Regenerative Futures SA 2026 brought together leaders from government, impact investment, development finance, philanthropy, retail, research and regenerative farming practice.
The focus was to build a shared understanding of regenerative agriculture as a system-wide opportunity for South Africa, and to align stakeholders around what it will take to scale it meaningfully.
At Regenerative Futures SA 2026, leading voices including Prof. Mamokgethi Phakeng, James Lonsdale, Gary Jackson, Dr Hendrik Smith and Dr Nicole van Rheede will join Black regenerative farmers and agricultural leaders including Rosah Ramaipadi, Jama Mashele Mohale and Lawrence Letshokgohla to explore how regeneration can become a scalable force for South Africa’s agricultural future.
08:00 – 08:45: Registration
08:45 – 09:00: Opening Remarks
09:00 – 09:35: Keynote: The Regenerative Imperative for South Africa
This keynote opens day 2 of Regenerative Futures SA 2026 by framing the urgency and opportunity of transitioning South Africa’s agricultural systems toward regeneration. It brings together land health, climate resilience, food security and economic transformation into a single, connected national narrative. The address challenges conventional thinking on productivity and investment, while setting out what it will take to build a scalable regenerative economy that works for farmers, ecosystems and markets.
09:40 – 10:15: Panel: The Retailer’s Perspective on Regeneration
This panel explores how the retail sector is responding to the shift toward regenerative agriculture. Leading retailers share how sourcing strategies, supply chain expectations and consumer demand are influencing the transition, and what it takes to build long-term partnerships with farmers. The discussion focuses on standards, traceability, pricing pressures and how retail can help scale regenerative practices across the value chain.
10:20 – 10:50: Many Ways of Knowing: Farmers, Researchers and the Learning Journey of Regeneration
The core idea centres around on-farm innovation and the reality that many of the most important breakthroughs in regenerative agriculture are being driven directly by farmers themselves. Farmers are constantly experimenting, adapting, observing, and generating practical knowledge in real-world conditions. At the same time, there’s growing value in researchers remaining closely connected to farming realities on the ground.
10:55 – 11:25: Masterclass 1: Developing a Regenerative Barometer — A Landscape Instrument for South African Agricultural Regeneration
A session to introduce and collectively develop the Regenerative Barometer: an instrument for tracking how South Africa’s policy and institutional landscape enables — or obstructs — the transition to regenerative agriculture, and how that condition changes over time. Building on the ten-dimension assessment of thirty policies and legislative instruments, the session moves from a static analysis of the enabling environment toward a repeatable measure of systemic progress. It combines an open framing of why such an instrument is needed with a structured working component in which participants help shape its dimensions, indicators and scoring logic. Drawing on inputs from, amongst others, Impact Amplifier, the Africa Climate Foundation, and contributors to the State of Regenerative Agriculture Research in South Africa.
11:30 – 11:45: Tea/Coffee Break
11:55 – 12:20: Masterclass 2: Training & Ecoversity Pathway
A structured four-level learning journey designed to build regenerative capacity from the ground up. Lowerland and partners present a progressive model moving from on-farm operator skills (working in the enterprise) to management and systems thinking (working on the enterprise) to ecosystem collaboration and market participation (working in the ecosystem) and finally to mentorship and leadership development, cultivating the next generation of regenerative stewards and trainers.
12:25 – 13:10: Exclusive Documentary Screening
Delegates will be the first to view Kagiso Trust’s powerful new documentary on regenerative agriculture, ahead of its broadcast on DStv and eTV. The short film explores real stories from the field, highlighting the people, practices and partnerships driving regenerative change across South Africa. This exclusive preview offers a first look at a national broadcast production before it reaches television audiences.
13:15 – 14:15: Lunch
14:20 – 14:50: Formation of Working Groups
As we wrap up the inaugural Regenerative Futures SA 2026, attendees will come together to translate the discussions of the day into action by forming working groups across Finance, Ecoversity and Training, Policy, and Retail. This session is focused on alignment, collaboration and next steps, as participants commit to practical areas of work that will continue beyond the conference. It marks the shift from dialogue to implementation, setting the foundation for ongoing partnerships and coordinated action.
14:50 – 15:00: Vote of Thanks