TFF Summit 2021 Unites the World to Experience “Generation Food”
Moroccan cold storage startup BMTA&C takes home Grand Prize; Brazilian regenerative ag platform IZagro is named Runner-Up
Basel, Switzerland — Thought For Food – the world’s pioneer and leader in next generation innovation for food and agri-tech – held its flagship annual event, the Thought For Food Summit on October 2nd. As a mainstage event of the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization’s World Food Forum, the global TFF Summit brought together a small in-person audience in Rome, and connected with 12 Satellite Summits and thousands of at-home watch parties organized by TFF Community leaders in every region of the world.
The highlight of the program was the world premiere of the new TFF-produced documentary film “Generation Food.” Described as “Shark Tank meets Pop Idol for a Global Impact,” the energizing, feature-length film shares the stories and visions of 10 hustling teams of Millennial and GenZ entrepreneurs and the creative and collaborative solutions they are building to solve some of our planet’s most important problems.
🚨 Spoiler alert! 🚨 The film features a panel of expert judges who provide lively commentary on each of the solutions and ultimately select two teams to win cash prizes to take forward their ventures:
- BMTA&C from Morocco receives the $10,000 USD Grand Prize for their solar-powered cold storage system that prevents food loss and waste and supports off-the-grid smallholder farmers. “With 1.2 billion tonnes of food lost each year on the farm, the scale of the opportunity they have is huge,” states Shachi Gurumayum, a TFF judge from India who has two decades of experience in agriculture and now serves as Head of Business Development for the global Crop Biologicals company AgBiTech.
- IZagro from Brazil receives the $7,500 USD Runner-Up Prize. They have built a digital agronomy platform to connect Brazil’s 4 million+ small and medium-size farmers with experts to help them adopt regenerative practices. The platform currently has 60,000+ active users and a partnership with Brazil’s largest public agricultural research corporation, Embrapa. “This solution is matching technological solutions to communities of farmers, and is really leveling up the innovation power across the field,” states TFF judge from Spain/ Hong Kong Cecilia MoSze Tham, who is the Future Synthesist and Principle at Futurity Studio.
“While the awarding of these prizes added to the dramatic arc and emotion of the film, the reason we produced “Generation Food” was actually much bigger,” states Christine Gould, Founder and CEO of Thought For Food. “By discovering and telling the stories of incredible next-gen innovators using this cinematic and “made for Netflix” format, we are getting more people in more places to care about and understand the types of challenges facing our food and agricultural sector.”
“Everyone who watches these stories leaves inspired by the breadth of exciting solutions we have the possibility to unleash into the world – and many people then see this as their call to action to get involved in building solutions themselves. Through this combination of engagement, inspiration and action, we are creating a tidal wave of innovation and change in this sector, which desperately needs it. That’s why we did this.”
Tens of thousands of viewers tuned in to watch Generation Food when it was broadcast live from the TFF Summit. This happened because of grassroots marketing led by TFF’s unparalleled global community of Regional Coordinators and Ambassadors. They organized Satellite Summits all over the world in collaboration with leading incubators, accelerators and universities. In addition, more than 4000 people registered to watch the film on TFF’s Twitch channel.
The TFF Summit also featured speakers from industry leaders and startups like Danone, Inari Ag, Tropic Biosciences, CropLife International, Novozymes, Cargill, Agricycle Global, WTH Foods, Rainfed Foods and Agritecture. There were fiery fireside chats about how to address the climate emergency through “business as unusual”, as well as a next-gen taste test featuring food products from the TFF Community. Everything culminated with a mind-expanding visual/musical performance brought to life through an artistic collaboration between Volta.xr, Grandpa’s Lab and music producer Vintage & Morelli.
“2021 has been a remarkable year for Thought For Food. Despite the headwinds we faced due to the ongoing uncertainty in the world, we ran all kinds of successful programs that have driven forward tangible next-generation solutions for impact. These include the Rising Star Agri-Food Innovation Challenge in SE Asia; the Food Systems Game Changers Lab in support of the UN Food Systems Summit, a record-setting global TFF Challenge and TFF Academy, and ongoing live programming and content provision on the TFF Digital Labs, Discord and Twitch.”
“The TFF Summit is a special moment in time to celebrate all that we have accomplished together, to bring together the next-gen heroes we have helped to discover and amplify, and to energize each other for all that is to come,” said Christine Gould.
