Top 6 food trends to watch in 2026

Which trends will shape the agrifood sector in 2026? Read on to discover how the food system will evolve throughout next year and beyond.

15 Jan 2026

10 min reading time

2025 has been a powerful period of consolidation and recalibration across the global food landscape. It is a year in which the challenges and opportunities facing the sector have brought EIT Food’s core missions into even sharper focus, helping us to predict what might shape the agrifood sector in 2026.

This year, while supply chains have absorbed the shocks of geopolitical tensions, extreme weather and economic volatility, businesses have had to reassess what resilience really looks like in an era defined by climate risk, shifting consumer expectations and tightening regulation.

Establishing robust, transparent supply chains in the sector is now a practical necessity to ensure food security, affordability and competitiveness. Advances in artificial intelligence and sustainable agriculture have also accelerated, moving from early-stage experimentation to solutions with tangible operational value. This change of gear is about to reduce emissions, strengthen resilience, and support protein diversification.

From the consumer perspective, health, affordability and trust are shaping purchasing decisions in more refined ways, reinforcing scrutiny of value for money and nutritional benefits.

These currents signal that the year ahead will not be defined by a single breakthrough, but by firmer integration of sustainability, technology and consumer expectations into the everyday mechanics of the agrifood sector.

Here’s what we expect to see in 2026 - across EIT Food's focal areas of emissions reduction, food system resilience and healthier lives through food:

1. Supply-chain traceability becomes an entry requirement to trade

What’s changing

The EU accounts for about 10% (1) of global deforestation linked to internationally traded products, primarily soya and palm oil. This is what the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has set out to tackle, and 2026 will be the year for businesses to knuckle down on compliance.

The EU Deforestation Regulation covers cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy and wood, and requires proof that products are not linked to recent deforestation, with full geolocation and due diligence. Having already been delayed (2) to December 2025, another recent pushback (3) means that regulations are now expected to come into force for large and medium companies in December 2026.

Why it matters

By the end of the year, deforestation free and high traceability supply chains will likely not feel niche; they will be the practical cost of doing business in Europe.

Even with political pressure and potential delays, the direction of travel is fixed. Businesses will need to think carefully about embedding compliance into continuous reporting and monitoring processes, ensuring full traceability to avoid fines of up to 4% of annual EU turnover.

What to expect

For exposed commodities, traceability tools that combine satellite data, farm polygons, and transactional data will be the new standard. They will force a clear split between suppliers who can meet EU style traceability and those who focus on other markets.

Support schemes for smallholders and small-to-medium sized farms and businesses will likely be a growth area, since they risk being priced out of the market by compliance costs.

2. Regenerative farming and climate resilience move into focus

What’s changing

It’s not just businesses affected by EUDR who will be thinking hard about sustainability.

Regenerative agriculture and agroecology are already being promoted as ways to reduce emissions in improve resilience, as well as meet the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy (4) and Green Deal goals on fertilisers, pesticides and soil health. As a result, interest and innovation in this space is very likely to increase.

EU targets, though not legally binding, include large cuts in pesticides and a significant reduction in fertiliser use by 2030, along with more organic production. By 2030, the bloc is aiming to reduce nutrient losses from fertilisers by at least 50%, a shift expected to cut overall fertiliser use by around 20% (5).

At the same time, targets include a 50% reduction in both the use and risk of chemical pesticides, as well as a 50% cut in the use of more hazardous pesticides, following the reinforcement of farming systems that deliver productivity with lower environmental impact.

Why it matters

Regenerative agriculture is being increasingly recognised as a way to decrease reliance on chemical fertilisers and pesticides, improve food system resilience against climate impacts and extreme weather, and cut emissions.

Though agrifood companies have already been running regenerative agriculture pilots across the EU, retailers and corporations will be moving in 2026 to formalise “regenerative” criteria in sourcing contracts. While this presents a positive development, there is still a risk that the term is co-opted due to the absence of a universal, legally binding definition.

What to expect

In 2026 we may see a move towards a more transparent process on reporting against regenerative agriculture across food value chains.

