#agrospheres

What a weekend it’s been! From Innovation Tours through Amsterdam, to drinks on the water, to two days full of inspiring people, sensory reality, biohacking, morning raves, midnight frites, and summer heat!

Cultivando Futuro were named the Grand Prize winner of the Thought For Food Challenge! This team from Colombia has created an information and agro-commerce platform that leverages open data to analyze market trends and provide key information to farmers, wholesale buyers and organizations, while facilitating direct sales between farmers, buyers, and exporters. Co-Founders, Dario Gonzalez, Carlos Castellanos, Edisson Ballesteros launched the platform three months ago and we can’t wait to see what they do in the coming three months!

Edisson Ballesteros, says; “With this money, we aim to register 1000 farmers on the Cultivando Futuro platform. We will also use the money to collect all the data NGOs and farmer unions in Colombia need to make  informed decisions about the future.”

ICYMI: Here are the top 10 TFF Challenge Finalists for 2017!

And in a TFF Global Summit first, two of Thought For Food’s core values, collaboration & openness, were brought to life when TFF Challenge Runner-Up team Agrospheres, chose to split the $7500 entirely between fellow finalist teams Sparky and Climate Edge in a surprise announcement! Agrospheres, who have developed an enzyme delivery system that allows farmers to degrade pesticides in a matter of hours, also won the $5000 Kirchner Food Prize.

Payam Pourtaheri says; “We became so close to every team during the TFF bootcamp. We decided it’s better to share among everyone because we feel like a family. After spending one week with the teams, we understood how Sparky and Climate Edge could benefit their customers with the prize money in the short term. We were not surprised by the support at the Summit because of all the support we received in the weeks before the summit. TFF is probably the best week in Agrospheres’ career. TFF literally invests in the companies - it’s so much more than many other competitions.”

Team Sparky from Uganda will use the money to finish the prototype of their thermo-dehydrator for fruits and vegetables, and begin customer trials with smallholder farmers in Uganda. Climate Edge from the United Kingdom will use the money to finance the latest hardware production of weather sensors to boost their number of paying subscription smallholder farmers in Latin America and Africa.

Winners of the $2500 Borlaug Foundation “Take it to the Farmer” Prize are team From Challenge to Opportunity, from India, who will use the money to fulfil the administrative requirements to sell their seaweed-based fertilizer and nutrient-rich cookies. Wastebusters, from Malaysia won the $5000 Syngenta Open Business Model Prize and will use the money to increase their manufacturing capabilities and refine their production process.

We will have more updates and recaps from the TFF Summit coming up over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

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This series will profile the top 10 TFF Challenge Finalist teams who will be presenting on May 27 at the TFF Global Summit.

Hailing from the University of Virginia, five undergraduate students in Biomedical Engineering, Nanomedicine and Biochemistry are creating a bioparticle that degrades pesticides into safe by-products in a matter of hours, allowing farmers to better control when they harvest crops. Wanting to get to know the people behind the teams, we asked the AgroSpheres team a few questions when joining the TFF Bootcamp.

Here’s what they had to say. We hope you find it just as informative as we do!

The Agrospheres Team

Why are you interested in helping feed 9+ billion people?

Joseph, 22

Not everyone across the globe is fortunate enough to hold the resources and infrastructure to generate enough food production for various communities. Having enough food seems like a basic right that should be granted to every inhabitant of Earth. With the population expanding rapidly, the need for help in generating a large enough food supply is vital. Our team is well equipped to help solve this problem, and we have every interest to do what it takes to make sure we help solve the food supply crisis.

Sepehr, 22

There is an abundance of resources in this world that we can take advantage of, but there are currently many technological deficiencies and socioeconomic issues that limit our potential. These issues only become more challenging to address as our population grows. I am interested in coming up with innovative solutions to meet these challenges in order to ensure that quality food is a resource that is treated as a human right for all and not a privilege for some.

Payam, 22

Being born in Iran, I saw firsthand the struggles of my close relatives to feed their families. I was blessed to have parents that made so many sacrifices to restart their lives in the United States so that I could live a comfortable life. I decided the best use of my time was to use what I learned as a biomedical engineer to apply synthetic biology to the field of agriculture.

Zach, 23

Because it is a problem that the world is going to have to eventually solve, and I would be honored to be a part of the solution.

Ameer, 22

Coming from [Pakistan] a developing country, I saw first hand the impoverished conditions that force people to not only starve but turn to food that may not even be safe for consumption. A safe and adequate food supply is something that we take for granted, however, it is a blessing that a lot of people in the developing world do not have. I am committed to ensuring that every person in this world has access to the basic necessities of life, with safe food being the most important one.

What's the most interesting fact about your industry/niche that the general public might not know?

Joseph

The economic losses due to pesticide use are astounding. Pesticide application, in just the US, leads to public health costs, pesticide resistance costs, and crop loss costs all exceeding of $1 billion each.

Sepehr

Optimizing agricultural productivity will be accomplished by deeply understanding the biology of plants.

Payam

There is a misconception that if you eat organic, you are avoiding residual pesticides.

Zach

A surprising amount of crops are lost due over ripening of the fruits/vegetables because of the wait time associated with pesticides.

Ameer

Even organic farming uses pesticides

What are you hoping to learn or gain from participating in the TFF Bootcamp?

Joseph

I am hoping to gain more insight into market opportunities for AgroSpheres. While our technology is equipped to degrade pesticides, I am eager to learn of other agricultural dilemmas that we may be able to develop solutions for.

Sepehr

The value of interacting with other people interested in social impact, learning how other teams work together in order to achieve success, advice.

Payam

I am hoping to get a global understanding of the needs of farmers. It would be nice to meet with more established agriculture companies that could provide us guidance on our path to feeding 9+ billion people.

Zach

I am hoping to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to bring AgroSpheres product to the world.

Ameer

I am excited to meet the unique people from the global TFF community that share similar passions.

The TFF Perspective

A lot of thought and debate went into choosing the Top 10 Finalists. Program Director Jared Yarnall-Schane shares why he’s excited by AgroSpheres;

AgroSpheres is an extremely impressive team of young engineers and scientists, dedicated to solving a very focused problem - degradation of pesticides. Before AgroSphere’s pitch in round 1 of the TFF Challenge, I had no idea how large the economic loss due to pesticides was, which includes everything from health costs to crop loss. The statistics in the US are astounding, however what really excites me is the potential for this to be used in other countries around the world.

During my time on a smallholder farm in Kenya, my host family knew of the benefits of pesticides, but were scared of the negative health consequences when they were improperly used. Alternatively, some families used pesticides without adequate protection or waiting the allotted amount of time for them to degrade. I am incredibly excited to help AgroSphere’s launch in the United States, and equally as intrigued to explore some different potential markets with them around the world.