Global Food System Challenge winners announced
Dynamic. Transformative. Impactful. The 2025 submissions reflect an inspiring diversity from app-smart production to nutrient-dense foods to food loss reduction and inclusive market models – highlighting the creativity and commitment needed to tackle today’s interconnected food system challenges.
The winners of the fifth annual Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge have now been announced: The two Grand Prize winners will receive awards of USD 250,000; the three Growth Grant winners will receive awards of USD 100,000; and the eight Seed Grant winners will receive awards of USD 25,000.
More information about the projects:
Seeding The Future Grand Prize Winners
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Sanku
Sanku works with local flour millers in East Africa to add essential nutrients to staple flour, helping prevent malnutrition caused by micronutrient deficiencies. The organization provides millers with technology, nutrient premix, and technical support so they can fortify flour accurately and sustainably. This enables even remote communities to access healthier staple foods through the flour they consume every day. Sanku is already reaching millions of people with fortified flour and helping improve nutrition at scale.
Nurture Posterity International
NutriPosh improves school nutrition in Uganda by producing fortified flour made from maize and pumpkin for school meals. Its digital platform supports quality control, farmer payments, traceability, and meal delivery monitoring, creating a reliable and transparent food system. The model links local farmers, decentralized processing, and schools to provide nutritious meals while strengthening livelihoods. By combining nutrition, digital oversight, and climate-smart production, NutriPosh is helping modernize school feeding at scale.
Growth Grant Winners
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Iviani Farm Limited
Iviani Farm is introducing climate-smart fish farming to Kenya’s dryland communities through water-efficient smart ponds equipped with real-time monitoring systems. These ponds reduce water use, improve fish survival, and enable reliable fish production in areas where aquaculture has not been possible before. The project will train women and youth, helping them generate income while improving access to affordable protein. This innovation creates a scalable and climate-resilient aquaculture model for vulnerable communities.
American University of Beirut, Environment and Sustainable Development Unit
The WISE project transforms acidic whey, a byproduct of dairy production, into Kishk, a nutritious traditional cereal-dairy food in Lebanon. By using this byproduct instead of discarding it, the innovation reduces pollution while creating new income opportunities for women-led cooperatives. The process has been scientifically validated and shown to be safe and practical for local production. This approach improves food security, supports rural livelihoods, and promotes a circular economy in the dairy sector.
Safi International Technologies Inc.
Safi International Technologies has developed a small-scale milk pasteurization device that helps dairy farmers produce safe milk while preserving its nutrients. The device runs on renewable energy and includes digital tracking to improve food safety and traceability. With this grant, Safi will scale local manufacturing and deploy the technology to climate-displaced dairy farmers in Rwanda through an affordable pay-as-you-pasteurize model. This innovation improves incomes for farmers while increasing access to safe milk for communities.
Seed Grant Winners
The eight Seed Grant winners each receive awards of USD 25,000.
- Inua Damsite CBO: Turning Food Waste into Nutrition and Regenerative Livelihoods (Kenya).
- Keloks Technologies Ltd: Wastexus: Mobile Sensor-Driven Waste-to-Resource System for Safe Irrigation and Resilient Food Systems (Nigeria).
- REBUS Albania: Nutrient-Infused Compostable Seed Cups for Regenerative Crop Establishment (Albania).
- Tanzania Conservation and Community Empowerment Initiative (TACCEI): Circular Dairy Byproduct Biofertilizer for Maasai Women-led Gardens (Tanzania).
- Levo International, Inc.: Locally sourced simplified hydroponics for emergency food production in Haiti. (United States).
- Taita Taveta University: Hybrid Solar Drying for Aflatoxin Control: Sustainable Pathway To Safer, Resilient Global Food Systems (SOLARSAFE) (Kenya).
- FUTURALGA S.COOP.AND: Compostable Food Packaging from Naturally Stranded Seaweed Biomass (Spain).
- West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement, University of Ghana: Advancing Climate-Resilient Maize for Smallholder farmers in Ghana (Ghana).
Seeding The Future Grand Prize Finalists
- One Acre Fund: Affordable, Nutritious Alternative Protein: From Smallholder Fields to Every Rwandan Kitchen (Rwanda).
- Nabahya Food Institute (NFI): Sustainable Nutritional Solutions from Agro-Resources through Farmer Field Schools in Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
- ABALOBI: Fisher Led Digital Food System Transformation for Equitable, Traceable and Climate Smart Seafood (South Africa).
Seeding The Future Grand Prize Semi-Finalists
- CNF Global: Tototamu Bar: Upcycled, Fermented Nutrition Bars Improving Child Health, Empowering Women, And Reducing Post-harvest Losses (Kenya).
- ZTN Technology PLC: Solar-Powered IoT Smart Irrigation Monitoring and Controlling system for Climate Resilience in Off-Grid Ethiopia (Ethiopia).
- metaBIX Biotech: AI-Driven Biosurveillance to Anticipate Animal Diseases and Protect Global Food Security (Uruguay).
Growth Grant Finalists
- Baobaby: Feeding Tomorrow: Scaling Women-Led Solutions to Fight Baby Malnutrition with Climate-Resilient Indigenous Crops (Togo).
- Farmlab Yeranda Agrisolution Producer Company Limited: Regenerating Soils, Nourishing Communities: Scaling Farm Labs for Safe Food in India and Nigeria (India).
- NatureLEAD: The Living Supply Chain for Regenerative Agroforestry & Food Security in Madagascar (Madagascar).
Growth Grant Semi-Finalists
- Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo (CIMMYT): Biofortified Rice And Wheat For Nutrition Security (BRAWN) (Mexico).
- Banco de Alimentos Santa Fe (BASFE): BASFE in the Territory (Argentina).
- Chartered Consilorum (Pty) Ltd: Earth Observation Systems Architecture for Food Insecurity Reduction in Climate-Vulnerable Regions (South Africa).
- The Source Plus: Strengthening Farmer Resilience with Integrated Traceability, Early Warning, and Carbon Incentives (Kenya).
- Rwandese Endogenous Development Association: Solar-powered Irrigation and Regenerative Agriculture For Climate-resilient Food Systems of Kayumbu Watershed in Rwanda (Rwanda).
- Ndaloh Heritage Organisation: Ndalo Agrihub Smart Farmer Model (Kenya).
Seed Grant Finalists
- World Neighbors: Promoting Innovative Cassava Cultivation to Increase Productivity Through The Pre-germination Method (PICGEM) (United States).
- Intrasect: Scalable Deep-substrate Insect Technology Producing Affordable Protein and Organic Fertilizer from Organic Waste (Switzerland).
- VKS AGRITECH: AI-Enabled Microclimate Systems for Climate-Resilient Household Mushroom Production (India).
- Murmushi People's Development Foundation: Murmushi Nutri-Pap, A Locally Formulated Nutrient-Dense Pap Powder for Combating Child Malnutrition in Northern Nigeria. (Nigeria).
- Effective Altruism Research Services Ltd: The MUK Bio-cycle Living Lab: A Data-driven Model For a Waste-free, Protein-rich Campus (Uganda).
- CultivaHub: CultivaFert: Turning Food Waste into Organic Fertilizer and Climate-Resilient Seeds (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
- Resource Hub for Development (RHD): HARVEST - Harnessing Agroecology, Regeneration, and Value-Enabled Systems for Equitable Transformation. (Kenya).
- Sustainable Solutions Kenya: Biochar-to-Basket: Regenerative Kitchens for Food Security (Kenya).
