Works as an Economist at the Global Information and Early Warning System of FAO since 2012. She is responsible for monitoring the food supply/demand and food security situation in Asia and the Pacific, covering a vast set of 27 countries stretching from Pakistan to Papua New Guinea. She regularly contributes to a variety of FAO’s technical reports and publications and conducts country agricultural and market assessments.

Dr. Elliott Grant is a recognized business leader and innovator in food and ag tech. He is the General Manager of Mineral at X, Alphabet’s “Moonshot Factory.” The mineral is using machine learning (ML) and robotics to scale sustainable agriculture globally. He was the founder and CEO of HarvestMark, the world leader in fresh food traceability (acquired by Trimble); the CEO of ShopWell, a personalized nutrition company; and served as the Vice-Chair of the Produce Marketing Association, a global industry organization, and chaired its Science & Technology Committee.

Dewi is the Global Rice Programme Coordinator of Rikolto International. Dewi oversees its rice programs in 8 countries in Asia and Africa. Previously she was the Regional Director of Rikolto in Indonesia. Two international Master's degrees from Germany and South Africa complement her more than 20 years of practical expertise in the global development sector, particularly in sustainable agriculture, inclusive markets, and sustainable food systems.

Malavika leads Engie Impact’s work out of APAC, based out of Singapore. Malavika is a well regarded sustainability professional with over 20 years of experience, including projects in clean energy, smart cities, climate change, and sustainable agriculture. She has worked with the private sector, governments, and the development sector, both in the West (UK, Europe, and US) and in Asia (Southeast Asia, India).

Cherrys is the Founder of Sierreza, the first zero-waste shop to open in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. She finished BS Chemical Engineering from  UP Los Baños and MS Environmental Science from the University of Auckland. She earned her certificate in Organic Agriculture from the UP Open University. 

Marco Silvestri is currently the Deputy Head of the Center for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), where he has worked since 2019, mainly on regional standards for testing of agricultural machinery, integrated management of crop residue, climate-smart mechanization solutions, gender mainstreaming and collaboration with other UN agencies in the UN Country Team in China, among others.

Jim Harkness has worked on agriculture, environment, and rural development in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since the 1980s. He carried out field research and environmental education on behalf of the International Crane Foundation in the 1980s and early 1990s, including a year of field work in Tibet. He served as development and environment program officer for the Ford Foundation in Beijing from 1995–1999, providing grants for innovations and research on rural poverty alleviation and community-based natural resource management.