
Prince Sivile Mabandla
SAAI, South Africa
Paul Zakariya
ZFU, Zimbabwe
Trine Vig Tamstorf
DAFC, Denmark
Liam MacHale
IFA, Ireland
Carlos Odriozola
SRA, Argentina
Amanda Pufall
CFA, Canada
Katrina Sarah Milne
Federated Farmers, New Zealand
Charlotte Wundersitz
NFF, Australia
Theo De Jager
FACILITATOR-SAAI, South Africa
theo@saai.org
Paluku Mivimba Methusalem
CONAPAC, DR Congo
Florian Dalstein
DBV, Germany
Tomas Palazón
SRA, Argentina
Zac Rayson
NFF, Australia
James Thiaine Imwonyo
FACILITATOR – KENAFF, Kenya
james.imwonyo@kenaff.org
Mustafa Alidu Sanatu
COFAG, Ghana
Antonio Saliao
MUGEDE, Mozambique
Baptiste Briand
FNSEA, France
Wilco Brower de Koning
LTO, Netherlands
Warwick Ragg
NFF, Australia
Hildegunn Gjengedal
FACILITATOR – Norges Bondelag, Norway
hildegunn.gjengedal@bondelaget.no
Kouassi Sebastino Da Costa
ANASEMCI, Ivory Coast
Betty Chinyamunyamu
NASFAM, Malawi
Ravi Kumar
UFF, India
Lucia Zitti
UK NFU, United Kingdom
Isadora Barbosa Sousa
CNA, Brazil
Carlos Uranga
SRA, Argentina
Yves Ruel
CFA, Canada
Walter Schweitzer
US NFU, United States
Fiona Simson
NFF, Australia
Charlotte Wundersitz
NFF, Australia
Meri Remes
FACILITATOR – MTK, Finland
Meri.Remes@mtk.fi
Dimakatso Sekhoto
AFASA, South Africa
Saquina Mucavele
MUGEDE, Mozambique
Nandini Azad
ICNW Ltd, India
Zeinab Ahmad Mohamad Almomany
SUFWJ, Jordan
Pina Terenzi
CIA, Italy
Francesca Gironi
COLDIRETTI, Italy
Tamisha Lee
JNRWP, Jamaica
Gabriela Zarate
UAN, Paraguay
Charlotte Wundersitz
NFF, Australia
Pier Carlo Tondo
FACILITATOR – Coldiretti Giovani, Italy
piercarlo.tondo@coldiretti.it
Benson Kalundu
BOFA, Botswana
Evangelista Chekera
ZFU, Zimbabwe
Nikoloz Gongliashvili
GFA, Georgia
Lucas Vidal Podestà
SRA, Argentina
Martin Murray
NFF, Australia
Strengthening Farmer-led Policy with Science-Based Expertise
To ensure that its policies are evidence-based, WFO established an independent Scientific Council in 2020, composed of leading scientists, experts, and professors from across the globe.
The Council plays a vital role in supporting WFO’s farmer-led policy development process, providing independent advice based on scientific evidence that strengthens the quality, legitimacy, and impact of the Organisation’s positions. It contributes to bridging the gap between the realities farmers face and the most up-to-date knowledge available, helping to identify knowledge gaps and emerging trends in agriculture and food systems.
By fostering mutual understanding between science and farming, the Scientific Council reinforces WFO’s ability to advocate with one voice for policies that are not only grounded in real-world experience but also supported by science-sound evidence — strengthening the position of farmers in global decision-making spaces.
WFO Scientific Council Seeks Scientists and Experts. Help advance the farmer-driven, solution-oriented, and science-based approach to global agriculture decision-making.
