Seed is the critical starting point of every harvest, but it also sits at the heart of every conversation about food security and sustainable agriculture that the world is having right now.
The trade environment is being reconfigured in real time. Climate volatility is turning extreme weather into routine disruption. Regulations affecting plant breeding innovation, phytosanitary requirements, plant variety protection, and intellectual property. and sustainable business models are advancing across regions – with disruptive potential if they are not consistent, science-based, and risk-based. At the same time, expectations from farmers, consumers, investors, policymakers, and the public are continuously shifting.
Meanwhile, the tools available to plant breeders and seed companies — from genome editing to precision breeding and traceability systems — have never been more powerful or more accessible. For the private sector, the competitive edge now isn’t just innovation; it’s collaboration that helps innovation earn trust, scale, and deliver impact. In this continuously evolving environment, we all have a role to play.
That’s why the International Seed Federation (ISF) World Seed Congress 2026 convenes in Lisbon under a theme built for this moment: “Joint Actions, Resilient Futures.”
For people making decisions across plant breeding, seed production, seed testing, seed processing, agribusiness, and policy, the ISF World Seed Congress is more than a calendar event. It’s a key opportunity to understand where the sector can align on what comes next and how we can shift more towards collaborative ways of working.
A Congress at the crossroads of pressure and possibility
The 2026 World Seed Congress meets the sector at a defining crossroads. We’re navigating overlapping transformations reshaping agriculture, trade, technology, and society. And no single organization, company, or country can solve these challenges alone.
The opportunity is to move from parallel efforts to joint actions: shared priorities, smarter alignment, and practical pathways that make seed systems — and the seed business — more resilient by design.
Lisbon will therefore become the gathering point for leaders across plant breeding, seed trade, intellectual property, and seed health, including policymakers and next-gen youth advocates. Because resilience is not a single discipline. It’s the outcome of multiple cross-functional and cross-sector experts united in a single global seed community, moving in the same direction.
Each of the three core themes shaping the Congress agenda lands squarely on the daily realities many in the seed industry face today:
- A New Normal for Global Markets and Trade
The seed sector has always been global, but the rules and assumptions behind global trade are shifting. Tariffs are only one part of the picture; businesses are also confronting evolving non-tariff barriers, shifting alliances, “minilateral” agreements, and strategic competition. Yet, volatility doesn’t have to equal vulnerability. The sector has navigated complex disruptions before, and can do so again by aligning on practical solutions.
At the Congress’ Markets Day, we will tackle this and other questions, like: how do we stay nimble when predictability slips, where are new market opportunities emerging, and how does the sector champion trade that remains science-based, rules-driven, and resilient, even when geopolitics is not?
- Innovation at Full Speed and Under Scrutiny
Innovation in plant breeding is accelerating, but so are expectations for transparency and traceability. The question is no longer “Can we do it?”, but “How do we do it responsibly, at scale, and with public trust?”
On Innovation Day, we will also continue the conversation about the global system for access to and use of genetic resources, with the emerging post-Lima (11th Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Ressources for Food and Agriculture) reality demanding new ways of collaboration – one that is more flexible, more transparent, and anchored in a shared objective of keeping diverse genetic material accessible for breeding, research, and food security.
This is not abstract. It directly affects how quickly improved varieties can move from research to field, and whether farmers and consumers have confidence in how innovation is developed, assessed, and communicated.
- Enterprise resilience: Spotlight on family-owned seed companies
Strengthening the sector’s innovation ecosystem also means strengthening the businesses and people who carry knowledge and tradition forward, and building partnerships that help them compete and scale.
Family-owned seed companies remain a backbone of agriculture, bringing continuity and proximity to farmers, even as they face real pressures from consolidation, scaling demands, and competition for talent.
- Sustainability and resilience: Beyond commitments, toward impact
Sustainability expectations are entering a new, more rigorous phase. Rising scrutiny of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks signals that good intentions are no longer enough; stakeholders want measurable, verifiable contributions to climate adaptation, biodiversity outcomes, and sustainable livelihoods. This moves the conversation from what we promiseto how we prove it.
