We invite passionate teams of impact innovators from around the world to join our annual Global Food System Challenge.
Funded by The Seeding the Future Foundation and hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists, the Challenge awards up to $1 million in grants and prizes annually for highly impactful innovations that help transform our food system to be more sustainable, make healthier diets more accessible, and empower consumers to make choices benefiting both personal and planetary health.
Since 2021, we have received over 1,500 submissions from academic and research institutions, non-profits, and for-profits, representing over 75 countries for innovations across the food system.
See the Global Food System Challenge
We encourage innovative solutions to improve the lives of people and health of the planet at the white space intersection of three key domains:
Safe and nutritious food for a healthy diet
Sustainably produced
Appealing, affordable, and trusted to empower conscious consumer choices
The domains reside within a food policy framework where innovations can either be implemented within an existing policy framework, or change or create policy.
It all begins with an idea.
Meet Our Past Winners
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Accesso
2022 Grand Prize
For its work to eliminate Aflatoxin from smallholder supply chains, starting with peanuts in Haiti.
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Food Systems for the Future Institute
2022 Grand Prize and 2021 Growth Grant
For its work in commercializing black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as chicken feed to enhance protein nutrition by lowering the cost of eggs in Rwanda.
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International Rice Research Institute
2021 Grand Prize
Awarded for its arsenic safe rice project which will deploy newly developed arsenic-excluding rice varieties that are much safer for human consumption in target arsenic-polluted regions to create socioeconomic and human health benefits.
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Solar Freeze
2021 Grand Prize
A project for portable, solar-powered cold storage units for perishable produce to serve rural smallholder farmers. The purpose is to reduce post-harvest food loss that currently accounts for over 45 percent of fresh produce going to waste among rural farmers in developing countries.
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Worldfish
2021 Grand Prize
A homestead aquaculture project to bring sustainable, nutrient-rich small fish production to small-scale actors for a healthy and affordable option for consumers.
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INMED Partnerships for Children
2022 Growth Grant
For their Aquaponics® Social Enterprise program, which combines soilless crop production and fish farming in a closed symbiotic system.
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Smart Villages Research Group
2022 Growth Grant
For its Smart Agri-Centres, a community-led solar powered cold storage program that uses energy as a catalyst for rural development.
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World Wildlife Fund
2022 Growth Grant
For its Farmers Post Program, which leverages the US Postal Service (USPS) as a significant yet underutilized asset to help bring fresh produce from farms to front doors across the United States.
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African Centre for Technology Studies
2021 Growth Grant
For its project to promote enhanced access to solar drying technologies to smallholder farmers; thus, providing optimal dehydration of fresh produce for enhanced product quality and post-harvest management.
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iDE
2021 Growth Grant
A project to establish community-managed vermicompost fertilizer enterprises that incorporate Trichoderma, a beneficial fungus that improves plant growth and yields while speeding up the composting process to transform organic farm and household waste into nutritious food for rural communities.
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Food Systems for the Future Institute and Afya Feed Ltd.
2021 Growth Grant
A black soldier fly larvae project to overcome the poultry and aquaculture industry feed affordability challenge. Through a partnership with Protix, the team will design and scale commercial production to provide an alternative bsl protein as a protein supplement in animal feeds.
Seed Grant Winners
2022 Winners
CAFRESH-Connecting the Food Supply Chain
Upcycling Food Waste Through Fermentation
Mobile Vertical Gardens for Refugees and Internally Displaced People
Preventing Postharvest Fish Losses through Low-cost and Mobile Solar-Drying Technologies in Tanzania
Commercialization of a Novel Microbiome-based Synbiotic Food Ingredient to Support Heart Health in Aging and Minority Populations
Micronutrient Profile and Household Use of Indigenous Crops in Tanzania
Farmer's Livelihood Support
Innovative Contributions for Process Improvement of the National School Feeding Programme in Mozambique
Nurture Posterity International
NutriPosh composite flour for improved school diet in Uganda
2021 Winners
Cool Lion, a project that develops and markets solar-powered cold room containers to smallholder farmers and small-scale fisheries in Africa
Partner with chefs, nutritionists, and leaders to teach culinary skills, nutrition tips, and step-by-step recipes that make cooking easy and enjoyable
Center for Nanoscience and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science
An Artificial Intelligence Powered Miniaturized Spectrometer for Food Quality Analysis is a pocket-sized spectrometer that brings spectroscopy to your fingertips
INMED Partnerships for Children
Aquaponics as a Social Enterprise for Sustainable Food Systems and Livelihoods is a project to build upon the potential of aquaponics to strengthen food security, preserve the threatened landscape, and create sustainable livelihoods for indigenous riverside communities in the Peruvian Amazon
Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute
The Seaweed, Amaranth and Finger Millet-Nutrients Fortification of Bakery Products for Improved Health and Livelihoods in Kenya (SEA-FORT) is a research project is to improve the nutrition and livelihoods of Kenyans
Tanzania Environment Management Catalyst
Managing Incubation Resilience Centres for Promoting Urban-Rural Sustainable Agriculture, Health Food Production Systems and Nutrition Food Safety Consumption Practices and Policy Advocacy Engagement is a project working with two incubation resilience centres in urban and rural areas in Kibaha town municipality and Chalinze rural district, respectively, to promote sustainable agriculture
Catch the Vision is a project to use a novel silver carp and soy product to improve the diets of women and children in Haiti
Farmers Post is a project that will revolutionize the distribution of fresh produce across the country, connecting farmers directly to local consumers