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The Future Trends Forum, organized by the Bankinter Innovation Foundation in Madrid under the theme “Smart Agriculture: the challenge of sustainable food,” convened leading experts to address pressing issues in food security, sustainability, and innovation in agriculture. Central to the discussion was the role of emerging technologies and novel approaches in transforming agriculture to meet the needs of a growing global population amid climate change and resource constraints.
Rajiv J. Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, emphasized the urgency of innovative, scalable solutions to ensure global food security, framing it as both a humanitarian and national security priority. Drawing on his book “Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens,” Shah highlighted how bold, collaborative efforts leveraging advanced technologies—such as AI, robotics, biotechnology, and digital platforms—can revolutionize agricultural productivity and sustainability. He illustrated this with projects like Digital Green’s AI tool for farmers and the Feed the Future initiative, which foster multi-sector partnerships to build agricultural resilience and reduce food insecurity.
Shah urged collective global action, combining technology, science, and traditional practices to create resilient food systems. His vision calls on governments, private sectors, and civil society to join forces in adopting transformative solutions to secure a sustainable and stable food future, turning food from a source of vulnerability into a foundation for hope and stability worldwide.
Tomorrow's food: how technology and innovation will revolutionise our fields and our food
The think tank Future Trends Forum, under the slogan Smart Agriculture: the challenge of sustainable food, organised by the Bankinter Innovation Foundation in Madrid, has brought together leading experts and key figures in the field of agriculture and food. This event focused on examining current and future challenges related to food security, sustainability and innovation in the agricultural sector, underlining the critical role of emerging technologies and new methods to revolutionize these essential fields.
One of the participating experts was Rajiv J. Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation. In his presentation, he highlights the critical importance of innovative and scalable solutions, underlining the urgency of collective action to ensure food security.
If you want to see Rajiv Shah’s presentation, you can do so in this video:
Rajiv J. Shah – Inspirational challenges: “Big Bets” for the future of agriculture
Rajiv Shah invites us to explore big bets for the future of agriculture, highlighting the urgency of acting in the face of growing food insecurity and the impact of climate change on food production. Through his vision, Shah puts on the table the need for global collective action, emphasizing the importance of food security, as a matter of human well-being and also of national security. With a realistic yet optimistic approach, Shah takes us on a journey that transcends the realm of charity towards scalable and sustainable solutions, highlighting innovation and collaboration as keys to facing and overcoming these global challenges.
Rajiv Shah’s presentation is summarized below:
In his presentation on the challenges and solutions for the future of agriculture, Rajiv Shah refers to his book, Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens. A key piece to understanding Shah’s approach and vision, this book illustrates through narratives and case studies how it is possible to generate meaningful and lasting change through big, bold bets in critical sectors such as agriculture.
The Urgency of Innovation in Agriculture
In the current context, characterized by a changing landscape and unprecedented challenges, innovation in agriculture is presented as an opportunity and, moreover, as an urgent need. The urgency to innovate in this crucial sector is a direct response to a multifaceted set of challenges that include climate volatility, exponential global population growth, and increasing pressure on limited natural resources.
The agriculture of the future must be resilient, sustainable, and capable of producing enough food to nourish an ever-growing global population, projected to reach nearly 10 billion people by 2050. This challenge requires disruptive solutions that can transform the current agricultural paradigm, incorporating:
- advanced technologies,
- regenerative agricultural practices, and
- innovative business models that promote efficiency and sustainability.
The adoption of digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data analytics, offers revolutionary possibilities to optimize agricultural production, improve resource management, and reduce environmental impact. These tools can facilitate everything from accurate weather prediction to customization of irrigation and fertilization strategies, to early detection of pests and diseases, allowing for more effective and less invasive interventions.
The integration of sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices is another pillar of innovation needed in agriculture. These practices seek to maintain soil productivity and biodiversity and, in addition, regenerate them, ensuring the long-term viability of agriculture and mitigating its impact on climate change. From agroforestry systems to conservation agriculture to integrated pest management, these approaches represent a redefinition of the relationship between agriculture and the environment.
Taken together, innovation in agriculture represents a confluence of technology, science and traditional practices, geared towards a common goal: an agriculture that feeds the world sustainably. The urgency to act is clear, and the time to innovate in agriculture is now.
