Every decision to advance sustainability on the farm is shaped by the broader economic conditions producers are operating within, from commodity prices and input costs to land values and farm income. This opening keynote offers a clear, current view of where the U.S. ag economy stands and the pressures producers are navigating today. Attendees will leave with shared context not only of these economic realities, but also what they mean for supply chain partners and others working closely with producers.

Advancing sustainability on the farm means balancing a range of goals and realities – from the needs of the farm business to sustainability ambitions across the agricultural value chain. In this candid conversation, producers from across agriculture will share what it takes to navigate these priorities and turn sustainability goals into sustained action on the farm. What helps them take the first step, successfully implement new practices, and maintain them over time? Where do trade-offs emerge, and which are producers willing and able to make? Hear directly from farmers about how they would like the value chain to work with them to advance sustainability in ways that also ensure productive, profitable and resilient farm businesses.

200,000 Acres and Counting: Building a "Win-Win" in Conservation Funding Partnerships
‍Each year, federal agencies invest billions to encourage voluntary conservation practices, but enrollment can be slowed by documentation requirements and program complexity. Through the implementation of Farm Journal's Connected in Ag project, organizers utilized the Trust in Food AMP Grant to tackle this challenge head-on - enrolling over 90 growers across more than 200,000 acres in conservation practice implementation using soil biological amendments and enhanced efficiency fertilizers. Proving that public-private partnerships can help federal dollars reach the field faster and deliver measurable results, this session provides a blueprint and honest lessons learned to help others replicate and scale.

Beyond the Field: How Farmer Livelihoods Shape Supply Chain Resilience
The economic viability of family farms is the foundation of supply chain resilience. Yet farmer's livelihoods, rural vitality, and resilience are often missing in corporate sustainability strategies. This session brings together a food and agriculture company leader, a farmer support organization, and a working row crop farmer to examine how financial stress, land access, and social well-being at the farm level ripple across the entire supply chain. Panelists will explore what it looks like when companies prioritize reciprocal relationships with farmers and the impact this can have on long-term sustainability outcomes.

Building a Research Engagement Pipeline: A Model for Strengthening Industry-Science Partnerships in Sustainable Agriculture
‍Building stronger relationships between researchers and industry requires more than one-time meetings or project-based collaborations. This session shares a practical framework for creating an ongoing research engagement pipeline that strengthens partnerships around complex sustainability challenges. Using the Agricultural Nutrient Policy Council's recent work on nutrient management and water quality as a case study, panelists from industry, government, academia, and farming will discuss how structured listening, researcher-led convenings, and intentional follow-up can expand research networks and generate lasting collaboration. Participants will leave with actionable strategies for engaging researchers, translating conversations into outcomes, and building long-term partnerships that support science-informed decision making.

Modernizing Crop Insurance: Innovations That Derisk the Transition to Resilient Practices
Farmers face increasing weather and market volatility but encounter critical insurance gaps when transitioning to resilient practices like diversified rotations, agroforestry, and improved water management. This session explores how innovative insurance products, data-driven tools, and public-private partnerships are beginning to close that gap. Through farmer and industry perspectives, panelists will highlight real-world examples of insurance solutions enabling adoption of resilient systems across crops and regions. Attendees will leave with a practical understanding of current insurance barriers, emerging solutions, and concrete opportunities to support or invest in modernized crop insurance.

More Crop Per Drop: How AI-Powered Technology and Partnership Are Cutting Water Across Supply Chains
For most food companies, more than 90% of their water footprint lies in agricultural supply chains - yet growers are often underrepresented in corporate water strategies. Meanwhile, farmers face rising input costs, increasing reporting demands, regulatory uncertainty, and growing climate variability. This panel brings together growers, food companies, and conservation experts to explore the real challenges and practical solutions: precision agriculture, AI-driven irrigation tools, corporate co-funding models, and streamlined reporting. Attendees will leave with actionable frameworks for building water-resilient supply chains - and for ensuring farmers can lead the way.

Partnership in Practice: Aligning the Protein Value Chain Around Shared Sustainability Outcomes (Partner Sponsor: U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs)
Sustainability efforts across the protein value chain often advance in silos even when goals overlap. Building on insights from the 2024 PCT workshop in Athens, this panel brings together voices from industry frameworks, processing, retail/foodservice, and supply science to explore where sustainability and animal welfare priorities align across the chain, and where friction still slows progress. Panelists will share real examples of cross-chain partnership, discuss what "shared responsibility" looks like operationally, and offer practical approaches for reducing duplication and improving data flow. Attendees will leave with concrete models for cross-sector collaboration they can apply.

The Right Tool for the Job: A Field Guide to Ag Sustainability Decisions
Sustainability teams at food, beverage, commodity trading, and processing companies juggle a wide range of jobs: Scope 3 reporting, supply chain risk management, program design, intervention targeting, sourcing and procurement strategy. Each job has different decision-makers, timelines, budgets, and data and tooling needs. This session moves past "which platform should we buy?" to sharper questions: what job are we hiring this data or tool to do, and does it fit what we already have? Panelists spanning farmer-facing program delivery, data and benchmarking, MRV, and corporate sustainability strategy will help attendees match the right tool, data, and partner to each decision.

Understanding the Next Generation Farmer Mindset: What Will Drive the Future of Regenerative Agriculture?
What will inspire the next generation of farmers to expand regenerative agriculture? New proprietary research from Purina and Farm Journal's Trust in Food™ reveals the economic, operational and human factors shaping adoption decisions among emerging producers. This panel brings together researchers, industry leaders and next gen farmers to explore what motivates regenerative agriculture adoption, what creates hesitation and how food companies, conservation organizations and policymakers can better support farmer-led solutions. Attendees will gain valuable perspective from the next generation of growers, as well as actionable insights for designing programs and partnerships that support and resonate with tomorrow's agricultural leaders.

Join small groups of fellow attendees to discuss a particular topic or issue in an informal collaborative setting.

• Bridging the Gap: Multi-Generational Communication (LookUp, LLC)
• Building High-Quality Agriculture Projects: Permanence and Integrity in Carbon Markets (Climate Action Reserve)
• Building Practical Data Infrastructure for Supply Chain Sustainability Programs (Sustainable Food Lab)
• Building Support for Sustainable Agriculture Through Better Communication (Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research)
• Closing the Loop: Circular Bioeconomy Approaches to Agricultural Supply Chain Sustainability (Louisiana State University)
• Defining and Valuing Resilience in Agricultural Supply Chains (ADM)
• De-Risking Regenerative Agriculture: From Pilots to Farmer-Centered Scale (Keystone Policy Center)
• Federal Policy: The Vehicle to Drive & Scale Voluntary Conservation (RIPE)
• From Production to Plate: Building a Healthy U.S. Aquaculture System (Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research)
• Great Plains Grassland Fund (National Fish & Wildlife Foundation)
• Growing Through Uncertainty: Building Resilient Farming Systems (Corteva)
• How Can Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) Help Food & Beverage Companies Reach Your Climate Targets? (The Center for Green Market Activation)
• How do Place-Based Initiatives Deliver Impact at Scale? (ISEAL)
• How to Build a Water Stewardship Program in Agricultural Value Chains (Terion)
• Landscapes Are Where It’s Happening: How to Make It Work (World Wildlife Fund US)
• Model-Ready Data: Making Data Work for Tools in an AI World (Colorado State University)
• Movement on What Matters: Sustainability and Welfare (Center for the Optimization of Poultry)
• Nutrient Density - How to Utilize Regenerative Ag Initiatives to Meet Consumers Where They Are (Nutrax)
• Pollination, Wildflowers, and IoT Data (Arkearth)
• Research Supporting Policy and Programmatic Decisions: An Information Sharing Opportunity (Conference of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers)
• Scaling Regenerative Agriculture Through Better Partnerships (No-Till Farmer)
• Scaling Scope 3 Impact Under SBTi CNZS v2: Actionable Strategies for Capacity-Constrained Value Chains (3Degrees)
• The How of Reporting Removals Under GHG Protocol's New LSRS (Arva Intelligence)
• Traceability and Partnerships Across the Value Chain: A Roundtable on Scope 3 Opportunities in Sugarcane (Sumitomo Biorational Company)
• Who Pays for the Transition? Sharing Risk Across Agriculture (Aon)

Building Water Resilience in Agricultural Supply Chains: Practical Steps and Lessons Learned
Climate change, groundwater depletion, and water pollution are increasing the risk of production disruptions and financial shocks across interconnected agricultural supply chains. Yet addressing these challenges remains difficult, and relatively few companies have made public commitments to building water-resilient agricultural supply chains. This session will present a practical approach to managing water-related risks in agricultural supply chains, drawing on lessons and leading practices from effective corporate programs. Participants will gain varied perspectives from practitioners who have applied this approach, exploring how collaborative approaches and targeted action can strengthen water resilience and drive lasting impact across U.S. agricultural systems.

Conservation in Action: McDonald's USA's Large-Scale, Public-Private Grasslands Collaboration
The Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative is McDonald's largest regenerative agriculture investment to date, deploying over $200 million over seven years across 4 million acres of US cattle ranches from McDonald's, key suppliers, and NRCS funding. This panel breakout session explores how McDonald's, its suppliers, NFWF, Carbon Yield, and Cultivo structured this landscape scale restoration effort. The panel will dive into multi-partner co-investment-including from key McDonald's beverage and beef suppliers represented by Cargill-and the MMRV approach used to verify environmental outcomes. With half the time dedicated to audience Q&A, attendees will learn how to efficiently scale supply-chain conservation finance without sacrificing rigor or impact.

From Compliance to Competitive Advantage: Turning Protein Sustainability Reporting into Your Biggest Asset
Corporate reporting is most valuable when it is simple, focused, and tied to business impact. This session brings together animal protein supply chain leaders to explore how industry tools such as reporting frameworks can reduce complexity, increase transparency and facilitate a greater focus on the impact achievable when reporting is a step in the journey instead of a destination to arrive at. Panelists will share how decision-ready data can strengthen transparency, reduce risk, meet investor expectations, and turn sustainability reporting from a compliance exercise into a source of measurable impact and competitive advantage.

From the Farm to the Value Chain: Preparing Sustainability's Next Generation (Partner Sponsor: Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy)
Skills gaps are reported among the biggest hiring challenges when filling sustainability roles, especially in agricultural value chains. These roles often ask for a rare mix of environmental and agricultural expertise, analytical skills, and supply chain knowledge, coupled with the ability to build trusted relationships with farmers. Educators, employers, farmers, and corporate sustainability leaders will explore how alternative educational pathways can close this gap. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to help early-career professionals and those new to agriculture build needed skills, while helping employers attract and develop talent in a fast-changing industry.

Aligning Sustainability Communications: Building Shared Messages That Work Across Agriculture - Part 1 (Beginner)
‍^{This workshop has two parts: Part 2 runs from 2:30-3:15 p.m. Please plan to attend both sessions for the full benefit.}
Agriculture faces growing pressure to communicate sustainability clearly, credibly, and consistently across the value chain. This interactive workshop with Animal Agriculture Alliance and the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs, and Stratovation will focus on how animal agriculture can better align sustainability communications in ways that build trust, reflect producer realities, and complement broader agriculture messaging. Participants will work together to identify shared communications challenges, define practical messaging principles, and contribute to a draft resource that can support clearer, more credible sustainability communications across animal agriculture and the broader food and agriculture value chain.

Conservation Shark Tank: Pitching the Next Wave of Farmer Advisor Innovation - Part 1 (Intermediate)
‍^{This workshop has two parts: Part 2 runs from 2:30-3:15 p.m. Please plan to attend both sessions for the full benefit.}
Private-sector farm advisors have a critical, yet largely untapped, role in accelerating regenerative agriculture. In this interactive Shark Tank-style session, participants are invited to be "Sharks" as they hear rapid-fire pitches for innovative projects aligned with the new Roadmap for advancing regenerative agriculture through farm advisors. The audience will vote on the ideas with the greatest potential and collaborate in real time to identify priorities for investment, partnership, and action. Organized around the Roadmap's three strategic pillars, the session goes beyond project showcases to build connections among industry and conservation stakeholders interested in advancing farmer advisor-led solutions and scaling impact.

Systems Thinking to Accelerate Sustainable Agriculture: Applying a Feed Systems Map to Evaluate Solutions - Part 1 (Intermediate)
‍^{This workshop has two parts: Part 2 runs from 2:30-3:15 p.m. Please plan to attend both sessions for the full benefit.}
Sustainability challenges aren't solved within a single part of the food system. Opportunities emerge through efforts across multiple parts of the supply chain. Through case studies and interactive exercises, participants will explore how systems thinking can accelerate sustainable solutions across the interconnected crop, animal, feed and food supply chain. This workshop introduces a dynamic feed systems map, developed as a practical tool for identifying relationships, tradeoffs, leverage points and collaboration opportunities. Participants will gain practical approaches they can use in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, project design, and cross-sector collaboration to drive more integrated and resilient outcomes across agricultural systems.

Will the Practice Pencil Out? Understanding Farm and Lender Decisions in Sustainable Agriculture - Part 1 (Beginner)
‍^{This workshop has two parts: Part 2 runs from 2:30-3:15 p.m. Please plan to attend both sessions for the full benefit.}
Sustainability conversations often overlook how farm decisions are evaluated not only on the balance sheet, but also by lenders who assess risk, cash flow, and repayment capacity. This interactive workshop provides a practical introduction to agricultural finance from both farm and lending perspectives. Participants will apply these concepts to evaluate how sustainability programs and incentives "pencil out" in real-world scenarios. Through guided discussion and a hands-on case exercise, attendees will gain tools to better align program design with financial realities-improving adoption, reducing risk, and supporting scalable solutions that work for farmers, lenders, and the broader agricultural value chain.

Countdown to 2027: Getting Ready for the GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Standard (Partner Sponsor: Field to Market)
The Fieldprint Platform's V5 update brings new alignment with the GHG Protocol's Land Sector and Removals Guidance (LSRS), a significant step forward for members tracking greenhouse gas outcomes. This session will walk through what's changed in V5, why QDMPs are choosing to upgrade, and what those upgrades mean for projects working to meet internal and external GHG goals. We'll ground the discussion with a real project example from a QDMP currently supporting a Fieldprint Project through this transition, showing how the update translates into practical impact on the ground.

From Partnership to Practice: Designing Conservation Programs That Work on Real Farms
This session presents a real‑world case study of a multi‑year conservation project that brought together Perdue Farms, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), and nearly 30 Pennsylvania farmers. Speakers will explore how collaboration, technical support, and targeted investment enabled the implementation of practical conservation practices on working farms and generated measurable environmental outcomes. Through partner and farmer perspectives, attendees will learn how the project was designed, what worked, key challenges encountered, and how this approach can be adapted and scaled across different geographies, commodities, and agricultural systems.

Low Yield Land, High-Value Opportunity
More than 17 million cropland acres across the Upper Midwest have been identified as chronically low-yielding, generating consistent financial losses for farmers. Using advanced remote sensing these acres can now be identified with subfield-level precision. Transitioning this cropland to alternative uses - wildlife habitat, diversified crops, wetlands, or grazing - represents a substantial economic opportunity for farmers, while simultaneously reducing nitrous oxide emissions, sequestering carbon, and generating additional environmental co-benefits. Key barriers to this transition include insufficient financial and technical support for implementation and long-term maintenance, and a persistent disconnect between academic research, policymakers, and farmers. This session will explore the opportunities for marginal cropland transition for farmers and companies.

Working Landscapes, Resilient Supply Chains: Celebrating the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists Together (Partner Sponsor: U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef)
Grazinglands are the foundation of beef production and provide benefits that extend far beyond the ranch, including biodiversity, healthy watersheds, wildlife habitat, and resilient rural communities. In recognition of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP), this session will explore the growing challenge of grazingland conversion and why maintaining these landscapes is a shared responsibility across the beef value chain. Hear from producers, researchers, and supply chain leaders about the importance of grazinglands, opportunities for collaboration, and actions stakeholders can take to support these vital working landscapes.

Aligning Sustainability Communications: Building Shared Messages That Work Across Agriculture - Part 2 (Beginner)
‍^{This workshop has two parts: Part 1 runs from 1:30-2:15 p.m. You must attend Part 1 in order to attend Part 2.}
Agriculture faces growing pressure to communicate sustainability clearly, credibly, and consistently across the value chain. This interactive workshop with Animal Agriculture Alliance and the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs, and Stratovation will focus on how animal agriculture can better align sustainability communications in ways that build trust, reflect producer realities, and complement broader agriculture messaging. Participants will work together to identify shared communications challenges, define practical messaging principles, and contribute to a draft resource that can support clearer, more credible sustainability communications across animal agriculture and the broader food and agriculture value chain.

Conservation Shark Tank: Pitching the Next Wave of Farmer Advisor Innovation - Part 2 (Intermediate)
‍^{This workshop has two parts: Part 1 runs from 1:30-2:15 p.m. You must attend Part 1 in order to attend Part 2.}
Private-sector farm advisors have a critical, yet largely untapped, role in accelerating regenerative agriculture. In this interactive Shark Tank-style session, participants are invited to be "Sharks" as they hear rapid-fire pitches for innovative projects aligned with the new Roadmap for advancing regenerative agriculture through farm advisors. The audience will vote on the ideas with the greatest potential and collaborate in real time to identify priorities for investment, partnership, and action. Organized around the Roadmap's three strategic pillars, the session goes beyond project showcases to build connections among industry and conservation stakeholders interested in advancing farmer advisor-led solutions and scaling impact.

Systems Thinking to Accelerate Sustainable Agriculture: Applying a Feed Systems Map to Evaluate Solutions - Part 2 (Intermediate)
‍^{This workshop has two parts: Part 1 runs from 1:30-2:15 p.m. You must attend Part 1 in order to attend Part 2.}
Sustainability challenges aren't solved within a single part of the food system. Opportunities emerge through efforts across multiple parts of the supply chain. Through case studies and interactive exercises, participants will explore how systems thinking can accelerate sustainable solutions across the interconnected crop, animal, feed and food supply chain. This workshop introduces a dynamic feed systems map, developed as a practical tool for identifying relationships, tradeoffs, leverage points and collaboration opportunities. Participants will gain practical approaches they can use in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, project design, and cross-sector collaboration to drive more integrated and resilient outcomes across agricultural systems.

Will the Practice Pencil Out? Understanding Farm and Lender Decisions in Sustainable Agriculture - Part 2 (Beginner)
‍^{This workshop has two parts: Part 1 runs from 1:30-2:15 p.m. You must attend Part 1 in order to attend Part 2.}
Sustainability conversations often overlook how farm decisions are evaluated not only on the balance sheet, but also by lenders who assess risk, cash flow, and repayment capacity. This interactive workshop provides a practical introduction to agricultural finance from both farm and lending perspectives. Participants will apply these concepts to evaluate how sustainability programs and incentives "pencil out" in real-world scenarios. Through guided discussion and a hands-on case exercise, attendees will gain tools to better align program design with financial realities-improving adoption, reducing risk, and supporting scalable solutions that work for farmers, lenders, and the broader agricultural value chain.

Agricultural lenders hold the financial keys to a resilient and sustainable food system, turning risks into portfolio opportunities. While producers face steep upfront costs, cash-flow strain, and operational risks when adopting regenerative practices, capital providers face a critical dual mandate. They must protect their loan portfolios from climate volatility while capturing the massive financial upside of green finance. Explore how ag lenders are coming to the table as essential partners in regenerative agriculture and how the value chain can work with them to reduce financial barriers, manage risk, and unlock greater investment for farmers.

Women are producers, owners, managers, and decision-makers across American farms. As 2026 marks the International Year of the Woman Farmer, what can we learn from their experiences about how well agriculture supports the people making farm decisions today? Hear directly from women farmers about their experiences accessing capital, technical services, programs, and markets, while also navigating farm succession and leadership opportunities. Explore where barriers remain, what is changing, and how agricultural systems can continue to evolve to better support successful farm businesses,  strengthen resilience, and create opportunities for the next generation.