Sustainable Foods Summit 2026: Regenerative agriculture scales amid rising climate and trade risks

From cultivated cocoa butter to precision fermentation, the food industry’s toolkit is diversifying and evolving to keep pace with a warming planet. Exploring these developments, Amarjit Sahota, founder at Ecovia Intelligence, speaks to Food Ingredients First ahead of the Sustainable Foods Summit (Jun 18–19). 

The event in Amsterdam, Netherlands, places emphasis on the need for better access to sustainable food systems in the long term. With various environmental factors straining food production and supply chains, experts are examining new innovations to more efficiently connect them to the consumer plate.

Sahota stresses that there is a wide range of crops and products grown according to regenerative agriculture that are scaling fast to meet net-zero demands.

“They vary from grains (like oats, barley, and wheat), proteins (pea and soybeans), dairy (milk), and meats to cotton and cosmetic ingredients.”

“The Regenerative Organic Certified scheme is one of the most popular schemes for regenerative agriculture. The scheme covers almost 20 million acres, which are used to grow over 140 different crops.”

Supply chain risks

Sahota points to several critical factors increasing supply chain risks, prompting shifts among ingredient producers.

“Climate change is already important, especially for commodities like cocoa and coffee. Geopolitical conflict is also playing an important role, initially the Ukraine war and now the recent Gulf war. In the last 12 months, American tariffs have also created a lot of disruption to global supply chains.”Upcycled ingredients and precision fermentation reshape functional formulations.

We previously explored how the cocoa sector is reassessing its climate impacts, supply, and ethical sourcing pressures by exploring sustainable substitutes to cocoa butter — the fat that gives chocolate its smooth texture, snap, and melt-in-your-mouth quality.

Meanwhile, global coffee prices have fallen sharply from the record highs above US$4.40/lb reached in early 2025, as Brazil’s national supply agency forecasted a record 66.2 million bag harvest and Rabobank noted the first significant global production surplus in five years. But the correction faced complications with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the US-Iran war.

The UN FAO’s chief economist, Maximo Torero, recently warned that a protracted Strait of Hormuz crisis could lead to a global agri-food catastrophe, triggering rising food prices and lower crop yields.

Sahota says: “In general, supply chain risks have become more pronounced since COVID-19. We are seeing more supply chain shocks since 2020. Initially, because of COVID-19, and then climate change, and now geopolitical conflict.”

Upcycling retains popularity

Sahota sees upcycled ingredients as a major trend related to circularity that is reshaping functional ingredient formulations.

“Companies are developing ingredients from agricultural waste streams, and these are sometimes marketed as clean label or sustainable. Some examples include the Austrian company Kern Tec using upcycled apricot kernels in dairy alternatives and Barry Callebaut launching upcycled ingredients made from cacao fruit left over from chocolate production.”

“Other examples include Toast Ale, making beer from surplus bread, and the American company Barnana, making snacks from imperfect plantains and bananas. These companies have also presented their upcycled ingredient innovations at the Sustainable Foods Summit.”

In recent developments, scientists in Sweden developed a fully wheat-based gel, which could potentially help thicken, stabilize, or add texture to plant-based meat and dairy alternatives.

Meanwhile, PhenOlives launched what is hailed as the “world’s first” commercial production line for upcycled olive flour, turning olive waste into a new revenue stream for olive mills.

In other developments this year, scientists utilized sunflower oil waste to develop bread higher in protein, fiber, and antioxidants, as consumer demand for healthier alternatives to traditional wheat-based food pushes F&B research.The Sustainable Foods Summit tackles regenerative agriculture scaling and supply chain shocks.

Important processing practices

Sahota believes that precision fermentation and cultured (cultivated) foods will become increasingly important in producing alternative proteins that are cost-competitive with conventional sources.

“In Europe, some of the frontrunners using precision fermentation are Onego Bio, Formo, Vegan Cowboys, and Better Dairy. Some of the companies making cultivated meat are Mosa Meat, Eat Just, Upside Foods, and Meatble.”

In alternative protein developments, research undermining the sustainability case for insect farming revealed findings that it is far less environmentally friendly than originally thought and raises concerns over its biosecurity risk and disease spread.

But alternative protein patents have been noted to skyrocket 960% in a decade as the industry propels animal-free innovation. Just five countries (Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, France, and the UK) were named on 72% of all patent families.

Meanwhile, Celleste Bio recently unveiled its chocolate-grade cocoa butter, which it claims is the “first” to be formulated using plant cell culture technology. 

Event highlights

At the summit, visitors can learn how sustainability issues are evolving in the food industry while exploring how players are tackling their sustainability impacts. The audience will also get insight into AI’s influence on the production and marketing of sustainable foods, how foods are rated on their environmental footprint, and the complexity of addressing economic impacts.

Moreover, the event will explore regenerative agriculture for biodiversity benefits, precision fermentation for sustainable ingredients, and approaches to measuring biodiversity impacts. 

The summit will also debate the role of food tech, share consumer behavior data on sustainability and biodiversity, and teach players how to overcome marketing challenges when launching sustainable products.