Agrifood Leadership Alumni Community

The relationships, collaborations and exchange of experience developed during the first three cohorts of the Agrifood Leadership programme do not end at graduation. On the contrary, they provide the foundation for an active community of emerging and established professionals who can jointly shape the future of Greece’s agrifood sector.

With this philosophy in mind, New Agriculture New Generation is creating the Agrifood Leadership Alumni Community: a dedicated space for connection, collaboration, lifelong learning and professional development for all programme alumni.

A community that continues beyond the programme

The first three Agrifood Leadership cohorts brought together people with diverse professional paths but a shared interest in advancing the agrifood sector: producers, agronomists, business executives, cooperative members, consultants, entrepreneurs and professionals from across the wider ecosystem.

Through the programme, participants formed connections, exchanged ideas and knowledge, and built relationships based on trust. These relationships have the potential to develop into new professional opportunities, innovative ideas, joint initiatives, partnerships and actions with a meaningful impact on the sector.

New Agriculture New Generation continues to stand alongside its alumni, maintaining close contact and strengthening a network that extends beyond the duration of the educational programme. The Alumni Community was created precisely to give this relationship continuity, structure and new opportunities.

What is the Alumni Community?

An alumni community is more than a list of graduates. It is an active community of people who stay connected after completing a programme, share experiences, support one another and continue to grow together.

For Agrifood Leadership, the community will serve as a network where alumni can:

• Connect with people from different areas of the agrifood sector.

• Communicate directly and exchange questions, ideas and good practices.

• Find partners for business, research or funded initiatives.

• Stay informed about job, collaboration, funding and networking opportunities.

• Continue their education and professional development.

• Contribute their own knowledge, experience and perspective to the sector’s challenges.

The value of such a community lies in the strength of its members: the more people actively participate, share knowledge and build bridges across different organisations and activities, the greater its collective impact becomes.

A dedicated space on CULTIVATE

The Agrifood Leadership Alumni Community will be based in a specially designed space on the CULTIVATE platform. There, alumni will be able to meet digitally, communicate and access content, activities and opportunities designed around their needs.

This space aims to become a dynamic collaboration hub, offering features such as:

• Alumni profiles presenting members’ professional identity, career journey and interests.

• Easy member search and connection by cohort, area of expertise or professional field.

• Discussion spaces and thematic groups—for example, for producers, agronomists, business executives, consultants or cooperative members.

• Opportunities to post collaborations, job openings, calls for proposals, events and other useful resources.

• Access to learning activities and continuing professional development materials.

Alumni co-create the community

The Agrifood Leadership Alumni Community is being designed with the participation of the alumni themselves. In the long term, the aim is for the community to gradually become alumni-led: members will be able to propose, select and co-design the learning, networking and other activities that offer the greatest value to them, with the ongoing support of the New Agriculture New Generation team.

Initial input from alumni during an online meeting clearly highlighted their priorities. The need for new collaborations emerged as the most important expectation from the network, followed by professional opportunities, knowledge and upskilling, inspiration and mentoring. When asked what makes a strong alumni network, the most common responses were collaboration, networking, communication, knowledge, community and support.

Alumni also showed strong interest in activities that strengthen connection and shared development, including masterclasses with CEOs and industry experts, executive coaching sessions, policy briefings on topics such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Green Deal and artificial intelligence, peer-to-peer mentoring, and asynchronous learning courses.

Upcoming activities

The community will grow gradually through activities that connect knowledge with practice, and networking with tangible opportunities. Indicatively, alumni will be able to take part in:

• Online masterclasses with CEOs, entrepreneurs and agrifood experts.

• Executive coaching and peer-to-peer mentoring among alumni.

• Policy briefings on developments related to the CAP, the Green Deal, artificial intelligence and other critical topics.

• Thematic meetings, alumni breakfasts or dinners organised by sector and professional interest.

• Experience-sharing activities, case studies and presentations of good practices.

• Opportunities for joint proposals, pilot projects, export connections and new business collaborations.

• Platforms for members to contribute as speakers, mentors, trainers or contributors.

We are launching dynamically: the first Agrifood Leadership Alumni Community activity will take place in early October, with an online masterclass featuring Theodoros Matakiadis, Head of Global Disruptive Innovation Portfolio at Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds. And this is only the beginning—many more activities, learning opportunities and networking opportunities will follow.

Applications for the 4th cohort are open until 20 September

Would you like to become part of a community that connects knowledge, leadership and collaboration in agrifood?

Applications for the fourth cohort of the Agrifood Leadership programme are open until 20 September. Apply now and become part of a network of people who never stop learning, collaborating and creating new opportunities for the sector.

Learn more about the programme and find the application form on the Agrifood Leadership website.