Please find the preliminary program below.
Day 1 – Wednesday 24 June 2026
| 09:00-12:00 | Field trip (optional: to be confirmed) |
| 12:00-13:00 | Lunch |
| 13:00-13:30 | Registration, networking & opening of the posters’ exhibition |
| 13:30-14:30 | Session 1: Inauguration, opening session and speeches (high level policy participation), including a signature session. Challenges and opportunities for soil health and agriculture: regional priorities, needs and commitments |
| 14:30-15:15 | Setting the scene This session should set the scene for the coming days, by providing a brief overview of the most pressing challenges effecting soil health in the region (erosion, drought, loss of biodiversity) and the resulting effects for production, society and the environment. This entails a reflection of how social and economic developments as well as the effects of climate change will affect the region and its soils. At the same time, this session will highlight the potential for regional food production and how strengthening agroecology can help to harness it |
| 15:15-16:00 | Farmers’ voices |
| 16:00-16:30 | Coffee break and group photo |
| 16:30-18:00 | Session 2: Restoring soil (and human) health through integrated, agroecological approaches |
Day 2 – Thursday 25 June 2026
| 08:30-09:00 | Wrap-up of Day 1 in plenary |
| 09:00-10:30 | Session 3: Water management and erosion control: restoring soil health at landscape level |
| 10:30 -11:00 | Coffee break |
| 11:00-12:30 | Session 4: Sustainable rangeland management: priorities, needs and commitments for soil health |
| 12:30-13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30-15:00 | Session 5: Ensuring soil health in South African large-scale production systems, solutions with the examples of vineyards and orchards |
| 15:00-16:30 | Session 6: Business models for soil health |
| 16:00-16:30 | Coffee break |
| 16:30-18:30 | Session 7: Financing and supporting the agroecological transition. |
| 19:30 | Conference dinner (to be confirmed) |
Day 3 – Friday 26 June 2026
| 09:00-09:30 | Wrap-up of Day 2 in plenary |
| 09:30-10:30 | Keynote: We can only manage what we can measure - Monitoring for different purposes |
| 10:30 -11:00 | Coffee break |
| 11:00-13:00 | Session 8: Field-based methods for monitoring soil health to support small holder production |
| 13:00-14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00-16:00 | Session 9: Modelling Approaches & Remote sensing |
| Dialogue between local and international researchers | |
| 16:00-16:30 | Coffee break |
| 16:30-17:30 | Session 10: Monitoring networks and data-sharing (e.g. soil observatory, national soil inventories, etc.). Monitoring and communicating agricultural risks |
| 17:30-18:30 | Presentation of a possible regional roadmap and key messages (scientific, technical, organizational, in terms of policy, etc.) |
| 18:30-19:00 | Wrap-up of Day 3; Conclusions of the regional conference in plenary |
| 19:00 | End of the regional workshop/conference. |




