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85 results
Market Analysis: Determining the Extent and Potential of a Water-Smart Agriculture Market in South Africa
The report identifies five key Water-Smart Agriculture (WSA) innovation clusters in South Africa: irrigation systems, smart farming, undercover farming, sustainable practices, and drought-tolerant crops. While commercial farms have adopted many of these technologies due to economies of scale, adoption remains low among smallholder and emerging farmers. The analysis estimates significant market sizes for high-tech greenhouses (R11.78 billion) and no-till machinery (R4.48 billion), while identifying remote sensing services as a high-growth area. Major barriers include high upfront costs, limited technical skills, and an unfriendly regulatory environment. The report recommends developing innovative financing models, increasing farmer awareness, and strengthening government support through tax rebates and policy integration.
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Document type: Report
Thai Rice: Strengthening climate-smart rice farming
The project aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 4 million tCO2eq over 15 years and increase the resilience of 250,000 rice farmers in 15 Thai provinces. It focuses on scaling up climate-smart technologies—such as Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) and Laser Land Levelling (LLL)—while addressing financial barriers through the creation of the Thai Green Farmers’ Facility (TGFF). The project integrates mitigation and adaptation by promoting water-saving practices and diversifying crops to combat increasing water scarcity and drought.
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Document type: Report
Market Brief: Green technologies for urban food production
The document evaluates green technologies for urban food production in Cape Town, categorising them into incremental and transformational levels based on Gliessman’s framework. It analyzes the financial viability of hydroponics, aquaponics, and complete Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) systems, while also identifying investment opportunities for different farm scales, from community gardens to large-scale commercial operations.
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Document type: Briefing
The recovery budget for agriculture
The document analyzes the distribution rules for the EU's €7.5 billion recovery budget for agriculture, specifically the new Article 58a of Regulation (EU) 1305/2013. It argues that the 'non-regression principle' and other spending thresholds are insufficient to ensure environmental progress, as they include non-ecological payments and allow Member States to prioritize socio-economic investments over green ones. The author concludes that the framework encourages 'business as usual' and fails to align with the European Green Deal.
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Document type: Briefing
The Sustainable Agriculture Transition: How to make the most of transformative technology
The document identifies off-grid renewable energy, batteries, and ICT as transformative technologies capable of increasing agricultural productivity and sustainability. It focuses on solar-powered irrigation, noting that while falling costs of solar PV and lithium-ion batteries make these systems more accessible, high upfront costs remain a barrier. The brief warns of risks such as groundwater over-extraction and price depression due to increased yields, and provides eight policy recommendations for governments and financial institutions to ensure an inclusive and sustainable transition.
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Document type: Policy brief
La transition vers une agriculture durable : Comment tirer le meilleur parti des technologies transformatrices
The document identifies off-grid renewable energy, batteries, and information and communication technologies (ICT) as 'transformative' tools capable of increasing agricultural productivity while reducing environmental costs. It focuses on solar-powered irrigation as a key application, noting that dramatic price drops in solar PV and lithium-ion batteries are making these systems more accessible to smallholders. While these technologies offer opportunities for increased yields and income, the brief warns of risks such as groundwater over-extraction and market price drops due to overproduction. It concludes with eight policy recommendations for governments and financial institutions to ensure an inclusive and sustainable transition, including targeted subsidies, responsible lending regulations, and improved digital infrastructure.
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Document type: Policy brief
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2021
The report outlines a transition toward sustainable agriculture in South Africa, driven by resource scarcity, rising input costs, and international market pressures. It identifies key opportunities in smart farming, undercover farming, regenerative and organic agriculture, and renewable energy. A significant portion of the analysis focuses on solar PV, solar-powered irrigation, and biogas, while also detailing the policy landscape including carbon tax, land reform, and cannabis legislation. The Western Cape is highlighted as a strategic hub for these greentech investments.