Daniel Berckmanns
Daniel Berckmans has a master and a PhD in Bioengineering. Headed as full Professor for 25 years the research Division M3-BIORES (Measure, Model and Manage Bio responses), Department of Biosystems at the Catholic University of Leuven (⁰1425, 60.000 students). Part-time connected to the University of Tennessee USA. His research focus is on real-time monitoring of health and wellbeing of individual humans and animals. He co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications, over 400 papers, participated in 64 PhD commissions in 9 countries and promoted over 200 Master theses. Since 1982, 19 products were co-developed for the world market with industrial partners. He is co-inventor of 20 patents and coordinated several EU-projects. In a recent project with 20 partners and 20 farmers, 4 new spin-off companies were started in the field of Precision Livestock Farming.Daniel is worldwide considered as the spiritual father of the field of Precision Livestock Farming: real-time monitoring of animals with technology: microphones, camera’s, and sensors. He co-started the European Committee for Precision Livestock Farming that organizes since 2003 the 2-yearly European Conference for Precision Livestock Farming ECPLF. Today the conference is organized in agreement with the “Asian Conference for PLF” (ACPLF) and the “US Conference for PLF” (USCPLF).
He co-initiated the first European Master’s in Human Health Engineering at the KU Leuven: technology for monitoring healthy people. Daniel is co-founder of 3 spin-off companies: BioRICS NV in 2006, BioRICS INC in San Francisco in 2016 and SoundTalks in 2011. KU Leuven was named the seventh most innovative university worldwide in 2020 with 135 spin-off companies started so far. This makes KU Leuven the most innovative university outside of the United States.
Amaryllis Blin
Amaryllis Blin is an agricultural engineer who graduated from AgroParisTech with a specialisation in livestock and plant production, and she is also a qualified nutritionist. She began her career at the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food as a plant epidemiology and crop protection project manager.
She then joined the Economics Department of the Fédération Nationale des Syndicats d’Exploitants Agricole (FNSEA), where she focused on valorising French agricultural production and defending farmers’ remuneration, mainly through national and European legislation. At the European level, she served as an expert for the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), contributing to several opinions.
Currently, she participates in the development and structuration of the French cereal sector at Intercéréales, the interprofessional organisation. Working across all stages from production to processing, she places a strong emphasis on enhancing competitiveness, creating value and sustainability to contribute to building a robust and resilient French cereal sector, a key foundation of global food security.
Dr. Harry Clark
Dr. Harry Clark is the Special Representative for the Global Research Alliance (GRA). Based at the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC), his role is to act as an ambassador for the GRA. Harry is also the Chief Scientist of the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC), a government-funded entity established in 2009 to develop technologies and practices to reduce GHG emissions from the New Zealand agricultural sector. He is also the Special Representative of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA). He was a member of New Zealand’s Interim Climate Change Committee from 2017 to 2019 and served as one of New Zealand’s seven Climate Change Commissioners from 2019 to 2021. He was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2014 for services to environmental science.
Prof Paolo D’Odorico
Prof Paolo D’Odorico is the Thomas J Graff Professor of Natural Resources in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at the University of California Berkeley. Paolo D’Odorico’s research focuses on the role of hydrological processes in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. His group’s work has highlighted the role played by positive feedback with the physical environment on the resilience of savannas, dry tropical forests, desert shrublands, freshwater wetlands, mangrove swamps, and seagrass meadows. Their work has also shown how environmental noise may increase the complexity of ecosystem dynamics by inducing new states, bifurcations, or pattern formation. He is currently investigating the globalization of water through virtual water trade and international land investments, and its impact on water equity, societal resilience, environmental stewardship, and food security. This research is highlighting the crucial role of water in agriculture and energy production. They are focusing in particular on irrigation and the extent to which the local water resources constrain sustainable irrigation across major agricultural regions of the planet both under current and climate change conditions. They are also evaluating the value created by irrigation in agriculture.
Dr. Mariana de Aragão Pereira
Dr. Mariana de Aragão Pereira is a researcher “A” from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation – EMBRAPA since 2001, initially working at the Strategic Management Secretary (SGE) and, from 2004, working at Embrapa Beef Cattle research unit. She worked as a research assistant at the Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit (AERU), Lincoln University, from 2007 to 2008. She works with Rural Economics and Farm Management, with emphasis on beef cattle systems and production costs, economics applied to integrated farming systems, decision-making and technology adoption, and farm management, including the development of management tools. She is a member of the Management Councils of the Environmental Protected Area of Ceroula Creek/MS and Lajeado/MS, a representative of South America at the International Farm Management Association (IFMA) Council and the coordinator of the Good Agricultural Practices Program – Brazilian GAP beef cattle. In July/21, she took a position as manager of the Beef Production Systems Research Group at Embrapa Beef Cattle. She is also an ad hoc reviewer for several Brazilian and international journals and is a project consultant for state funding agencies and Embrapa.
