w312026-economist | UK Food Council

For the UK food industry, resilience has moved from “risk register” to “daily operating system”.

Daily News Briefing

Side Bar – Event: Economist Impact — Future of Food Summit

Date: 10 February 2026
Location: Convene, 155 Bishopsgate, City of London, EC2M 3YD

Speaker snapshot: Máximo Torero (UN FAO) | Oksana Osmachko (Ukraine) | Gavin Hodgson (Sainsbury’s)

UK Food Council access:
• UKFC Members: use your UKFC member route to claim your benefit/discount
• UK food industry executives: tinyurl.com/48es3zcx

Future of Food Summit: UN, Ukraine and UK Retail Leaders Put Resilience Under the Microscope

Economist Impact’s Future of Food Summit lands in London on 10 February 2026 with a speaker line-up that connects global food economics, conflict-driven disruption and UK retail sourcing reality — through one unifying question: what does “resilience” actually mean when margins are tight and volatility is the new normal?

For the UK food industry, resilience has moved from “risk register” to “daily operating system”. Weather volatility, input cost swings, labour constraints, geopolitics and shifting consumer behaviour are now colliding — and they are colliding inside contracts, not conferences. That is why the appearance of three specific speakers at Economist Impact’s Future of Food Summit is worth watching closely:

Máximo Torero, Chief Economist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is expected to frame the debate in economic terms: shock resilience, innovative financing, access to healthy diets, and the supply chains that hold (or fail) when disruption arrives.

Oksana Osmachko, Deputy Minister at Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, brings a frontline national perspective. Ukraine has become a live case study in what happens when food production and export capability are tested by sustained pressure — and what “system resilience” means when it is not theoretical.

Gavin Hodgson, Director of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Horticulture at Sainsbury’s, adds the UK retail reality: sourcing standards, farm viability, consumer affordability, and the operational discipline required to turn net-zero commitments into measurable progress across complex supply networks.

The UK Food Council is working in association with Economist Impact to support access for UKFC Members and to provide a clear route for UK food industry executives who want to attend, learn and build relationships.

What this summit is really about (beneath the slogans)
• Resilience vs cost: who pays for stability when every link in the chain is squeezed?
• Healthy diets vs affordability: can nutrition progress survive prolonged price sensitivity?
• Net zero vs supply reality: how quickly can change happen without breaking supply?
• Policy vs delivery: which interventions help — and which simply re-label the problem?

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