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WEF 2024: sessions on agriculture and food systems

15 – 19 January 2024. Launched in 2018, the Forum’s Innovation with a Purpose Platform is a large-scale partnership that facilitates the adoption of new technologies and other innovations to transform the way we produce, distribute and consume our food. With research, increasing investments in new agriculture technologies and the integration of local and regional initiatives aimed at enhancing food security, the platform is working with over 50 partner institutions and 1,000 leaders around the world to leverage emerging technologies to make our food systems more sustainable, inclusive and efficient.

Resources

  • This new report by the 100 Million Farmers initiative outlines how to support and work alongside farmers, with a specific focus on speeding up the adoption of regenerative agriculture pathways. 
  • The model suggests de-risking transitions by aggregating capital from public and private sources to overcome initial financing costs, thus contributing to the key question of how we unlock resilience across the complexities of the food systems.
  • This report describes a breakthrough model for financing and collaboration to support farmers and accelerate the transition to sustainable food production.
  • Food production changes are urgently needed to meet global climate, water and nature goals. The required changes are increasingly well understood but progress is too slow. At the heart of the problem are the economic barriers individual farmers face, particularly in the early years of
    transition.

  • Implementing the model will require much more blended financing, the full monetization of environmental outcomes, advanced financial capabilities, and unprecedented coordination between public and private actors inside and outside food value chains.
  • The report highlights seven innovative farmer support programmes that feature some of these elements and concludes with five actions food system actors can take to drive a step-change in sustainable food production.

WEF (2024) Global Risks Report 2024 #124 p.

  • WEF surveyed over 1,400 global risk experts, policymakers and industry leaders in September 2023 to gain insight into their biggest concerns, resulting in a predominantly negative outlook for the world in the short term and something that is expected to worsen over the long term.
    After the hottest year since records began, two-thirds of respondents selected extreme weather (66%) as the top risk faced in 2024; indeed, extreme weather, critical change to Earth systems, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, natural resource shortages and pollution were listed as five of the top ten most severe risks perceived to be faced over the next decade.
  • After the hottest year since records began, two-thirds of respondents selected extreme weather (66%) as the top risk faced in 2024; indeed, extreme weather, critical change to Earth systems, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, natural resource shortages and pollution were listed as five of the top ten most severe risks perceived to be faced over the next decade.

Three promising UpLink Top Innovators had the opportunity to show how AI + Data are powering their solutions and show how their companies are taking on the biggest challenges facing people and planet.

  • Carrol Plummer, CEO and Co-Founder, Vivent Biosensor: Vivent has pioneered real-time plant analytics to increase yield and sustainable food production.Harnessing biosignals to make agriculture more sustainable
    Vivent Biosensors + Unique Analytical Approach = Fast Diagnosis of Crop Threat
    Vivent, a Swiss based deep tech SME, applies expertise in communication networks and information theory to biological systems. Early on Vivent focused on working with plants and Vivent can now diagnose a wide range of crop stressors, including soil borne pathogens, using artificial intelligence.