Similarly, to ensure that regenerative practices can be effectively rolled out, we expect to see improved collaboration with farmers as part of embedding regenerative practices more firmly. This may include more farmer-led regenerative networks, where farmers co design trials and data collection methods, instead of relying solely on top-down prescriptions.

The Regenerative Innovation Portfolio, an ecosystem collaboration delivered by EIT Food and Foodvalley NL, supports this approach by connecting key stakeholders across the food and agriculture value chain. It helps farmers transition to regenerative agriculture by demonstrating scalable transformation pathways.

The key tension will be how to reward farmers fairly for transition costs while food price sensitivity is high. That is where the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) schemes, carbon and biodiversity payments and corporate sourcing premiums will need to align better.

Finally, as climate impact worsen, there will likely also be a stronger focus on resilience to drought and heat. In Southern Europe, we will likely see increased incentives for strategies prioritising soil water retention, shade, and crops that can cope with extremes, particularly after a summer of intense wildfires (6) in the Mediterranean and Balkans in 2025.

Initiatives like Navarra 360º, EIT Food's landscape project part of the Regenerative Innovation Portfolio, are already supporting Spanish farmers in this transition, providing financing and training to grow wheat, barley, oats, rapeseed, and sunflower while reducing phytosanitary products by 20%, mineral fertilisation by 40%, and greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.

3. Farmers get access to AI farming and “field intelligence” tools

What’s changing

Technological innovation remains central to modernising the agrifood sector and addressing the urgent, intersecting challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and food security.

As these pressures intensify, 2026 is poised to see an acceleration in the deployment of AI-driven solutions across the food system, mirroring the broader surge in artificial intelligence adoption worldwide.

Why it matters

We already see strong signals that AI, IoT and robotics are top line agrifood tech trends, from digital scouting and yield models through to on farm automation.

However, while tools like livestock sensors have seen wider adoption, most farms still face significant cost barriers when accessing AI and other new technologies.

In 2026, we would expect action to scale-up and move from prototypes to tools that a 100–300-hectare mixed farm in France, Spain or Poland could practically use.

What to expect

As AI technologies become more accessible, we’re likely to see more shared service models for robotics and sensing, where cooperatives or service providers own the tools and farmers buy access by the hectare or by the hour. In the same vein, more retailers may opt to purchase the technology themselves (7) and deploy it within their supply chain.

We’ll also see more low friction “co-pilot” decision tools that plug into existing machinery and data on weather and soil, helping farmers optimise fertiliser use, reduce spray and improve irrigation timing. The winners of 2026 will be the tools that save time and cost in a very tangibly way, not just dashboards that add more complexity.

Regulation may increasingly extend to the use of AI in agriculture, ensuring that farmers are adequately informed about the tools they adopt and have visibility over how models generate recommendations. This would help to preserve farmer agency in decision-making, allowing AI to complement (rather than replace) their own expertise. Such safeguards are essential when recommendations carry significant financial and environmental implications.

4. Circularity: Side streams become serious revenue, not just CSR

What’s changing

It’s clear that innovation is happening across the food industry in response to economic pressures, sustainability concerns and consumer demands. A key area for growth in 2026 is circularity, which responds to all three issues.

Side stream valorisation shows up repeatedly in recent agrifood tech trend mapping (8), with agrifood companies turning waste into ingredients, feed, fertilisers or packaging materials.

Why it matters

Side stream valorisation refers to the repurposing of ‘waste’ products (like brewer’s spent grain, whey, oat hulls, fruit pomace, potato protein) into marketable products.

This will be driven by economics as much as ethics, particularly as input prices and volatility push businesses to squeeze more value out of each tonne of raw material. It will also stem from greater consumer demand for functional ingredients, foods that offer health benefits beyond basic nutrition.

What to expect

In 2026, improved circularity could mean that retailers and food brands start talking publicly about “waste free value chains”, backed by specific side stream KPIs.