Dr. Mariana de Aragão Pereira
Dr Seetharam Annadana has over 35 years of experience in the agricultural sector. A seasoned professional in biotechnology, biofuels, hybrid trialling, pathology, DH, and entomology, he holds a PhD in Biotechnology from Wageningen University and completed the Executive General Management Program at IIM Bangalore—equipping him with both scientific expertise and business acumen to deliver innovative solutions for the global food system.He has consulted for over three decades with organisations including UNIDO, UNEP-GEF, ICCOA, the World Bank, and private enterprises.
For the past 16 years, at an MNC seed company, he has led a team across 12 APAC countries as Market Segment Lead—working with customers, partners, and stakeholders to understand needs and deliver tailored products and services that improve productivity, profitability, and sustainability.
He has collaborated with regional and global technology teams to align market segmentation strategy with the technology portfolio and pipeline. His goal: to drive growth and value for farmers in vegetable and field crops by leveraging biotechnology, molecular breeding, and trait assessment with a strong understanding of customer needs.
He is passionate about creating positive environmental, social, and economic impact through sustainable and resilient agriculture.
Stephan De Smet
Stephan De Smet graduated in 1986 as an Agricultural Engineer at Ghent University with specialisation in Animal Production. Since 1987 he has been associated with the Department of Animal Production, Ghent University, first as a PhD student and later as a research project assistant and post-doctoral scientist before becoming assistant professor.
He performed his PhD research on the role of rumen protozoa. He later moved to meat quality research with particular interest in the relationship between carcass quality and sensory and technological meat quality traits.
He is now a full professor in Animal Science at Ghent University, Belgium, responsible for teaching general and advanced courses in Animal Production, Animal Breeding and Meat Science. His current research focuses on meat quality and the health value of meat and meat products with an emphasis on optimisation of the composition and oxidative stability of meat from different species. He is also the current president of the Belgian Association of Meat Science and Technology (BAMST). He is (co-)author of >150 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and regularly referees manuscripts for several journals.
Peer Ederer
Prof Dr Ederer directs and coordinates GOALSciences, the Global Observatory on Accurate Livestock Sciences. GOALSciences provides a
platform and data access for senior decision-makers in the food and
agribusiness industry to define their future strategies and perspectives
(more at https://goalsciences.org/).
Vanni Frajese
Prof Giovanni V. Frajese is currently the director of the “SMART Lab” at the “University of Rome Foro Italico” and researches medicine and biotechnologies with interest in the field of Endocrinology, Oncology, Metabolism and Nutrition. He graduated in 1996 in Medicine at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and specialized in Endocrinology and Dysmetabolic diseases in 2001. He has authored over 70 papers in international peer-reviewed scientific journals. He is a Member of several societies, including the Endocrine Society (USA), American Diabetes Association (ADA), N.Y. Academy of Sciences, and SIE (Italian Society of Endocrinology).
Radhakrishnan Govindan
Dr Radhakrishnan Govindan is President of the Life Science Advisory Group at Sathguru Management Consultants, bringing 21 years of expertise in seed industry innovation, phytopathology, breeding, trait research, and seed systems.
He holds an MSc and PhD in Plant Pathology from IARI, New Delhi, with further training from the World Vegetable Center, INSEAD, and Harvard Business School. Recognised with prestigious awards, including the ICAR Jawaharlal Nehru Award and the Indian Virological Society Young Scientist Award, he has led global breeding projects and sustainability initiatives at Bayer and BASF Vegetable Seeds.
Dr Govindan has contributed to major agricultural committees, including ICAR-APSA Joint Working Group, the Seed Health Experts Committee, and the APSA R&D Advisory Group. He played a key role in the USAID Feed the Future Eggplant Partnership and the Dutch Agri-Food Innovation Mission. Currently, he serves as a Global Council Member of the World Agriculture Forum (WAF) and is part of the ICFA Telangana Agriculture Council.
