The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare convened the Northern Region Agriculture Conference at Hotel Centrum in Lucknow on April 24, 2026, in the presence of Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The conference is part of a new architecture under which the country has been divided into five zones and a separate Regional Agriculture Conference is being organised in each zone to develop a state-wise roadmap calibrated to soil type, agro-climate, cropping systems and regional challenges. Agriculture and horticulture ministers from six states and three Union Territories of the northern region attended along with farmer scientists, progressive cultivators, agri startups and institutional representatives. In his keynote, the Union Minister announced that the Centre is providing fertiliser relief through subsidy adjustments, intensifying the rollout of natural farming clusters under the National Mission on Natural Farming and that a stricter law is being prepared against fake seeds, fertilisers and pesticides which damage farmer incomes. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister presented the state's agricultural transformation, highlighting expansion of irrigation, food processing parks and direct-benefit transfers to farmers. The conference adopted the principle that zonal consultation enables deeper, region-specific strategies than a single all-India template. PIB said the recommendations emerging from the conference would guide preparations for the coming kharif and rabi seasons and future action on farmers' income, crop diversification, nutritional security, technology transfer and sustainable agriculture.