Farm To Fork Winners announced

Food security is a global emergency, and we need solutions to solve its biggest challenges. The global EY organization is committed to finding concrete solutions to tackle this global emergency and launched Farm To Fork, the EY Global Ideathon, to embrace empowering innovation and collect valuable solutions to food security.

The Ideathon received 222 ideas from individuals and teams across the globe, from local schoolchildren to major global companies, with over 1,500 people registering to the Cognistreamer platform – where the Ideathon was hosted – from 35 countries around the globe. The ideas received were assessed by domain experts and the Farm To Fork jury panel of public and private sector leaders, including representatives of EY, AGT Food, and Ingredients, Junior Achievement, The World Food Program, Acumen, The Impact Hub. The jury assessed the ideas based on a number of criteria and in particular the following three: respect for people, respect for planet and respect for profit.

“Major global events over the past few years have shocked agricultural markets, creating high food inflation and accelerating global hunger. But the underlying dysfunction of the global food system has been building for years. Farm To Fork seeks practical, scalable interventions to address rising food insecurity and malnutrition right along the supply chain, from more productive agricultural systems, to more sustainable food processing and consumption.”

Julie Teigland, EY EMEIA Managing Partner

A successful global campaign with five winners

• Four out of five winners are female or teams led by a woman; two are from Kenya
• The ideas blend leading-edge technology with home-grown innovation
• Winners will go into EY accelerator programs

“Women and young people are on the front lines of transforming agriculture and food systems and the age and gender of our winners bear this out. Young people, particularly in growing economies, are emerging as visible agents of change in food systems. We must continue to support their engagement in the transformation of the world’s food supply chains.”

Hanne-Jesca Bax, EY EMEIA Managing Partner Markets & Accounts Leader and Chair of the Farm To Fork jury

The winners are:

• “Farm” Challenge: The best Agriculture and Food Production idea
  EcoRich Solutions – Kenya

A start-up producing fertilizer at just 30% of the normal cost is transforming Africa’s smallholder farming. Until now, 85% of Africa’s small-scale farms couldn’t afford fertilizer, preventing them from meeting their production potential. EcoRich Solutions is solving this problem by using technology to manufacture and sell high-yielding organic fertilizer made from Nairobi’s household waste.

• “To” Challenge: The best idea Food Processing and Distribution idea
  Kirsten Dotson – US

The idea consists in creating a battery-less IoT sensor that will inform consumers about traceability, freshness and nutrition. Initially in a sticker-like form, but eventually as an invisibly printed “tattoo”, the sensor will also create verifiable products for the secondary (non-profit) food market, reducing overall waste within the system.

• “Fork” Challenge: The best Food Consumption idea
  Tom Simmons – UK

The Supplant Company is creating a low-calorie, high-fiber natural sugar substitute by upcycling the vast quantities of agricultural side-streams that normally go to waste. Bringing them into the food system will both remove mainstream sugar, and supporting health outcomes, while significantly expanding the global food supply in every region.

• “Youth Voice” Challenge: The best idea submitted by 18–27-year-old Ideators
  Farmer Lifeline Technologies – Kenya

For just US $1 per month, a proprietary pest and disease detection device is helping Kenya’s smallholder farmers reduce crop losses by 40%. When an issue is detected, the device sends the farmer a text alert, recommending affordable, carbon-negative solutions to address the problem. The data is uploaded to an analytics dashboard that tracks emissions abatement and notifies governments of systemic pests.

• “EY-JA” Award: The best idea submitted by students who participated in the JA Europe Foodathon funded by the EIT
  YEL.PA.MAK. – Greece

Leftover “grape marc” is an enormous food stream loss in Greek horticulture. But now a team of 16-year-old students in Greece is putting circular economy principles into practice by turning winemaking waste into three different products: firewood alternatives, non-toxic fertilizer and a non-chemical colorant that can be used in food or beauty products.

“Innovative solutions are needed to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. With this competition we have created an environment for the general public to become part of the solution and we have provided a unique opportunity for ideas that potentially would have gone unnoticed, to be rewarded. The amount and the variety of innovative solutions put forward by the Farm To Fork participants is outstanding and encouraging and we’re committed to bring these ideas to the next stage.”

Zeynep Deldag, EY EMEIA Innovation Leader and sponsor of Farm To Fork

The winning ideas all blend leading edge technology with home-grown innovation and will now progress either into EY Farm To Fork Boost Program or EY Farm To Fork Innovation Experience, going through accelerator journeys designed to help turn the winning ideas into concrete solutions or successful businesses.

What’s in it for the winners?

Upcoming Milestones

• 27th October 2022 – 3rd February 2023 – Ideas submission
• 3rd February 2023 – Submission deadline
• 6th February 2023 – 10th February – Jury review
• 22nd February 2023 – Winners announcement
• March 2023 – November 2023 – Award experiences
• November 2023 – COP28

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