Kate Gunn
Kate Gunn is an Associate Professor at the University of South Australia and has been a passionate researcher and tireless advocate in the field of farmers’ wellbeing for approximately 15 years, fueled by growing up on and staying closely connected to her family’s mixed sheep and grain farming enterprise in South Australia, and her experience working as a Clinical Psychologist.
A/Prof Gunn’s contributions at multiple levels have not only improved scientific understanding of farmers’ drivers of distress (and rural health disparities more generally) but importantly, she has also used her clinical psychology and behavioural science skills to work with farmers to develop and evaluate, interventions to address these.
A/Prof Gunn has also played a significant role in shaping policy, including her invitation to be part of the inaugural South Australian Premiers’ Council for Suicide Prevention. This council successfully formulated and implemented Australia’s first Suicide Prevention Bill. Her translational research’s value has garnered recognition through various awards, such as the South Australian Young Achiever of the Year Award (2013), a Churchill Fellowship (2017), Suicide Prevention Australia’s prestigious National Award for Innovation (2022), and the Kondinin Group/ABC Rural’s National Farmer of the Year Award for Excellence in Agricultural Research (2022).
Rob Jackson
Rob Jackson is an Earth System Science Professor at the Stanford University; a Senior Fellow at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy.
Dr Jackson and his lab examine the many ways people affect the Earth. They seek basic scientific knowledge and use it to help shape policies and reduce the environmental footprint of global warming, energy extraction, and other issues. They’re currently examining the effects of climate change and droughts on forest mortality and grassland ecosystems. They are also working to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the Global Carbon Project (globalcarbonproject.org), which Jackson chairs; examples of new research Rob leads include establishing a global network of methane tower measurements at more than 80 sites worldwide and measuring and reducing methane emissions from oil and gas wells, city streets, and homes and buildings.
Michael Lee
Professor Michael Lee is an expert in sustainable livestock systems, defining their role in securing global food security at the same time as protecting environmental health (Livestock’s role in human and planetary health). Michael is President of the European Federation of Animal Science Livestock Farming Systems Commission and Senior Vice President of the British Society of Animal Science.
Frederic Leroy
Frédéric Leroy (1974) graduated as Bioengineer and obtained a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences. He is a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and an expert in food technology, nutrition, and interdisciplinary research (‘food studies’), with a focus on animal-source foods.
Susan MacMillan
Susan MacMillan is an emeritus fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute, where she headed science communications, public awareness and advocacy work for more than 30 years. An American, she has a master’s degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley and has lived and worked in Kenya since 1972.
Neil Mann
Neil is a Professor of Human Nutrition in the School of Agriculture and Food Science, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science at the University of Melbourne. Having previously held the position of Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry and head of Food and Nutrition Science at RMIT University for many years, Neil has over 30 years of experience in nutrition research, coordinating projects in the areas of long-chain fatty acids, obesity, diabetes, hunter-gather diets and aspects of metabolic syndrome.
He is a respected voice internationally on nutrition, health, physiology, biochemistry and food science. He has been involved with the Nutrition Society of Australia, the Nutrition Accreditation Committee, the Asia Pacific Region International Life Sciences Institute and the International Diabetes Institute.
Neil has authored over 80 refereed research papers in high-impact factor international nutrition and medical journals, and more than 100 national and international conference proceedings.
Warren McNabb
Warren McNabb is a Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the Riddet Institute. His research interests include nutrition for health, sustainable nutrition, human-microbiome interactions, and physiology and metabolism.
At the Riddet Institute, Prof Warren leads several programmes including the MBIE-funded programme, New Zealand Milks Mean More (NZ3M) and the Sustainable Nutrition Initiative (SNI) which he leads. Warren is also a Principle Investigator in the Riddet Institute CoRE Research programme and an Associate Investigator in the HVN National Science Challenge priority research programmes’, Healthy Digestion and Infant Health. His focus is on food structures-nutrient digestion interactions, clinical investigations of nutrition, microbe-human interactions, gastrointestinal function and sustainable nutrition.
