Program

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 (tbc.)

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 workshop/conference in plenary

19:00                   Cocktail (optional) & end of the regional workshop/conference.