Geneva AgriForum: Rice, Grains & Pulses Dialogue

Feeding the World – Trade Resilience, Food Security & Sustainability in 2025

30th & 31st October, 2025 | Geneva Marriot Hotel, Switzerland

 Intro: Global grain markets have proven surprisingly resilient, even as wars, weather and trade disputes test the system’s limits. In 2025, with food security a top geopolitical issue, the Geneva AgriForum convenes the leaders who move rice, wheat, corn and pulses from farm to plate. Expect a high-level, outcome-focused discussion on maintaining supply in a world of export bans and climate shocks. C-suite executives, traders and ministers will swap strategies on everything from navigating export restrictions to leveraging agri-tech for yield gains. This is not just a conference – it’s a boardroom for the global pantry, set in neutral Geneva for frank dialogue on ensuring grains and pulses keep feeding growth amid uncertainty.

Top 5 Reasons to Attend

• Global Grain & Rice Outlook: Get the latest intelligence on staple crop markets. With the global grain market “proving resilient in 2025” despite conflict and climate shocks, now is the time to understand emerging supply trends, from record Brazilian harvests to shifting Chinese import needs.
  
  
• Food Security & Policy Insights: Engage with policymakers and experts on ensuring food security. Whether it’s export policy (like recent rice export bans) or humanitarian grain corridors, learn what’s being done to stabilize markets – and how it affects your business.
  
  
• Network with the Agri Elite: Meet the world’s top grain traders, millers, agribusiness CEOs and institutional buyers. Forge connections from Asia’s largest rice importers to Africa’s strategic grain reserve managers. It’s a chance to build alliances across the value chain.
  
  
• Innovation in Agri & Supply Chains: Discover cutting-edge solutions in agriculture – drought-tolerant crop varieties, digital marketplaces for farmers, satellite crop monitoring, AI-driven trade analytics – all aimed at boosting productivity and efficiency.
  
  
• Sustainability and ESG Advantage: Consumers and investors demand sustainable agri practices. Learn how leaders are integrating ESG – from low-carbon logistics to regenerative agriculture – turning sustainability into a market advantage and compliance with evolving standards.
  
  

Global Outlook

Global grain trade remains robust, with shipments continuing despite conflicts, as shown by resilient exports from regions like the Black Sea. As one recent report highlights, the world’s grain market has largely withstood recent turbulence, “proving resilient in 2025, with Ukraine sustaining exports, China reducing imports and maritime routes coming under pressure”. Indeed, even after the disruption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Ukrainian grain finds alternative pathways to global markets and other exporters like Brazil and Australia have stepped up to keep supply flowing. But challenges persist: climate change is stalking harvests – erratic monsoons, droughts in North America, heatwaves in Europe. These have the potential to tighten supplies of rice, wheat and pulses, staples for billions. Meanwhile, geopolitics casts long shadows. Trade tensions and tariff wars (for example, between the US and China) threaten to reorder trade flows; a new tariff or quota can send import-dependent nations scrambling. On the demand side, the world’s population and incomes are rising, particularly in Asia and Africa, driving strong baseline demand for staples. The World Food Programme warns that over 340 million people face acute food insecurity, doubling pre-pandemic levels – a sobering backdrop that adds urgency for stable grain supplies. Amid these factors, pulses (lentils, peas, chickpeas) are gaining prominence. They are protein-rich, climate-resilient and increasingly crucial in both developing world diets and as plant-based protein in health-conscious markets. Trade in pulses is growing, but not without hiccups – export controls and tariffs (often to manage domestic prices) introduce volatility. Overall, the global outlook for rice, grains and pulses in 2025 is one of cautious optimism: robust trade and production in many areas, yet ever one shock away from a crisis. The Geneva AgriForum will decode this outlook, giving attendees clarity on where risks and opportunities lie in feeding the world sustainably.

Key Themes & Agenda Focus

• Global Supply Chain Resilience: Lessons learned from recent disruptions. Black Sea grain corridor aftermath, rerouting of trade via new corridors and how shipping and logistics industries are adapting to ensure delivery.
  
  
• Food Security & Policy: Government perspectives on balancing domestic food security with global trade. Discussions on strategic grain reserves, export bans on staples (like rice or wheat) – when are they used and how to mitigate impact on import-dependent nations.
  
  
• Climate Impacts & Adaptation: Climate trends affecting 2024–25 harvests – e.g., El Niño’s effect on Asian rice yields, drought in US plains for wheat. Innovative approaches in climate adaptation: heat-resistant rice strains, micro-irrigation and insurance schemes for farmers.
  
  
• Pulses and Nutrition Transition: The rising role of pulses in crop rotation and diets. Market outlook for beans, lentils, etc. and their contribution to sustainable farming (nitrogen-fixing properties reducing fertilizer needs). Capitalizing on the plant-protein boom in Western markets with pulse-based products.
  
  
• Agri-Tech and Digitalization: How digital marketplaces, blockchain traceability and remote sensing are transforming grain trade. Success stories of small farmers accessing global markets via tech and big traders using AI for yield predictions and logistics optimization.
  
  
• ESG & Sustainable Trade: Ensuring grains and rice are produced and traded sustainably. Reducing supply chain emissions (e.g., greener shipping for bulk cargo), preventing deforestation for new cropland and improving labor conditions in agriculture. How ESG metrics are increasingly tied to trade finance availability.
  
  

Who Will You Meet

• Global Traders & Merchants: Senior executives from leading grain trading houses and cooperatives (the likes of ADM, Cargill, COFCO, Olam, Louis Dreyfus, etc.), as well as top rice exporters and pulse trading specialists.
  
  
• Producers & Millers: CEOs and directors of major grain producers, rice millers, flour millers and pulse processing companies from Asia, the Americas and Africa. These are the folks turning raw crops into food products.
  
  
• Government & Multilateral Officials: Agriculture ministers, food security policymakers and trade negotiators from key producing and importing countries (USA, Brazil, India, Nigeria, China, EU, etc.). Plus representatives from the UN FAO, World Food Programme and trade bodies influencing global food policy.
  
  
• Investors & Financiers: Heads of commodity financing divisions from banks (including those specializing in agri-commodities in Geneva’s ecosystem), leaders of agri-focused investment funds and development finance institutions investing in agricultural infrastructure.
  
  
• Tech Innovators & NGOs: Agri-tech startup founders (in AI, farm drones, blockchain for supply chains), sustainability NGO leaders (focused on hunger, sustainable farming, fair trade) and researchers from top ag universities or think tanks. This mix ensures fresh ideas cross-pollinate established practices.
  
  

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