EY Global Ideathon: Farm To Fork competition

The first EY Global Ideathon, Farm To Fork, discovers innovative solutions to food insecurity.

Our world is transforming as we speak. Global food prices are being pushed higher and higher, along with the risk of growing poverty and malnutrition.

“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,” says Julie Teigland, EY EMEIA Managing Partner and Ambassador of Farm To Fork. “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.”

The global EY organization is committed to finding concrete approaches to tackle the food-insecurity emergency and launched Farm To Fork, the EY Global Ideathon, to empower new innovators and explore new solutions for food security. The program was brought to life by EY Ripples and the Wavespace team in Antwerp. This year’s Farm To Fork Winners were announced on 22 February 2023.

Women won four of the five categories in the 2023 Farm To Fork – EY Global Ideathon. Africa dominated, with two Kenyan females under 30, recognized. The winning ideas blend leading-edge-technology with home-grown innovation and will now progress either into the EY Farm To Fork Boost Program or the EY Farm To Fork Innovation Experience, accelerator journeys that are designed to help accelerate the winning ideas into concrete solutions or successful businesses.

A global call for entries inspired more than 200 submissions.

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 worldwide.

The ideas were assessed by domain experts and the Farm To Fork jury panel of public and private sector leaders on a number of criteria, and in particular, the following three:

1. Respect for people
2. Respect for planet
3. Respect for profit

The 2023 EY Farm To Fork winners are:

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

“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.”

Zeynep Deldag, EY EMEIA Innovation Leader and Sponsor of Farm To Fork, also comments:

“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 an 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 are outstanding and encouraging, and we’re committed to bringing these ideas to the next stage.”

The Farm To Fork Winners have started their award experiences as of April 2023. A few of their prizes include: product development with EY-Nottingham Spirk Innovation Hub, participation in the Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) mentoring program, and attending the disruptive tech program at the EY Tech University at Silicon Valley. Stay tuned to keep up to date on the progress of the winners and their winning ideas.