Catching Up with the Inaugural Winners of the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge

CHICAGO – June 20, 2023 – The Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge, initiated and funded by the Seeding The Future Foundation and hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists, was created to inspire and support innovative, diverse, and multidisciplinary teams to create game-changing innovations that will help transform the global food system. In its first two years, the Challenge–which awards $1 million USD annually to winners–received more than 1,500 entries from around the world.

“We’ve been thrilled by the broad range and high quality of innovations in the past years and encourage all teams of innovators, entrepreneurs, and scientists who work on high-impact innovations that benefit the health of people and planet, to submit their ideas for this year’s Challenge,” said Bernhard van Lengerich, Founder of the Seeding The Future Foundation.

Submissions for the third annual Challenge are now open until August 1, 2023.

IFT caught up with some of the original winners from the inaugural 2021 Challenge who pioneered the following food innovations:

• Homestead aquaculture project bringing sustainable, nutrient-rich small fish production to small scale actors for a healthy and affordable option for consumers. (WorldFish)
• Arsenic-safe rice which deploys newly developed arsenic-rise varieties that are safer for human consumption. (International Rice Research Institute).
• Community-managed vermicompost fertilizer enterprises that incorporate Trichoderma, speeding up the composting process. (iDE)

WorldFish – Grand Prize Winner
Nutrient-rich small fish production, processing, and marketing in Myanmar and Zambia (SPM) project utilizes nutrient-dense small fish from small-scale artisanal fisheries and from homestead aquaculture ponds to produce highly nourishing fish-based food products, particularly in the form of dried powder, for dietary consumption. The approach promotes integrated agriculture-aquaculture and nutrition pathways by improving the inclusivity and sustainability of small fish production, processing, and marketing, so communities can have sustainable access to healthy and affordable diets in low- and middle-income countries.

“We joined this Challenge because we believe that our approach of making small fish available and accessible to young children and women is a solution that can help many communities tackle nutrient deficits, especially during a global pandemic when people have lost their livelihoods, further exacerbating food and nutrition insecurity. To be announced as a grand prize winner after a very competitive selection process is truly rewarding,” said Quennie Vi Rizaldo, WorldFish’s Human Nutrition Specialist and project manager.

Since being recognized as a Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge Grand Prize Winner, WorldFish has partnered with Fedwell Foods to produce Happy Fish food products that include noodle soup, rice porridge, chickpea balls, cookies, and nutritious complementary food mixtures that have been enhanced with dried small fish powder to increase the availability of affordable micro-nutrient rich food in Yangon, Myanmar. The food products were featured at an international exhibition at the 27th UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

International Rice Research Institute – Grand Prize Winner
Arsenic in soil, groundwater and certain crops has become a global human health concern, particularly in East and South Asia. Arsenic-contaminated water from the Himalayas flow down across multiple countries into farmlands and irrigation reservoirs, which are then absorbed by food crops like rice, the dominant dietary staple in the region. Long-term exposure to even low levels of this toxic heavy metal can pose various health risks such as cancer and heart disease and are particularly detrimental to young children and pregnant women.

The Arsenic-Safe Rice Project of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is working with national agricultural agencies in South Asia to identify, develop, and disseminate key rice varieties across arsenic-affected regions. The rice varieties possess special genes that reduce or prevent arsenic uptake by the rice plant and grains, making the crop safer for human and animal consumption, providing health and socioeconomic benefits for these communities and regions, and contributing to long-term sustainable development.

“The GFSC prize was a validation that recognized the importance of our work, and it helped our team significantly accelerate our efforts to make several arsenic-safe rice varieties available freely. We were also able to share the knowledge we have to national agencies so that breeding programs for excluding arsenic from rice grains can be mainstreamed, with the goal of benefitting the most stakeholders, particularly rice farmers, and consumers,” said Dr. Jauhar Ali, IRRI Senior Scientist and Coordinator, Arsenic-Safe Rice Project.

“IRRI is at the forefront of providing genetic solutions to exclude arsenic from rice grains, making them safer for human consumption. We have already deployed several arsenic-safe rice varieties in the region without people even realizing them. It is indeed a silent revolution in the making,” Dr. Ali continued.

iDE – Growth Grant Prize Winner
iDE was recognized for its “Biofertilizer Enterprises for Vegetable Production in Nepal” project, which aims to expand the production of nutritious vegetables in the Karnali province of Nepal by promoting the use of biofertilizers, specifically Tricho vermicompost. iDE works to establish community managed fertilizer enterprises that incorporate Trichoderma, a beneficial fungus that vastly improves plant growth and yield and also acts as biopesticide.

Since winning the GFSC award, iDE has made significant progress, including collaborating with three cooperatives—one of which is women-led—to develop and promote the use of Tricho vermicompost. iDE has also conducted training programs and orientations for 2,000 local farmers to educate them on the benefits of Tricho vermicompost and how to use it effectively. The organization has also established 26 Tricho vermicompost pits at different cooperatives to produce a substantial amount—120 tons of Tricho vermicompost each year—which can be sold at a reasonable price.

The latest developments at iDE include the establishment of Tricho vermicompost pits with the capacity to produce a consistent supply for farmers, the implementation of training programs to educate farmers on the benefits and usage of Tricho vermicompost, and the implementation of action research to interpret the effectiveness of Tricho vermicompost on increasing vegetable production and improving soil health. Additionally, iDE Nepal has established demonstration plots on different crops to promote the use of Tricho vermicompost and IPM technologies among local farmers and has raised awareness on the importance of sustainable agriculture practices.

“iDE's recognition as the winner of the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge has brought significant attention to the organization and its efforts to address food system challenges. The grant has provided iDE with the resources to implement innovative solutions to increase the production of nutritious vegetables in Karnali province, and the recognition has boosted iDE's prominence as a leading organization dedicated to addressing food system challenges worldwide,” said Rajani Khadka Adhikari, Program and Operations Manager at iDE.

The May 2023 issue of Food Technology spotlights the 2022 Global Food System Challenge Winners, which can be viewed here. To start a submission for this year’s Challenge or for more information, visit ift.org/food-system-challenge.

About Institute of Food Technologists
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is a global organization of approximately 12,000 individual members from more than 100 countries committed to advancing the science of food. Since 1939, IFT has brought together the brightest minds in food science, technology and related professions from academia, government, and industry to solve the world’s greatest food challenges. IFT works to ensure that its members have the resources they need to learn, grow, and advance the science of food as the population and the world evolve. IFT believes that science is essential to ensuring a global food supply that is sustainable, safe, nutritious, and accessible to all. For more information, please visit ift.org.

About Seeding The Future Foundation
The Seeding The Future Foundation is a private, non-profit organization motivated by its core value that everyone should always have equitable access to safe, nutritious, affordable, appealing, and trusted food. It seeks to inspire innovative solutions that can help transform the global food system to be more sustainable and benefit the health of people and the environment. The Foundation provides seed funding and support to promising ideas and high impact innovations to improve food systems globally, technologies to reduce post-harvest losses in developing regions, as well as foundational work in academia and research. For more information, please visit seedingthefuture.org.

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