On 16 November 2021, we hosted a breakout session at Cracking the Nut, the global event convening development practitioners to discuss issues around building the world’s rural and agricultural markets. In the session ‘Building resilient food systems with digital agriculture – From COVID-19 to climate adaptation’, we discussed how climate change and the pandemic are accelerating the adoption of digital agriculture solutions by smallholder farmers, helping them to mitigate the impact of systemic shocks. We were joined by mobile operator, Econet Zimbabwe, agricultural insurance provider, Pula, solar power irrigation systems provider, SunCulture and international development organisation, SNV.