But it’s a long way from our current food system, to make food a leverage.
Yet it is easier to blame a system than to (re)construct a new alliance. It is easier to break down walls than to build future-proof bridges.
Planet earth is not a paradize, neither can we make a tabula rasa and repaint the food system from scratch.
Let’s start from reality and bundle forces.
Including the voice of young professionals, not as victims of an uncertain world, but as future leaders making this world a better place.
Quote by Hannah Ritchie from Our World in Data.
We will meet bimonthly in Brussels, each edition with a different focus and at another inspiring location in the city centre. We start our breakfast with an inspiring keynote speaker who sets the scene. This is followed by short reflections from stakeholders, including young professionals. What is their opinion? Does the speech align with how they perceive reality, in their business or in their everyday life?
Places are limited and we aim for a good balance in the room including experts from private companies, umbrella organisations, academia, think tanks, NGOs, and policymaking institutions. We especially welcome young professionals, within the agrofood system and out-of-the-agrofood-bubble.
Our breakfast series brings together policymakers, businesses, researchers, civil society and young professionals to exchange ideas, build networks, enrich minds and inspire. Whether you participate as an organisation or as an individual expert, there is a membership option that fits your level of engagement.
Interested? Discover all the membership features,
or contact tessa@runandharvest.org directly for more information.
Where? Brussels
Rotations between venues
This dialogue starts with a breakfast, but continuous 24/7.
We will take the ideas and insights from Brussels to various spaces outside the Brussels bubble, through interviews with youngsters, articles, workshops in schools, keynotes for local organisations and public events.
As a Member or Ambassador, you will be updated on opportunities, get the chance to discuss new formats of outreach and get the possibility to joining for this dialogue with youngsters.
Tessa Avermaete is expert sustainable food systems. She worked for 20 years in academia, managing European consortia focused on various aspects of the food chain, from farm to fork. She served as an expert for the European Commission, co-chairs the 6th Global Food Security Conference that will take place in Wageningen, chaired the Food and Farming Advisory Board of Leuven, and is a member of the Board of Young Farmers in Flanders. In 2025, she left the University of Leuven and launched her own company, Run and Harvest. Tessa is author of several books, with the last one – Your plate unravelled. Facts, myths and emotions – published in 2026. Building on her academic work, she aims to facilitate and contribute to a constructive, evidence-based food debate, engaging both experts and the broader public.
Run and Harvest is responsible for the setting of the agenda, invitation of a keynote speaker, the selection of experts that react in response to the keynote and contact with the attending youngsters. Invitations are open to all, but in case of over-demand, the organiser selects participants, considering a balanced group of attendees.
Tessa Avermaete © 2026 | Created by fab-ris.com
