An international food and agriculture summit is to be held in Australia on March 28, examining challenges and solutions for creating a sustainable future for farming and agriculture.

The Rabobank Farm2Fork Summit – previously held three years ago – is returning to Sydney’s Cockatoo Island, bringing together agribusiness industry leaders, local and international farmers, food and agribusiness start-ups, and prominent ag, science and technology researchers and innovators.

Convened by global agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank, the one-day invitation only event will feature leading international and local speakers discussing new ideas and innovations from the world of agriculture and further afield.

Rabobank Group executive board member Berry Marttin said the summit would examine  the major issues facing agriculture and food production globally, and showcase “knowledge, solutions and innovations that will help us all create a sustainable future in agriculture and effectively ‘grow a better world together’”.

“Most fundamentally, these are the challenges of how we can continue to feed a growing world in a sustainable way,” he said, “but also what efficiencies can be made to reduce waste across the food supply chain and promote the ‘circular economy’ and how do we ensure the longevity, success and developing capability of the food and agri sector.”

Topics to be explored at the summit include:

– the role of new science in redirecting the most challenging waste streams away from landfill and back into production

– the necessity and immediate benefits of proactive bio-diversity management in agricultural land

– how AI (artificial intelligence) and robotics will influence the future of agriculture and

– the exponential influence of technology on consumers and their food choices and how it is creating new markets.

Presenters will include the Federal Minister for Agriculture & Water Resources David

Littleproud, professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of New South Wales Toby Walsh, humanitarian and international aid worker Linda Cruse, Rabobank global chairman Wiebe Draijer, rural entrepreneur and 2018 Rural Woman of the Year Krista Watkins and CSIRO principal scientist in field of strategic foresight Dr Stefan Hajkowicz.