Agriculture in Action: SAN Members Drive Change from the Field to the Global Stage

From Regenerative Coffee to Agroecology Caravans — SAN's Network in Motion (Week of 31 March – 6 April 2026)

Across continents, SAN members are translating vision into practice — certifying farms, running learning caravans, planting trees, and showing up at global summits. Here's what's happening on the ground this week.

Regenerative Agriculture Takes Center Stage in the Coffee World

The Rainforest Alliance is heading to World of Coffee San Diego (April 10–12), North America's largest specialty coffee event, where coffee sector lead Miguel Gamboa will join a panel on Financing Regenerative, Resilient Coffee: Lessons from Across the Supply Chain — alongside experts from the Sustainable Food Lab, Keurig Dr Pepper, Root Capital, and ACODIHUE. The event also features a booth session with Café Orfeu, one of the first companies to achieve the Rainforest Alliance's Regenerative Agriculture Certification, where CEO Ricardo Madureira will share insights on transitioning farms to regenerative practices.

Meanwhile, the Rainforest Alliance also published its Spring issue, "Regenerating Hope," spotlighting farmers leading the regenerative movement from the ground up — a timely reminder that certification and storytelling go hand in hand.

Tackling Pests, Cocoa Markets, and Field Realities

Climate change is reshaping the pest landscape on Vietnam's tea, coffee, and pepper farms. The Rainforest Alliance shared four years of Integrated Pest Management results on the ground in Vietnam, demonstrating that IPM is a practical, scalable response to a growing crisis.

On cocoa, the Rainforest Alliance issued a direct call to chocolate manufacturers, traders, and retailers to move beyond short-term market swings and invest in farmer income stability, technical assistance, and access to inputs. The message was clear: smallholders cannot absorb the volatility of global commodity markets alone.

Sustainable Cashews in Côte d'Ivoire: Standards in the Field

Côte d'Ivoire produces 40% of the world's cashews — and the Rainforest Alliance is helping ensure that production is sustainable. Chief Product Officer Ruth Newsome recently visited the Moayé cooperative in Sinfra, meeting cooperative members directly to understand how version 1.4 of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard plays out in real farm conditions. It's exactly the kind of field-level accountability that turns standards into lived practice.

Regenerative Agriculture Meets Policy: Preferred by Nature at Global Summits

Preferred by Nature had a busy week on the global stage. Their team attended the ChangeNOW 2026 summit in Paris, a global gathering exploring practical solutions to climate, nature, and social challenges — with Regional Engagement Director Sandra Razanamandranto and Country Representative Nicolas Pillet representing the organization in discussions on supply chains, finance, and land use.

Preferred by Nature also announced it will attend the Regenerative Agriculture Summit 2026 in Los Angeles this April, building on its European experience to extend its regenerative agriculture work into North America — with a focus on how approaches translate across land use, farming, and supply chain contexts.

Agroecology Learning Caravans Gaining Momentum in Uganda

PELUM Uganda is proving that learning by doing is one of the most powerful tools in sustainable agriculture. In Adjumani District, the organization is implementing the Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) methodology among farmer group representatives and community-based organizations — with support from ESAFF and the district chairperson.

The PELUM Uganda-led Exposure Learning Agroecology Caravan brought together experienced farmers, KHEA Project multipliers, and decision-makers for visits to agroecology best-practice sites — breaking down silos, facilitating discussions on scalability, and giving policymakers the tangible evidence they need to support agroecological transitions.

Nature Kenya: Forests, Beekeeping, and the Business Case for Nature

Nature Kenya is making the case — loudly and clearly — that nature means business. Their latest piece argues that when nature breaks down, every sector pays: clean water runs factories, healthy soils feed supply chains, forests regulate rainfall, and pollinators stock shelves.

Action followed words this week. Nature Kenya joined Stanbic Bank Kenya staff at Kangaita Forest in Kirinyaga, where together they planted 1,500 trees as part of a broader commitment to growing 104,000 trees in the Mt Kenya ecosystem this year. In the same spirit, the AfricElle exchange visits continued, with a delegation of women champions from Tanzania visiting Taita Hills to learn about beekeeping, honey production, macadamia farming, and butterfly rearing — knowledge-sharing that weaves conservation into livelihoods.

Pesticides, Organic Fertilizers, and Policy Advocacy in Peru

Red de Acción en Agricultura Alternativa Perú (RAAA Perú) has been active on multiple fronts this week. The organization concluded a conference at PUCP on an environmental policy agenda — calling on Senate and congressional candidates to concretely support CONVEAGRO's family farming agenda. RAAA Perú also championed organic fertilizers as the best response to the synthetic fertilizer crisis, pointing to on-the-ground work in Huánuco as proof.

The team continued sounding the alarm on pesticide contamination — highlighting pesticide containers found in farmland polluting soil, water, and food, and calling for valley-wide stakeholder coordination to stop the problem. On a constructive note, RAAA Perú also shared a CENFOTUR initiative breeding earthworms to valorize domestic organic waste — a small but meaningful example of circular economy principles in action.

Circular Bioeconomy Alliance: From Agroforestry Labs to Royal Audiences

Circular Bioeconomy Alliance had a remarkable week at the intersection of science and policy. Chief Scientist Giuseppe Scarascia delivered a keynote at the British Ecological Society's webinar on World Forestry Day, exploring Agroforestry Living Labs for Regenerative Landscapes — covering regenerative cotton, medicinal plants, and viticulture.

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance also welcomed King Charles III and Finland's President Alexander Stubb to the New Wood: Building a Bio-based Future exhibition — showcasing wood-based alternatives to fossil-derived products. Earlier, the King had also been updated on regenerative agriculture progress at a Sustainable Markets Initiative meeting at Buckingham Palace.

Conclusion: Radical Collaboration for People and Planet

From pest management in Vietnam to tree planting in Kenya, from policy advocacy in Peru to regenerative cotton in Egypt — this week's activity is a vivid snapshot of what SAN's Global Impact Network looks like in action. Each member is tackling a different challenge, in a different context, with a different community. But the thread connecting them is the same: the belief that pressing global challenges in agriculture — climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, inequity — can only be solved through radical collaboration, field-level implementation, and the kind of trust that comes from working directly with farmers and communities.

That is what SAN exists to enable. And that is what this network delivers, week after week.