Future Food Asia 2020 : Day 4 Highlights

Sep 24, 2020 | Postcards

FFA2020 Day 4 Highlights: Visions for AgriFoodTech
Thank you for joining us for day 4 of Future Food Asia. The recurring theme for today was future visions for fostering the agrifoodtech ecosystem.
  • We began with a discussion on what it means to run a purpose-driven organisations in the agrifood sector.  
    • “People, planet and profit can be optimised without one being at the expense of the other” – Pier Luigi Sigismondi, Dole Asia Holdings
  • We had two investors’ panel: one on nurturing talent and investment opportunities and China and Singapore, and one on the perspectives of three AgriFoodTech investors with vastly different investment backgrounds.
    • ‘Singapore startups need to think about solutions that can meet the needs of the ‘new Asian consumer’ – Geraldine Goh, Temasek
    • “(Once the idea, team and market size match the investment criteria)…startups need to have a clear theory of change and articulate how they will create a paradigm shift” – Ayaka Fujiwara, Green Climate Fund
  •  There was also an exciting discussion on a newcomer for agrifoodtech in Asia: hemp and cannabis.
    • Policies for hemp and cannabis in China are probably the most practical and well thought across the globe. In China the uptream which is production is highly controlled which avoids oversaturation and in the downstream they have maintained a pure market allowing any company to start a branded product allowing for high quality products to flourish – Brian Sheng, Asia Horizon
  • In line with the theme of visions for the future, we had an exclusive launch of Rooted, a new global urban farming platform, that strives to bring out the urban farmer in everyone. 
Innovation Corner
We heard the final two pitches by our FFA finalists:
  •  Tartansense (India): Startup addressing the problem of weed management for cotton farmers in India through its ‘Brijbot’, an AI-driven robot.
  • TerraQuanta (China): Startup focusing on large-scale application of satellite remote sensing imagery and AI-based data processing technologies
Stay Tuned For….
  • A panel discussion on the power of AI in Agriculture, and on digital innovations for smallholder farmers and supply chain resilience.
  • Announcement of the winner of Corteva Agriscience Award for food resilience
  • Our FINAL day of Future Food Asia 2020, where the jury will reveal the winner of the FFA Award winner.