The first Global Conscious Food Systems Summit, hosted by the CoFSA, convened by UNDP, and the Royal Government of Bhutan, from 1st – 4th September 2026, has now drawn to a close, bringing together hundreds of practitioners from 65 countries around a shared vision for food systems that honour both people and nature. Across four inspiring days, the invitation was repeatedly to “see and act from the whole” – to recognise that the health of food systems is inseparable from human and planetary health, and from questions of social and ecological justice.
We heard from visionary leaders including H.E. Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bhutan, Otto Scharmer, and H.E. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as young leaders like Prasiddhi Singh who has transformed landscapes in India, planting 200,000 trees! To be in a room with so many people working at different levels of food-system transformation – from farming and community practice to policy, justice and global systems change – was a powerful reminder of what becomes possible when we come together and listen deeply.
Heartfelt presence and deep listening were core threads of the tapestry we wove together over those 4 days – and they were also central in the Calmer Farmer initiative which Alef Trust Director Dr Jessica Bockler presented at the Summit, sharing emerging insights into farmer wellbeing, embodiment and systems change.
At the heart of our work in Calmer Farmer is this vital observation: under chronic pressure, attention contracts. Practices that support grounding, bodily awareness and connection, especially when held within supportive community, can help reopen the field of awareness, enabling different relationships, decisions and forms of participation. This enables a form of systems change that essentially arises from shifts in our perception and the ways we relate.
The presentation of Calmer Farmer formed part of a wider session on trust and farmer wellbeing for systems change, co-created with Elise Buckle, Marie-Antoinette Micheli, Aoife Franklyn and Ignacio Packer. It made space for the challenges farmers and food growers face, but also for reflections on what nourishes us and enables us to work differently with one another and nature.
Alongside our presence in Bhutan, Alef Trust also accompanied the Summit online, helping bring voices from different world regions into the conversation. We are deeply grateful to the Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA) for the collaboration, trust and shared work involved in hosting these online dialogues, and to UNDP and the Royal Government of Bhutan for convening such an extraordinary gathering.
Gratitude also to all our facilitators from around the world – Vibha, Daniel Kamanga, Dan McTiernan, Dana Ngo and Carmen Posada; and our sensemakers – Deepthi Rao, Nathalie Venis Randabel, Diane Holland, Margarita Zethelius and Francesca Hector, for holding space for these conversations. And high five to the tech and logistics team who worked hard to make this a safe and supportive experience for all: Vitaliy Dominichenko, Nicholas Theo, Gabriel Fernandez-Borsot, Charles Daniel McDonald, Dan McTiernan and Francesca Hector from Alef Trust.
The Summit may have closed, but the work continues!
At Alef Trust we have launched the Centre for the Ecology of Human Transformation, to continue the inquiry into the collective inner dimensions of systems transformation.
https://www.aleftrust.org/centre-for-the-ecology-of-human-transformation/
When awareness opens, relationships can shift.
When relationships shift, new possibilities for action emerge.
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