Prof Warren received the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences Fellowship in 2007. Since 2019, he has been recognized as a professional member of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology, the American Society of Nutrition, and the Canadian Nutrition Society. Additionally, he has contributed to numerous national and international research advisory and funding panels.
Derrick Moot
Professor Derick Moot is a Professor of Plant Science at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Agriculture & Life Sciences Faculty, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.
Professor Moot’s research focuses on dryland (rainfed) sheep and beef systems. It recognises that water and nutrients, particularly nitrogen are the main limitations to all plant growth worldwide. Therefore, he investigates how to use suitably adapted legumes, with high water use efficiency, to drive nitrogen cycling and underpin animal production.
His work provides agronomic solutions for sustainable pastoral farm systems in New Zealand. He helps create farm systems resilient to climate change, particularly drought and enhances the social and welfare outcomes for rural communities. Professor Moot’s work is recognised nationally through his engagement with policy development through MPI, ECAN and industry bodies.
Professor Moot’s research team is based around 100+ post-graduate students who have aided the creation of plant-based solutions to overcome biotic and abiotic stresses induced by cold and or dry climates, low soil pH and hence high aluminium toxicity. His team develops environmentally, socially and financially sustainable farm systems for hill and high-country farms.
Kopedi Alfred Ntabane
Mr Kopedi Alfred Ntabane is an expert in sustainable agricultural practices and administration. Mr Ntabane is a professional scientist working with the Department of Agriculture Rural Development and Land Reform in South Africa. His expertise lies in sustainable agriculture and socioeconomic progress, with a particular dedication to small-scale farmers. Mr. Ntabane is committed to promoting nature-based solutions that enhance biodiversity and aid in climate adaptation.
Furthermore, he actively engages in professional gatherings such as meetings, conferences, and seminars for scientists. This active involvement enables him to gain insights into the unspoken needs within the agricultural field and generate innovative ideas to bolster emerging approaches or initiatives in the sector.
Geneviève Parent
Geneviève Parent is a full-time professor at the Law Faculty of Laval University and head of the Legal Research Chair in Food Diversity and Security. Her areas of interest are food security and national and inter-national agrifood law. Ms Parent is also a part-time member of the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal and an associate member of the French Academy of Agriculture.
Enrico Perticone
Enrico is a Customs broker, registered in the Professional Register of Customs Brokers since 1989, focused on consultancy and training in customs and international trade matters. Since 2005 he has been a lecturer professor and chair holder of Customs Commodity at the “G. D’Annunzio”, School of Economics, Pescara (Master’s degree course in Legal Sciences for internationalisation and Master’s degree course in Economics and Commerce).
Liisa Pietola
Dr. Liisa Pietola, adjunct professor at the University of Helsinki in soil sciences (1998-), served in R&D for the fertilizer industry (2006-11) and in the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners in Finland MTK (2011-22) as head of environmental affairs, and chaired the environment working group of European farmers at the Copa-Cogeca (2014-18). Currently, she is a leading specialist on sustainability solutions in the transition of agriculture and forestry sectors in the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra (www.sitra.fi/en), and an expert member of the EU Mission Board Soil Deal for Europe. She has her feet on the ground as an active farmer.
Her expertise is focused on environmental externalities and impacts related to agriculture and forestry and soil functions, such as carbon sequestration to balance greenhouse gas emissions and climate change adaptation by soil care. She has competence in the recycling of nutrients and water quality protection, air quality and biodiversity of agro-forestry ecosystems and experience in landowner’s property rights and legislation proposals both in Finland and EU level.
Chandran Ravindran
Dr. Chandran Ravindran is working as an Associate Professor and Head of the Horticultural Research Station at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Kodaikanal, Dindigul District of Tamil Nadu, India. His contribution towards the FAO Hortivar database, Global Horticulture Assessment, and Global Consultations on Farmers’ Rights has been noteworthy. He worked for farmer development for 20 years, obtaining projects and getting national awards for farmers and farmers’ producer organisations. He has published more than 13 Books, 17 Book Chapters, 20 Research papers, and 55 popular articles in reputed national and international journals and magazines. Additionally, he has served as an author, editor, or co-editor for five journals.
