Each year, the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge awards $1m through seed grants and growth grants to organizations creating innovative solutions that address issues for nutritious food access and creating a more sustainable food system through regenerative agriculture practices.
IFT nominated the following companies as seed grant winners and awarded them $25,000 each:
- Aquagenius provides an aquaculture feed system created through insect products that use fewer resources than traditional aquaculture methods.
- Feeding Albania Foundation is supporting a project to create sustainable eggs through portable chicken coop packages for non-governmental organizations that help feed the underserved in Albania.
- Global Seed Savers and its ECOSEEDS Project supports seed-saving communities, entrepreneurs, and production centers to increase the availability of local seed varieties.
- Ndalo Heritage Trust is a research project that is improving consumer access to micronutrients in Kenya's Siaya county by exploring the use of whole grain sorghum porridges fortified with acid-rich and beta-carotene-rich plant foodstuffs.
- Safe Environment Hub and its Black Solider Fly farming project uses a circular economy method to convert organic waste into biofertilizer and high-protein foodstuff.
- The PISCES Permaculture Institute and its Tiny Seed Project plan to test and expand seed production for four potential cover crops in the Savanes Region of northern Togo, which can improve the fertility of the soil.
- Urban Being has created vertical tower farm plots with hydroponic technology that can be reconfigured to be used for community and individual use throughout the year.
- UV4Good uses UVC LED-based mobile water disinfectant systems that can be used for emergencies.
Additionally, IFT and the Seeding The Future Foundation also revealed the growth grant finalists and grand prize finalists, which will receive $100,000 and $250,000, respectively. Winners for the award will be announced in January 2024.
The grand prize finalists include Green America, INMED South Africa, International Food Policy Research Institute, Naandi Foundation, Savory Institute. Additionally, the growth grant finalists were Association 3535, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Ignitia, Kopernik, Nurture Posterity International.
“We are thrilled about the quality, innovative nature, and potential impact of this year’s Seed Grant winners. They demonstrate and embody the core intent of the Challenge – impactful innovations that address the biggest challenges facing food systems across the globe. While we celebrate these eight deserving winners today, every team that submitted its project for consideration deserves our recognition and gratitude, as do the scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs out there doing their part to improve our global food system,” said Bernhard van Lengerich, founder of Seeding The Future Foundation, shared in a press release.
