The startups and NGOs have won the inaugural Seeding the Future Global Food System Challenge, from the Institute of Food Technologists, aimed at scaling innovations that will help transform the food system.
Today, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) announced winners of
the inaugural Seeding the Future Global Food System
Challenge — an initiative that seeks
to inspire and support innovative, diverse and multidisciplinary teams to create
game-changing innovations that will help transform the food system. To
incentivize innovation at all levels — from concept to scale-up — the Challenge
offers three levels of awards, totaling more than $1 million.
As millions of people suffer from chronic hunger and obesity, and with the world
population expected to surpass 9 billion by 2050, the Challenge was initiated by
the Seeding the Future Foundation to
inspire and support highly impactful solutions to make our food system more
sustainable and healthy diets more accessible, while empowering consumers
globally to make choices benefitting both personal and planetary health. The
Challenge focuses on scalable and high-impact innovations that reside at the
intersection of three domains:
-
safe and nutritious food for a healthy diet;
-
produced sustainably and without waste; and
-
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In the first year of the Challenge, nearly 900 applications were submitted from
startups, nonprofits, universities, research institutions, and
multi-organization collaborations, from more than 60 countries. The vast and
varied interest demonstrates the significance and drive to create a more
resilient and sustainable food system to feed the world’s growing population.
Among the winning projects are solutions across the food value chain — from
natural fertilizer and animal feed to safer, more nutritious grains and protein
sources, to off-grid solar dryers and solar-powered refrigeration units. These
integrated solutions are promising and sustainable approaches in improving our
food supply in the face of health crisis and climate change.
“Throughout the selection process, we saw truly inspiring and revolutionary
innovations developed by highly motivated teams from all over the world to
address the challenges facing our food system on a regional and global scale,”
said Bernhard van Lengerich, founder of Seeding the Future Foundation. “We
are thrilled to announce the winners of this first Challenge and to support
their innovative solutions.”
Grand Prize winners
-
International Rice Research Institute
(Philippines) — for its arsenic-safe
rice project,
which will deploy newly developed arsenic-excluding rice varieties that are
much safer for human consumption in target arsenic-polluted regions to
improve socioeconomic and human health.
-
Solar Freeze (Kenya) — for its
portable, solar-powered cold storage units for rural smallholder farmers of
perishable produce. The aim is to reduce post-harvest food loss, which
currently accounts for over 45 percent of fresh produce going to waste among
rural farmers in developing countries.
-
WorldFish (Malaysia) — for its
homestead aquaculture
project
to bring sustainable, nutrient-rich small fish production to small-scale
actors. The goal is to scale healthy and affordable options for consumers in
developing areas — especially those who need it most, such as young
children, and pregnant and lactating women.
Growth Grant winners
-
African Centre for Technology Studies — in
collaboration with Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute
and United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi Office — for
promoting enhanced access to solar drying technologies to smallholder
farmers, thus providing optimal dehydration of fresh produce for enhanced
product quality and post-harvest management.
-
Food Systems for the Future Institute (FSF)
and Afya Feed Ltd. — for their use of black soldier fly
larvae
(BSL) to overcome the poultry and aquaculture industry’s feed-affordability
challenge. Through a partnership with Protix, a Dutch-based commercial
black soldier larvae producer, Afya and FSF will design and scale commercial
production to provide BSL protein as a supplement in animal feeds.
-
iDE — for its project to establish community-managed vermicompost
fertilizer enterprises that incorporate Trichoderma — a beneficial fungus
that improves plant growth and yields while speeding up the composting
process — to transform organic farm and household waste into nutritious food
for rural communities, while acting as a proof-of-concept to catalyze
replication across multiple regions.
Seed Grant recipients
“We’re humbled by the exceptional work being done to advance the food system,
and it’s an honor to recognize the winners of the inaugural Global Food System
Challenge,” said IFT CEO Christie Tarantino-Dean. “We firmly believe this
year’s recipients have created innovative, impactful solutions needed to build a
more sustainable food supply.”
Published Jan 27, 2022 1pm EST / 10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET
Sustainable Brands Staff