In practice, this may mean more integrated biorefineries around mills, breweries, juice plants and starch factories, producing fibres, proteins and biofertilisers from by-products. For example, animal-free proteins (9) produced using brewer’s yeast could appear in plant-based meats, baked goods, or vegan mayonnaise. There could also be fast growth in microbial and enzyme solutions that unlock value from low quality biomass.

Meanwhile, startups that combine waste ingredients with precision fermentation (10) to deliver nutritious food products are likely to continue to see success.

5. Protein diversification continues apace, with less hype and more integration

What’s changing

The development of the protein market will tell a similar story in terms of evolving consumer expectations and environmental considerations.

In 2026, the headline will be less about “plant-based vs meat” and more about diversified protein portfolios across regions and farming systems. Recent work already frames protein diversification as a structural shift, not just a product category, reflecting a more experienced approach to the opportunity it presents.

As Laurie Lancee, Founder of AtVenture Platform and second prize winner of EIT's Changemaker Award, explains: “Protein diversification is becoming less visible but more impactful, as proteins move from stand-alone alternatives into familiar, everyday food products.”

Why it matters

There is a growing recognition among policymakers, industry stakeholders and farmers of the importance of diversifying protein sources (11) in improving climate resilience and consumer health. In response to this need, the EIT Food Protein Diversification Think Tank brings together experts from the EIT Food community to co-develop innovative solutions and a clear roadmap towards protein systems that are sustainable, resilient, healthy and safe.

The public debate on protein diversification is evolving, shifting from “should we eat alternative proteins” to “which mix of proteins gives us resilience, acceptable margins and lower emissions”. This discussion is particularly salient in the context of ongoing economic pressures, and the cost benefits (12) of plant-based proteins.

What to expect

Increasingly, businesses may opt to repurpose (13) plant-based proteins in response to consumer health concerns and declining popularity of “meat alternatives”.

This may result in more “quietly hybrid” (14) products that combine small amounts of high-welfare animal protein with plant, fermentation based or mycoprotein ingredients, to balance cost, taste and nutrition. This may hopefully maintain a recognition of the benefits of plant-based proteins, while attracting a new consumer base.

Meanwhile, farmers in European pilot schemes could be growing more protein crops and feedstock for fermentation, not just grain for export. At the furthest end of the spectrum, this could even involve the inclusion of cultivated meat (15) facilities.

Overall, while the political debate over how far Europe should go in promoting plant-based diets will continue, the business sector is likely to move ahead with a mix of options.

6. More interest in health, ultra processed foods and “affordable better”

What’s changing

The public remains at the centre of food industry trends, and concerns around health – particularly protein intake, gut health and the level of processing (16), show no sign of slowing in 2026.

Consumers will continue to closely weigh up the nutritional and functional value of the food they buy, as well as whether it delivers genuine value for money.

Why it matters

EIT Food’s consumer trends (17) work finds that trust, affordability and health are converging in people’s expectations of food, and transparency is key.

Laurie adds: “Recent publications in The Lancet have strengthened the evidence linking ultra-processed food consumption to adverse health outcomes. As a result, the conversation is moving beyond individual ingredients. Consumers are increasingly interested in where ingredients come from, how foods are processed, and why certain processing choices are made.”

What to expect

There will a greater emphasis on reformulation that aims to maintain convenience whilst reducing additives and improving fibre and protein content.

This will be accompanied by a broader interpretation of clean labelling, that focuses on the quality and quantity of ingredients. According to Laurie, “trust will increasingly come from transparency around ingredient origin and processing, not just from simplifying ingredient lists.”

Functional foods built around gut health, mental wellbeing and metabolic health will continue to attract consumers, but in 2026 will need to prove their claims through improved labelling and evidence. However, the biggest test will be whether “better for you” products can hit price points that work for lower income households in a period of economic pressure.

Meanwhile, we’re likely to see continued pressure (18) from regulators and NGOs on marketing to children, High Fat, Sugar, or Salt (HFSS) products, and transparency around ultra processing. Governments may well be called on to take a stronger policy approach.