Land Innovation Fund event to introduce its expanded portfolio and impacts, plus upcoming funding opportunities
LIF360 will discuss challenges and opportunities to build an innovation landscapes for sustainable agriculture in South America.
Next Wednesday, May 11th, at 10am, the Land Innovation Fund will hold LIF360, an on-line, interactive event to announce significant impacts of the Fund's first year of operations, as well as new projects selected to be part of its portfolio, and the dynamics of the next round of funding. With the theme "Innovation for Transformation", this second LIF360 gathering will bring together partners, experts, and representatives of the Land Innovation Fund to discuss challenges, expectations, and opportunities to build innovation landscapes for a sustainable soy supply chain, free of deforestation and conversion of native vegetation in South America.
In a little over a year, the Land Innovation Fund has supported 13 projects, with nine partners and the participation of 30 startups; engaged more than 60 rural producers and more than 70 institutions in the Cerrado and Gran Chaco biomes of South America; conducted a selection process for the second round of projects; and structured the selection dynamics for the third round of funding, to be announced soon. "At this LIF360, we will describe the impacts of a year of hard work, introduce partners and initiatives selected to add value to our portfolio of innovative solutions for sustainable agriculture, and announce our plans to align even more actions and projects with the international agenda to mitigate the effects of climate change," says the Fund's director, Carlos E. Quintela.
Launched in October 2021, the Land Innovation Fund's second round of funding selected seven finalists from 47 applications, which will be announced during the online event. Initiatives to address major challenges on today's sustainability agenda will be part of the Fund's expanded portfolio, with solutions ranging from forest offset programs to sustainable farm monitoring and management, from good agricultural practices and carbon sequestration to fostering financial mechanisms to pay for environmental services. "The growing demand for food, coupled with the increasing effects of climate change, demand immediate solutions in favor of sustainable agriculture. Our new project portfolio reaffirms our commitment to promoting innovation for the transformation of the soy supply chain, with a focus on farms and farmers, and expands our presence and operations for the Land Innovation Fund’s priority biomes in South America: Cerrado, Gran Chaco, and the Amazon," explains Carlos E. Quintela.
LIF360 will also have panels to dialogue and exchange information among experts, partners and participants on creating an innovation landscape for sustainability. Four researchers from the Fund's Expert Group, who took part in the second round of the project evaluation process, will lead the discussion: Celeste Acevedo, a biologist, environmental consultant and professor at the National University of Asunción (UNA) in Paraguay; Sarita Albagli, a sociologist with a PhD in geography and researcher at the Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology (IBICT) and the CNPq; Eduardo Assad, an agronomist for more than 30 years at Embrapa, researcher at FGV/GVagro and CEPAGRI/Unicamp; and Sebastian Senesi, an agronomist, international projects consultant and professor at the Buenos Aires School of Agronomy.
In thematic break-out room sessions, each of the experts will raise a leading question, based on their own line of research and activity, to outline the challenges of sustainable development and stimulate an exchange of knowledge among partners and participants. "We know that, in order to innovate, we must turn challenges into solutions and incorporate them as practices in farmers' day-to-day activities. From innovation to transformation, LIF360 intends to develop a network of multiple stakeholders to build a portfolio of projects and initiatives that offer outcomes with impacts on society," adds Quintela.
"We know that, in order to innovate, we must turn challenges into solutions and incorporate them as practices in farmers' day-to-day activities. From innovation to transformation, LIF360 intends to develop a network of multiple stakeholders to build a portfolio of projects and initiatives that offer outcomes with impacts on society," adds Quintela.
The event will be attended by the executive manager of Senai Cimatec, Flávio Marinho, and Agroicone's partner and senior researcher, Laura Antoniazzi, to describe the results of projects that the Fund has completed or is about to complete. Senai Cimatec was responsible for two initiatives supported by the Land Innovation Fund, both in partnership with the Association of Farmers and Irrigators of Western Bahia (AIBA): the development of a territorial intelligence and environmental monitoring system (SIMA), soon to be concluded; and the three-cycle open innovation program, the AIBA LAB, which ended in December 2021. Agroicone was responsible for documenting innovative public policies to conserve and restore native vegetation on private holdings in the Matopiba agricultural region in the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia, and for an unprecedented benchmarking of successful policies carried out in other states of the country.
The meeting will conclude with a presentation on the Fund's next funding and collaboration opportunity. Focused on innovation and the transformation of the soy chain, the third round will be announced in the first semester of 2022. "From the conception of the call for proposals to the implementation of its projects, LIF360 will be a chance to share an overview of the Fund's current and future actions and initiatives," explains Carlos E. Quintela. "The event is designed to stimulate dialogue among multiple voices on the sustainability agenda, from new to established players, from current partners to new applicants; towards synergistic initiatives to help develop sustainable agricultural," he adds.