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Document type: Report
Land Accelerator South Asia 2021 Business Leaders Restoring Farms and Forests
The Land Accelerator South Asia program, launched by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in 2020, supports entrepreneurs developing business models to restore degraded lands. The 2021 cohort grew to 58 entrepreneurs, with women's participation increasing from 13% in 2020 to 31% in 2021. The program provides mentorship, grants, and connections to impact investors to scale solutions in sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, and agritech. This booklet highlights eleven specific startups, detailing their technological solutions—such as AI-based weeding robots, drone-based precision agriculture, and bio-economic waste conversion—and their reported socio-economic and environmental impacts, including increased farmer incomes and carbon sequestration.
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Document type: Case study
4IR and Water-smart Agriculture in Southern Africa: A Watch List of Key Technological Advances
The policy brief examines how 4IR technologies—specifically biotechnology, precision agriculture, and controlled-environment agriculture—can enhance water-smart farming in Southern Africa. It highlights the potential of CRISPR for drought-resistant crops, the use of remote sensing and AI for small-scale farmer decision-making, and the promise of vertical farming to bypass climatic limitations, while noting challenges related to energy efficiency and regulatory frameworks.
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Document type: Policy brief
The Sustainable Agriculture Transition: Technology options for low- and middle-income countries
The report examines the potential of solar PV, batteries, and ICT to transform agriculture in low- and middle-income countries. It highlights applications such as solar-powered irrigation, precision agriculture, and indoor farming, noting that while these technologies can reduce environmental harm and increase yields, they face barriers like high upfront costs and data privacy risks. The authors recommend government interventions in regulation, financing, and capacity-building to ensure inclusive and sustainable adoption.
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Document type: Report
“Agroecología chatarra”: La captura corporativa de la agroecología para una transición ecológica parcial y sin justicia social
The report argues that the 'Sustainable Agriculture Initiative' (SAI), 'New Vision for Agriculture' (NVA), and 'Food and Land Use Coalition' (FOLU) promote a version of 'junk agroecology' (agroecología chatarra). This approach selectively adopts agroecological techniques to mitigate environmental damage while preserving the industrial, profit-driven corporate model. The authors contrast this with a transformative agroecology rooted in food sovereignty and social justice, which requires shifting power from corporations to small-scale producers.
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Document type: Report
“agroecología chatarra”: La captura corporativa de la agroecología para una transición ecológica parcial y sin justicia social
The report critiques the 'corporate capture' of agroecology by three major global initiatives: the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI), the New Vision for Agriculture (NVA), and the Coalition for a New Economy of Food and Land Use (FOLU). It argues that these entities promote a restricted, 'junk' version of agroecology that focuses on productivity and technological innovation (such as precision agriculture and gene editing) rather than the social justice, redistribution of power, and food sovereignty central to genuine agroecology. The document concludes that these corporate-led models aim to 'change everything so that nothing changes,' preserving the dominance of transnational agribusiness while adopting a 'green' veneer.
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Document type: Executive summary
‘Junk Agroecology’: The corporate capture of agroecology for a partial ecological transition without social justice
The report critiques 'junk agroecology,' a corporate-led interpretation of agroecology promoted by initiatives like the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI), the New Vision for Agriculture (NVA), and the New Food and Land Use Economy Coalition (FOLU). It argues that these entities use agroecological language to mask a commitment to 'productivism' and 'sustainable agricultural intensification,' focusing on increasing yields through technology and market inclusion rather than the redistribution of power and resources. The authors contrast this with a transformative vision of agroecology that emphasizes food sovereignty, social justice, and the rights of small-scale producers.
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Document type: Executive summary
‘Junk Agroecology’: The corporate capture of agroecology for a partial ecological transition without social justice
The report argues that big agrifood capital is developing 'junk agroecology'—a selective appropriation of agroecological techniques integrated into a productivist, market-driven framework. Through an analysis of three major initiatives—the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI), the New Vision for Agriculture (NVA), and the Food and Land Use Economy Coalition (FOLU)—the authors demonstrate how corporations use 'sustainable intensification' to greenwash the industrial food system. These initiatives prioritize technological determinism (such as gene editing and big data), the integration of smallholders into global value chains, and multi-stakeholder governance models that shift power from public institutions to private entities. The report concludes that a true agroecological transition requires participatory public policies rooted in food sovereignty and social justice, rather than corporate-led reforms.