Food Security as a Cornerstone of National Security
Rajiv Shah argues that food security is inseparable from national security. He cites historical examples where food insecurity has triggered political violence, instability, and mass displacement of people:
The 2008 food crisis: Shah mentions the impact of the 2008 food crisis, which pushed 100 million people into poverty and unleashed 47 episodes of political violence, instability, and unrest in different parts of the world. This crisis demonstrated how food insecurity can be a catalyst for conflict and social tensions, highlighting the importance of ensuring food security to maintain peace and stability.
Personal experiences in India: Shah shares a personal anecdote from his time in India, where, as a young medical student, he found himself distributing nutritious millet balls to malnourished children, but not having enough for everyone in need. This experience was a turning point for him, demonstrating the magnitude of the challenge of food insecurity and the need for scalable and sustainable solutions.
Impact of COVID-19 on food security: Shah also points out how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated global food insecurity, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable communities. The pandemic illustrated how health crises can quickly exacerbate food security problems, highlighting the interdependence between global health, food security, and economic stability.
This perspective underscores the importance of a unified global strategy that seeks to address food insecurity from a humanitarian perspective, and also as an imperative for global stability.
Innovation and collaboration: the pillars for change
One of Shah’s most significant contributions is his emphasis on innovation and collaboration as the main drivers of change. It highlights several projects that exemplify how the combination of technological innovation and collaboration between different sectors can lead to effective and scalable solutions to address food security and the impact of climate change on agriculture. These projects underscore the importance of a unified approach to innovation, involving governments, private industry, academia and local communities:
Digital Green and the collaboration with OpenAI: One of the projects highlighted by Shah is the work of Digital Green, an organization that helps farmers in India access information that improves their productivity and income. In collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, OpenAI , and other partners, Digital Green has developed an artificial intelligence tool that allows farmers to diagnose diseases and pests in their crops simply by submitting photos through a platform. This project demonstrates the potential of emerging technologies to provide practical and accessible solutions to complex agricultural problems.
The global effort to immunize every child: Shah also mentions the long-term effort to immunize every child on the planet, which, despite facing initial challenges, has led to vaccinating 980 million children and saving 16 million children’s lives in two decades. This project highlights the importance of global partnerships and collaboration between foundations, governments and international organisations to achieve ambitious public health goals on a global scale.
The Feed the Future initiative: Another key example is the Feed the Future initiative, launched in response to the 2008 food crisis. This initiative, led by Shah during his time at USAID, focused on reinvesting in agriculture and agricultural resilience as a means to address food security in a sustainable manner. By building collaborations with universities, nation states and technologists, Feed the Future has made significant progress in improving resilient crops, implementing digital technologies for access to agricultural extension services and liberalizing agricultural trade restrictions, contributing to the reduction of food insecurity globally.
These projects are testament to how innovation, when combined with strategic partnerships and a collaborative approach, can generate meaningful and lasting solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
Towards a sustainable future
Rajiv Shah reminds us that we are facing a turning point in human history. The decision to act now, with boldness and innovation, can determine the future of food security and, by extension, global security. It invites all actors, from governments and philanthropic organizations to the private sector and the scientific community, to join in a shared mission to reinvent our food systems. Shah’s vision is a call to action, urging the adoption of big bets to ensure a future where food is not a source of insecurity, but a pillar of hope and stability.
This presentation invites us to reflect on our role in this collective effort and to actively participate in building a safer and more sustainable future for all. Rajiv Shah’s presentation is a reminder that,
Despite the challenges, we have the tools, knowledge, and capacity to forge a path to a more resilient and nurturing world.
If you want to delve deeper into the opportunities and challenges of agriculture and food, don’t miss the report Smart Agriculture: The Sustainable Food Challenge.
You can also read articles about other presentations by experts participating in this Future Trends Forum:
Economic paradoxes in food security and long-term climate adaptation, with Gonzalo Delacámara.
Deciphering soil DNA: the importance of the microbiome in sustainable agriculture, with Adrián Ferrero.
The future of agriculture through water, with Miguel Calatayud.