Angelo Riccaboni
Angelo Riccaboni is Full Professor of Management Control Systems at the Richard Goodwin School of Economics and Management of the University of Siena. He was Rector of the University of Siena from 2010 to 2016. He is a member of the Leadership Council of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Chair of the Regional Centre of the SDSN for the Mediterranean since 2012. Since 2017 he chairs PRIMA Foundation, located in Barcelona to implement a 10-year research and innovation programme on food systems and water resources, with a budget of 500 million euros funded by the European Commission and 19 Euro-Mediterranean Countries. His research focuses on the role of businesses and universities to promote the implementation of the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 and on innovation in the agrifood sector. He chairs the Steering Committee of the Santa Chiara Lab at the University of Siena. He is Member of the Scientific Committee of the World Farmers Organisation, Member of the International Academic Committee of the Institute for Sustainable Development Goals of Tsinghua University, Member of the Board of Directors of the University Bicocca in Milan. He is a Member of the EC sub-group on Mission Area Soil Health and Food of the ‘shadow’ strategic configuration of the Horizon Europe Programme Committee.Previously he was Chair of the CRUI Foundation, the operating body of CRUI (the Association of Italian Rectors), Member of the Board of the International Association of Universities (IAU), Head of the IAU Working Group on sustainability. He was Dean of the Richard Goodwin Faculty of Economics and Management, Chair of the Association of Deans of Italian Faculties of Economics, Management and Statistics and President of SIDREA (Italian Society of Accounting and Business Administration Scholars).
Bruno Ronchi
Bruno Ronchi is full professor of Animal Nutrition and Feeding at the Department of Agriculture and Forestry Science of Tuscia University (Italy). His research activities mainly focus on: effects of heat stress on ruminants; farm animal metabolism; effects of environmental contaminants; management of extensive livestock production systems. In his career: dean of the Faculty of Agriculture Science; President of Italian “Animal Science and Production Association”; Council member of the European Federation of Animal Science.
Jacqueline Rowarth
Professor Jacqueline Rowarth CNZM, FNZIAHS has a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science with honours in Environmental Agriculture and a PhD in Soil Science from Massey University. She has worked in research, education and management with Agresearch, Lincoln University, Unitec in Auckland, The University of Melbourne, Massey University, the University of Waikato, and the Environmental Protection Authority.
In addition, Prof Rowarth has held Government-appointed governance roles on the boards of Crop and Food Research, AGMARDT and New Zealand Fast Forward. She is currently a farmer-elected member of the Board of Directors for DairyNZ and of Ravensdown Co-operative Ltd., a producer-appointed Director for Deer Industry NZ, and a Director of NZ Animal Evaluation Ltd. She also holds the role of Adjunct Professor at Lincoln University.
Prof Rowarth is also a Past President of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science and of the New Zealand Grassland Association. In 2008 she was awarded Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Agricultural Science, in 2009 she was given the inaugural award of Agricultural Personality of the Year by Federated Farmers and in 2010 she was selected as the Agricultural Communicator of the Year by the Guild of Agricultural Communicators and Journalists. She is a frequent contributor to public debate in the media and remains committed to dispelling the myths that surround food production.
Alice Stanton
Alice Stanton is a clinician-scientist. She is a registered Medical Specialist in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics & General Internal Medicine with the Specialist Training Authority of the Medical Royal Colleges, UK, since 1997, and with the Medical Council, Ireland since 1998. She is currently a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians in Ireland and a Professor of Cardiovascular Therapeutics, RCSI. She has authored 130 peer-reviewed published papers, 4 book chapters, 4 editorials, 10 reviews, and over 250 abstracts, and has been the recipient of many educational and research awards. Over the last 20 years, she has received both fellowships and project grants from the European Society of Cardiology, the British Heart Foundation, the Medical Research Council (UK), the Engineering Physical Science Research Council (UK), the Health Research Board (Ireland), Ireland), and the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme.