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Document type: Report
l’« agroécologie bidon »
The report argues that multinational corporations are promoting a 'fake agroecology' (agroécologie bidon) through initiatives like the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI), the New Vision for Agriculture (NVA), and the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU). These initiatives are characterized as 'sustainable intensification' rather than true agroecology, as they prioritize technological productivism, market-driven value chains, and public-private governance over social justice and structural transformation. The authors contend that this approach allows industrial giants to 'greenwash' their image while maintaining the existing power structures of the global food system.
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Document type: Report
l’« agroécologie bidon » : La mainmise des multinationales sur l’agroécologie
The report critiques the 'corporate capture' of agroecology by three major global initiatives: the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI), the New Vision for Agriculture (NVA), and the Coalition for Food, Land and Use (FOLU). It contends that these entities promote a version of 'junk agroecology' that focuses on 'sustainable intensification' and technological fixes—such as big data, blockchain, and genomic editing—rather than the holistic, social, and political transformation central to genuine agroecology. The authors argue that these initiatives aim to 'transform small farms into sustainable agro-industries' to integrate smallholders into global value chains controlled by multinationals, thereby maintaining systemic inequalities and the dominance of industrial agriculture.
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Document type: Report
Sustainable Agriculture: Market Intelligence Report 2020
The report highlights a transition toward sustainable agriculture in South Africa, driven by climate change, water scarcity, and rising input costs. Key investment areas include undercover farming, renewable energy, conservation agriculture, precision agriculture, and urban agriculture. It emphasizes the Western Cape as a strategic hub for greentech due to its high-value export crop production and supportive government environment.
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Document type: Report
Eesti kliimaambitsiooni tõstmise võimaluste analüüs
Reaching climate neutrality in Estonia by 2050 is technically possible and potentially profitable in the long term, requiring an estimated total investment of 17.3 billion EUR between 2021 and 2050. The strategy emphasizes accelerating energy efficiency in buildings, transport, and industry, alongside a transition to renewable energy and carbon sequestration in the LULUCF sector. While the first decade (2021-2030) will be investment-heavy, resulting in higher costs than revenues, subsequent decades are expected to see revenues outweigh costs. The transition will likely cause a modest negative impact on GDP (approximately 10%) and long-term employment in fossil-fuel sectors, particularly oil shale in Ida-Virumaa, but will create short-term construction and technology jobs.
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Document type: Report
ADAPTING THE GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM TO NEW CLIMATE REALITIES
The document assesses the multifaceted threats climate change poses to global food security, highlighting that while some high-latitude regions may see productivity gains, the global South—especially sub-Saharan Africa—faces severe risks of yield losses and increased hunger. It argues for a systemic approach to adaptation, moving beyond autonomous adjustments to planned strategies. Key priorities include increasing public investment in agricultural research, adopting Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), expanding irrigation, and improving the resilience of food value chains. The authors emphasize that adaptation must be balanced with greenhouse gas mitigation and social equity, particularly regarding gender and youth in agriculture.
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Document type: Research paper
Low-Emission and Climate Resilient Agriculture in Colombia
The document outlines a request for USD 642,600 from the Green Climate Fund's Project Preparation Facility to prepare a larger investment project (estimated at USD 83 million) focused on climate-smart agriculture in Colombia. The proposed project aims to reduce economic losses from extreme weather events and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by scaling up technologies such as agro-climatic forecasting, site-specific agriculture, and low-carbon farming practices. It targets seven priority crops: rice, maize, banana, sugarcane, coffee, potato, and forage. The preparation phase, led by CAF and executed by CIAT, involves feasibility studies, impact assessments, and the development of a Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) mechanism for carbon footprints.
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Document type: Report