WFD26 Programme

From plenary sessions to hands-on side sessions and booths across four interactive zones, here's everything happening on 20 October. Click on any session or booth to learn more, and you can also scroll down to read about speakers and organisations presenting their work at WFD26.

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10:00 – 11:00, Plenary Hall: Welcome to World Food Day 2026 Plenary part I

11:15 – 12:30, 1st floor Kantine: #10 Business of Food: Building Competitive and Sustainable Regional Food Value Chains

11:15 – 12:15, Room 1: #1 Decoding the Shelf

11:15 – 12:15, Room 6: #6 From Salt to Solutions: Launching the Saline Country Partnerships Initiative

11:15 – 12:15, Room 3: #3 Partnerships that Finance the Future

11:15 – 12:15, Room 8: #8 Who Decides? Power, Ownership, and Impact in Climate Projects

11:30 – 12:30, Motorroom: #9 Common Ground, Collective Action: Bringing biodiversity into the future of food

11:30 – 12:30, Room 7: #7 Reach ≠ Impact: Making scale happen from frameworks to last-mile impact

11:30 – 12:30, Room 2: #2 Roadmap for the Dairy Food Systems Partnership (DairyFSP)

11:30 – 12:30, Room 5: #5 The Future of Fresh: Rethinking Cold Chain Opportunities in East Africa

11:45 – 12:45, Room 4: #4 Circularity On Your Plate

12:15 – 13:30, Plenary Hall: Lunch Break

13:30 – 14:30, Plenary Hall: Welcome to World Food Day 2026 Plenary part II

14:45 – 15:45, Room 5: #15 Beyond the App Store: Designing Agtech Smallholders Actually Use

14:45 – 15:45, Room 1: #11 Food Systems Action in Fragile and Conflict Affected Settings

14:45 – 15:45, Room 3: #13 From Partnerships to Delivery: Partnerships, Food Security and Market Systems

14:45 – 15:45, Room 4: #14 Healthier diets for base of pyramid consumers

14:45 – 15:45, Room 6: #16 It's Not Just About the Money: The financial and hidden returns of investing in R&D for global food systems

14:45 – 15:45, Room 2: #12 Powering Africa’s Food Systems: renewable energy, regenerative agriculture and partnerships for scale

14:45 – 15:45, Room 7: #17 Sustainability developments in cocoa: A multi-angled perspective

14:45 – 15:45, Motorroom: #18 The International Year of the Woman Farmer: Relevance for Global Food Security

14:45 – 16:00, 1st floor Kantine: #19 Transforming Vegetable Markets: what is in it for you?

16:00 – 17:00, Room 2: #21 Connecting Global Gateway, African Food Systems Transformation and Research How to make optimal use of the European toolbox

16:00 – 17:00, Room 1: #20 Innovating & Scaling Responsibly

16:00 – 17:00, Room 8: #24 Leadership from within: Building the Food System with the Future Generation

16:00 – 17:15, Motorroom: #25 Noises, Voices and Choices in the Food Chain

16:00 – 17:00, Room 3: #22 Resilience Food Stories | Good Food

16:00 – 17:00, Room 6: #23 Whose Story Is It?

17:00 – 18:00, Plenary Hall: Networking Drinks

17:15 – 17:30, Plenary Hall: Closing Ceremony

Booths, open all day

#1 CGIAR Scaling Helpdesk: Ask Us Anything About Scaling Innovation

#2 Food Systems Innovation Challenge

#3 We are Able! Building Partnerships for Inclusive Food Security.

#4 Driving Nutrition Forward

#5 Photo Booth

#6 The Netherlands Food Partnership Hub

#7 Food For All Game

#8 Get to know YEP Programmes

#9 From Local Roots to a Global Story

#10 Future Food Vision Board

#11 The Biodiversity Buffet: What's on the Table?

#12 Food on the Table

#13 The dark side of your ’speculaas spice mix’ (and what we do to change that)

#14 Space for Youth

#15 Unlocking the overlooked: We squeeze the fruits not the farmers (cacao pulp, coffee cherry & cashew apple)

#16 Food Print Experience

#17 Inner Development Goals (IDGs): Skills for Stronger Partnerships

Don't forget to register!

WFD is free but it is still very important that you register to ensure there is space for you and to prevent food waste!

Registration

Ikenna Azuike, Moderator

Sarah van Buren, Moderator

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, Keynote Speaker, Sahel Consulting

Pascalle Grotenhuis, Director-General for International Cooperation, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)

Ivo Demmers, Executive Director, Netherlands Food Partnership

Heleen Groot, Deputy-Director-General for Agriculture, Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN)

Interact

#4 Driving Nutrition Forward. The NWGN is a network of civil society organisations, knowledge institutions, the private sector, the government and independent consultants, based in the Netherlands and working in the field of international nutrition.

#5 Photo Booth

#6 The Netherlands Food Partnership Hub

#7 Food For All Game

#8 Get to know YEP Programmes. Young Expert Programmes’s (YEP Programmes) mission is to create a young, renewed, inspiring international network and build professional expertise in the fields of Water and Agrofood through Dutch organisations, operating in developing countries and emerging markets.

Innovate

#1 CGIAR Scaling Helpdesk: Ask Us Anything About Scaling Innovation. CGIAR Scaling Helpdesk: Ask Us Anything About Scaling Innovation

#2 Food Systems Innovation Challenge. Building on 3 years of impact, scaling for the future

#3 We are Able! Building Partnerships for Inclusive Food Security.. ZOA is an international relief and recovery organisation. They provide relief to people affected by violent conflicts and natural disasters in fragile contexts.

Invest

#9 From Local Roots to a Global Story. The global Photo With a Story Contest brings agrobiodiversity to life through photos and stories across the world, sharing the perspectives of farmers, communities, practitioners and cultures who experience, cultivate and celebrate it every day.

#10 Future Food Vision Board. Future food systems vision board: Want to get creative? Come to our stand! Together we are creating a 4x2m collage with pictures and words envisioning the Future Food System. Add the missing piece and make your vision come to life! Sign up Sheet: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeKHeSXCxVHG115MwHGT0vyF69_jbGHo8HbLXcouUBonfqfVg/viewform?usp=dialog

#11 The Biodiversity Buffet: What's on the Table?. What does biodiversity action look like when different people and organisations come together?Step into the Biodiversity & Food Systems Partnership and discover how members across sectors are working to bring biodiversity into food systems transformation.

#12 Food on the Table. Dorcas invests in resilient communities in which everyone can participate.

Inspire

#13 The dark side of your ’speculaas spice mix’ (and what we do to change that). Through their short supply chain, The Good Spice are the first to offer speciality spices in the Dutch market in direct partnership with farmers. They educate and inspire customers and reconnect them with farmers.

#14 Space for Youth. The World Food Forum (WFF) Global Youth Action Initiative (Youth Initiative) is a global platform for youth engagement that brings together young people from around the world to drive action for more sustainable, inclusive and resilient agrifood systems.

#15 Unlocking the overlooked: We squeeze the fruits not the farmers (cacao pulp, coffee cherry & cashew apple). Kumasi is building new value chains around what the system leaves behind. They upcycle agricultural side streams into ingredients and consumer products, creating additional income for farmers while reducing waste and CO₂ emissions.

#16 Food Print Experience. Caring Chefs is an initiative within the Caring Movement in which professional chefs commit to a healthy and future-proof food system – with special attention to the role of nutrition in healthcare.

#17 Inner Development Goals (IDGs): Skills for Stronger Partnerships. SDG Netherlands is the movement of everyone in the Netherlands who contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals.