The 2024-2027 Multi-Year Programme of Work (MYPoW) envisions a High-Level Forum (HLF) on “Harnessing Artificial Intelligence, Digitalization and Data Governance for Food Security and Nutrition” for the 2026 intersessional period, focusing on exploring the potential and risks of artificial intelligence and digital technologies in addressing the challenges of food security and nutrition with a focus on promoting inclusive, transparent and accountable data governance in agriculture and food systems.

As such, the High-Level Forum will contribute to enhanced awareness and collaboration on a more just and equitable digital transformation to achieve food security and nutrition.

Innovations such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital platforms and big data analytics can enhance productivity, improve early warning systems, support climate adaptation and strengthen value chains. At the same time, these technologies can also bring new challenges, including concerns on data privacy, equity, algorithmic bias, digital exclusion and lack of governance mechanisms.

The High-Level Forum will explore the opportunities and the associated risks of these technologies in addressing food security and nutrition through the participation of high-level speakers and technical experts that will address the main developments around these themes on a one-day session. 

The discussion will underscore the need for governance on AI and digital technologies to ensure their responsible adoption and the effective use of data in decision-making, to protect and promote people-centred food systems that are based on the right to adequate food.

To inform the event, the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) has prepared a background note examining how AI and digital technologies are being deployed across food systems, the opportunities they offer and the challenges they raise.

🗓️ 30 June 2026 

🕑 9.30–17.00 CEST

📍Hybrid format, World Food Programme headquarters (Auditorium) in Rome, Italy, and online.

📺️ Webcast

📝 Register here. Participants wishing to attend the event in person are kindly requested to register by contacting the CFS Secretariat at cfs@fao.org

📄 Read the HLPE-FSN background note

A summary of the meeting, including key findings from the discussion, will be presented by the CFS Chairperson at the 54th CFS Plenary Session in October, under Item II on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World – Strengthening Coordination and Collaborative Actions.

Draft agenda

Moderator: Ms Elisabetta Gotor Principal Scientist and Leader of policy inclusion and social economic analysis for impact, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

☕️ Welcome coffee

Opening Session (9.30–10.10)

- Mr Kenn Crossley, Director of Strategic Coordination, Office of the Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operations Officer, World Food Programme (WFP)  
- Ms Pieternel Boogaard, Managing Director, Office of Technical Delivery, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) 
- Senator Luca De Carlo, Chair of the Agriculture Committee of the Senate, Italy
- H.E. Rana Tanveer Hussain, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Pakistan
- Professor Anas A. Al-Nabulsi, Chairperson, Committee on World Food Security (CFS)
- Mr Evan Fraser, High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN)

Testimonials

• Mr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems and former Prime Minister of Niger
• Mr Pierluigi Collina, Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee 
• Mr Walter Villadei, Astronaut, Aeronautica Militare Italiana

Keynote speech

• Mr Charles Spillane, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Chief Scientist

Panel 1: Understanding the use of data, digital technologies and AI for food security and nutrition (10.10–11.20)

- Mr Yazeed Naseer Abaalhasan, Director, Early Warning Operations, General Food Security Authority, Saudi Arabia

- Ms Pieternel Boogaard, Managing Director, Office of Technical Delivery, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

- Mr Rikin Gandhi, Chief Executive Officer, Digital Green
- Mr César Augusto Vargas, Principal Investigator, Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (AGROSAVIA), Colombia
- Mr Jim Thomas, Hopper Dean Foundation
- Mr Pat Mooney, International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food)

Panel 2: Challenges and opportunities: new trends of AI and digital technologies in food security and nutrition (11.20–12.30)

- Mr Pramod Kumar Meherda, Additional Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, India
- Mr Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis, World Food Programme (WFP)
- Ms Inbal Becker Reshef, Program Director, NASA Harvest
- Ms Anita Gurumurthy, Executive Director, IT for Change
- Mr Liow Wei Quan, Chief Digital Officer, Greenphyto
- Ms Barbara Ntambirweki, ETC Group of African Technology Assessment Platform (AfriTAP)

Panel 3: Exploring the frontiers of data and innovative AI governance needs in food security and nutrition (14.00–15.20)

- H.E. Fredrick L. Matwang’a, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kenya to FAO
- Mr Máximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 
- Ms Patti Naylor, Coordinator, Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM) Data Working Group
- Mr Matias O'Keeffe, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, ucrop.it
- Ms Jedidah Wambui Nderitu, Regional Coalition for Farmers Market, Nairobi, Kenya
- Mr Jacob van Etten, Principal Scientist and Director, Digital Inclusion Research Programme, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

Panel 4: The way forward (15.20–16.45)

- Ms Sofia Monsalve, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
- H.E. Nosipho Nausca-Jean Jezile, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of South Africa to FAO
- Ms Annette Schneegans, Deputy Permanent Representative, Minister Counsellor, Permanent Mission of the European Union in Rome
- Mr Doug Hoelscher, Minister Counselor for Agriculture, USUN Rome
- Mr Benjamin Kwasi Addom, Adviser, Agriculture and Fisheries Trade Policy, Commonwealth Secretariat- Country Representative, South Africa 
- Ms Sabrina Masinjila, Senior Programme Officer for Agroecology and Food Justice at the Society for International Development, CSIPM Representative
- Mr Daniela Morra, IAFN Senior Advisor, PSM Representative
- Open floor discussion with CFS Members and stakeholders

Closing session (16.45–17.00)

- Professor Anas A. Al-Nabulsi, Chairperson, Committee on World Food Security (CFS)

🌐 Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in the 6 UN official languages (AR, ZH, EN, FR, RU, ES) and Italian.

Read more in the concept note: 

• Concept Note (AR)
• Concept Note (ZH)
• Concept Note (EN)
• Concept Note (FR)
• Concept Note (RU)
• Concept Note (ES)