Logan Thompson
Logan grew up on a registered horned Hereford ranch in central Texas which instilled a passion to improve the sustainability of beef production by developing practical solutions for producers. Through his teaching appointment, he aims to give students the tools necessary to speak and understand the evolving space of sustainability and to be successful as the next generation of farmers and ranchers who will serve as stewards of the Great Plains. Logan started his bachelor’s degree at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX before completing his degree at Texas Tech University in 2015. Following this he earned a Masters in beef sustainability at Oklahoma State University in 2017 and a PhD in ruminant nutrition at Michigan State University in 2021. Before joining Kansas State University in August of 2022, he served as a post-doctoral fellow at Colorado State University.
Logan’s predominant research interest is measuring greenhouse gas emissions in grazing systems and how grazing management impacts ecosystem function.
Lindeque du Toit
Dr Lindeque du Toit is a senior lecturer in the Department of Animal Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Pretoria. He obtained his BSc (Agric) in Animal and Pasture Science and MSc (Agric) in Animal Nutrition between 1996 and 2006, and a PhD in Animal Nutrition from UP in 2017.
His research area is focused on meeting the challenge to increase the production of quality livestock protein and fibre to meet an increasing demand, adapt to environmental changes and reduce the impact of livestock production systems on the environment. His current research projects are focused on addressing these challenges by firstly developing and improving country-specific greenhouse gas emission factors for all classes of livestock in South Africa, including privately owned game and secondly by identifying and evaluating practical mitigation strategies that have a high probability of being adopted by livestock producers and industry.
Dr Du Toit lectures on subjects in livestock production systems, pasture and range management, animal nutrition and small stock nutrition and management. He is currently a serving member of the South African Society for Animal Science and a member of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professionals.
Stephan van Vliet
Dr. Stephan van Vliet is a nutrition scientist with metabolomics expertise in NDFS. He earned his PhD in Kinesiology as an ESPEN Fellow from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received training at the Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine and Duke University School of Medicine.
Wilhelm Windisch
Wilhelm Windisch is a full professor of Animal Nutrition at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, since 2010. As an agricultural scientist, he finished his doctorate in 1988 and his habilitation in 1995. Before his appointment at TUM, he was a full professor of Animal Nutrition at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Austria (2002-2010). He studies nutritional properties of feed materials and principles of biomass transformation in the metabolism of agricultural livestock with a particular interest in minerals, functional dietary compounds including antinutritive substances, and the impact of livestock feeding on food quality, food safety, and the environment.
HUMAN NEEDS AND HEALTH
AGRICULTURAL AND ANIMAL PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
Lindeque du Toit
Dr Lindeque du Toit is a senior lecturer in the Department of Animal Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Pretoria. He obtained his BSc (Agric) in Animal and Pasture Science and MSc (Agric) in Animal Nutrition between 1996 and 2006, and a PhD in Animal Nutrition from UP in 2017.
His research area is focused on meeting the challenge to increase the production of quality livestock protein and fibre to meet an increasing demand, adapt to environmental changes and reduce the impact of livestock production systems on the environment. His current research projects are focused on addressing these challenges by firstly developing and improving country-specific greenhouse gas emission factors for all classes of livestock in South Africa, including privately owned game and secondly by identifying and evaluating practical mitigation strategies that have a high probability of being adopted by livestock producers and industry.
Dr Du Toit lectures on subjects in livestock production systems, pasture and range management, animal nutrition and small stock nutrition and management. He is currently a serving member of the South African Society for Animal Science and a member of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professionals.
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE
CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT
Lindeque du Toit
Dr Lindeque du Toit is a senior lecturer in the Department of Animal Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Pretoria. He obtained his BSc (Agric) in Animal and Pasture Science and MSc (Agric) in Animal Nutrition between 1996 and 2006, and a PhD in Animal Nutrition from UP in 2017.
His research area is focused on meeting the challenge to increase the production of quality livestock protein and fibre to meet an increasing demand, adapt to environmental changes and reduce the impact of livestock production systems on the environment. His current research projects are focused on addressing these challenges by firstly developing and improving country-specific greenhouse gas emission factors for all classes of livestock in South Africa, including privately owned game and secondly by identifying and evaluating practical mitigation strategies that have a high probability of being adopted by livestock producers and industry.
Dr Du Toit lectures on subjects in livestock production systems, pasture and range management, animal nutrition and small stock nutrition and management. He is currently a serving member of the South African Society for Animal Science and a member of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professionals.