Cultivating the Drylands Challenge
What is the Cultivating the Drylands Prize?
Our aim: £5M to the solution that most effectively enables smallholder farmers to increase agricultural production of cereal crops in an arid location using limited resources
Approximately half the world’s population is experiencing extreme water scarcity, which makes growing food a complex challenge.
Globally, land used to grow food may lose up to 10% of its productivity by 2050 due to the effects of severe climate change. This challenge is in addition to the need to satisfy an anticipated >60% increase in global food demand by 2050. Alongside their vulnerability to climate change, our food systems are also a leading cause of climate change. We urgently need to develop innovative ways of growing the food we need while reducing our food systems’ impact on the planet.
Unlocking systemic change will require more than technological breakthroughs. The farming communities who are most vulnerable to climate change typically have the least capacity to innovate. This means that it is imperative that we take community-driven approaches to developing, testing and scaling solutions that address problems, whilst also avoiding negative consequences for the wider system.
The challenge will de-risk the innovation cycle and level the playing field so that a range of stakeholders, including those who are community-based, can engage and innovate on equal footing. It will act as a brokerage opportunity to facilitate the formation of these inclusive and collaborative partnerships.
In addition to supporting innovative solutions and partnerships, the challenge will unlock systemic change by acting as a transparent platform generating evidence of what works to transition towards a more sustainable global agricultural system.
This challenge will push the boundaries of agricultural technologies and practices. It will focus on resilient and water-savvy farming to support farmers to consistently boost crop yields and enhance food security.
Solutions could include:
- sustainable closed-loop systems and resource recycling
- smart and precise management approaches
- new materials and soil innovations
- biotechnological breakthroughs
Successful solutions will work hand-in-hand with smallholder farmers to sustainably increase food production while building their own climate resilience.
Get in touch if you are interested in collaborating on this future prize.
Cultivating the Drylands
This prize idea is designed to be a conversation starter, so tell us what you think!
The best prize ideas are developed through extensive research and engagement with experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience of the problems they are focused on. We start with a first draft like the one above – then work to improve, refine and validate our thinking.
We’re particularly keen to have conversations about this idea with potential funders and organisations working in the field. Get in touch if you’re interested – or if you think you have a better idea – and we’ll schedule a call.
Mission Possible: The role of challenge prizes in a revitalised UK innovation strategy
Challenge Works has put together a report shedding light on the role of challenge prizes in revitalising the UK Innovation Strategy.
Challenge prizes can complement grants, reduce risk in portfolios of government innovation investments, and can be particularly effective at stimulating near-market innovation targeting specific outcomes and private R&D investment.
