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Seeding the Future Challenge Winners

Dynamic. Transformative. Impactful. These are a few words that describe project submissions for Seeding the Future Global Food Challenge – an initiative that seeks to inspire and support innovative, diverse and multidisciplinary teams to create products and solutions that will help to transform the food system.

At the conclusion of the inaugural year of the annual Challenge, more than $1 million in prizes and grants were awarded to winning teams whose projects stood out among the nearly 900 applications that 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. Information about the Challenge's grand prize and grant winners is featured below.

On behalf of IFT and the Seeding The Future Foundation, a well-earned congratulations to this year's winners and deep appreciation to all Challenge participants for their important work to address the critical issues facing our global food system. We encourage all teams who work on impactful innovations that make our food system more sustainable, healthy and equitable to mark your calendars for the second Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge. The application process will open in June.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the next Seeding the Future Global Food System Challenge!

2022 Grand Prize Winners

Awarded for innovations that are scalable, economically feasible, trusted, and compelling to consumers, and have demonstrated major impact potential to transform the food system.

Accseo
Awarded for its work to eliminate Aflatoxin from smallholder supply chains. Acceso is working to eradicate dangerous aflatoxins in smallholder supply chains, starting with peanuts in Haiti. This system utilizes an innovative combination of economic incentives, rigorous testing, and strategic logistics which prevents aflatoxin contamination at the farmer, buyer, and consumer levels. 
 
Food Systems for the Future Institute
Awarded for their work in commercializing black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as chicken feed to enhance egg nutrition and lower the cost of eggs in Rwanda.  FSF Institute is working with the Rwanda Ministry of Agriculture and technical partner Protix Ltd. to develop Africa's first fully automated black soldier fly larvae production facility. This innovative facility will sustainably and cost-effectively scale poultry production and make it easier and more affordable for consumers to access nutritious, protein-rich eggs. FSF Institute was awarded the Growth Grant in 2021.

Growth Grant Winners

Awarded for demonstrating their innovation is doable and has projected both economic feasibility at scale and high impact potential to transform the food system.

Inmed
INMED Partnerships for Children
Awarded for its Aquaponics Social Enterprise program which accelerates the deployment of a simplified, adaptable form of aquaponics, combining soilless crop production and fish farming in a closed symbiotic system, to increase global food production in the face of climate change and transition historically marginalized populations from subsistence to sustainable livelihoods. INMED Partnerships for Children was awarded the Seed Grant in 2021.
Smart Villages
Smart Villages Resource Group
Awarded for their Smart Agri-Centres, a community-led solar powered cold storage program that uses energy as a catalyst for rural development. Smart Villages focuses on using energy to enable access to improved agricultural techniques and practices, which in turn can improve quality of life in multiple ways.
WWF
World Wildlife Fund
Awarded for its Farmers Post Program, which leverages the US Postal Service (USPS) as a significant yet underutilized asset to help bring fresh produce from farms to front doors across the United States. Farmers Post has the potential to transform how we get food from farms to consumers, benefitting farmers, consumers, the environment, and the USPS. WWF’s Farmer’s Post project was awarded the Seed Grant in 2021.
Seed Grant Winners

In addition to the Grand Prize and Growth Grant winners, IFT also awarded nine Seed Grants.
Recipients include:

Chandra Associates, “CAFRESH-Connecting the Food Supply Chain”

Kly, “Upcycling Food Waste Through Fermentation”

MAVUNOLAB, “Preventing Postharvest Fish Losses through Low-cost and Mobile Solar-Drying Technologies in Tanzania”

Nurture Posterity International,  “NutriPosh composite flour for improved school diet in Uganda”

QuantumHeights GmbH, “Innovative Contributions for Process Improvement of the National School Feeding Programme in Mozambique”

Radices Bio, “Commercialization of a Novel Microbiome-based Synbiotic Food Ingredient to Support Heart Health in Aging and Minority Populations”

University of Dar es Salaam, “Micronutrient Profile and Household Use of Indigenous Crops in Tanzania”

Welthungerhilfe, “Mobile Vertical Gardens for Refugees and Internally Displaced People”

Yayasan Kopernik, “Farmer's Livelihood Support”

Challenge Funding

Funded by the Seeding the Future Foundation, 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; sustainably produced; and accessible, appealing, affordable, and trusted by consumers.

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