The drive towards a more sustainable future is permeating all areas of business activity within agriculture.
Reducing the effects of climate-change is a top priority globally. While farming is a major contributor to global emissions, the move towards sustainable and regenerative practices is also a vital part of the solution, with the benefits of improving soil health and biodiversity, the conservation of water, and promoting the wellbeing of farmers and their communities.
With a focus on sustainable agriculture and working to enable a resilient, climate-smart food system, the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit, March 19-20, will bring together over 2,500 leading agribusinesses, food brands, research institutes, investors, innovators and policymakers committed to addressing the food sector’s most pressing challenges.
The summit’s expert panels will analyze crucial developments shaping the industry and driving new value creation, exploring how policies are creating new opportunities, and how companies are navigating the intersection of technology and innovation for sustainable outcomes.
Celebrating its 12th year in San Francisco, the summit will showcase cutting-edge innovations across the entire supply chain, facilitating discussions on the crucial investment strategies required to accelerate commercialization of breakthrough technologies.
From biotech and the growing application of gene editing technologies like CRISPR and high value sustainable biological inputs, to robotics and new impact-monitoring solutions, the summit uncovers the tools needed to enhance biodiversity and create a stronger, more sustainable agri-food supply chain that supports the farmer, the consumer and the planet.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Corteva Agriscience, BASF, Bayer Crop Science, Khosla Ventures and Microsoft are among the international line-up of over 100 speakers who will take the stage at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.
Program highlights
The program focuses on harnessing technologies for climate adaptation, enabling a resilient food system, successful paths for commercializing biological inputs, next-generation breeding, AI and automation.
Beyond the main stage, hot-button discussions in interactive breakout sessions and themed roundtables create valuable networking and opportunities for face-to-face time. Delegates will discover important new technologies and solutions being showcased by industry pioneers in the summit’s busy exhibition, with a dedicated floor for start-ups.
A highlight of the summit’s hard-hitting agenda is a fireside chat between agtech pioneers David Friedberg, CEO of The Production Board and Vinod Khosla, Founder of Khosla Ventures. A decade on from the game-changing acquisition of The Climate Corp by Monsanto for $1 billion, these two veterans will reflect on what lessons have been learned in agtech over these years, what is going right now, and why we should still be excited for the future.
Following this forward-looking theme, Eric Horvitz, CSO at Microsoft will discuss the opportunities and challenges for AI at the confluence of science, technology, and society. Experts including Elizabeth Fastiggi, Head of Worldwide Agriculture at, Amazon Web Services, Jeremy Williams, Head of Climate, Digital Farming and Ecosystems at Bayer Crop Science and Feroz Sheikh, CIO & CDO at Syngenta Group will investigate how the era of next-generation artificial intelligence will reshape business operations and cut through the hype to pinpoint where it will have the biggest breakthroughs in agriculture advancements.
They’ll investigate how the era of next-generation artificial intelligence will reshape business operations and cut through the hype to pinpoint where it will have the biggest breakthroughs in agricultural advancements.
Further session highlights include:
- A Blueprint for Impact: Embedding Sustainability into R&D Strategy – featuring Corteva Agriscience and Driscoll’s
- Navigating Commercial Opportunities for High Value Crops and Ingredients – featuring Ohalo Genetics, Pairwise, ELO Life Systems and Sanatech Seed
- Enhancing Growing Practices: Innovation Empowering Fresh Produce and Specialty Growers – featuring Yamaha Motor Ventures, Wonderful Company and Produce Pay
- Biologicals in Action: Getting Traction on Today’s Farms – featuring Aqua Capital, Lavoro, Newleaf Symbiotics, Agrithority and CHS
- Nurturing Growth: Building an Innovation Pipeline at the Speed of Environmental Ambition – featuring FMC Ventures, ApheaBio, Biotalys, Elicit Plant, Novozymes, and Eagle Genomics
The Exhibition
The summit’s sold-out exhibition is where delegates can meet 1-1 with teams behind the latest technologies disrupting the sector. Featuring over 50 high-profile companies, including Planet Labs, Google Cloud, Guardian Agriculture, The Mosaic Company, Smartwyre, and Bluewhite, this is the place to explore new solutions, create meaningful connections and forge the partnerships which drive innovation.
Start-Up Arena
A whole floor of the summit is dedicated to spotlighting emerging, early-stage talent. From Alora’s ocean-grown rice to Ceragen’s plant probiotics and EX-Fusion’s pest-killing laser system, the start-up exhibition features over 50 international companies looking for partnership and investment opportunities.
Through a full program on the popular pitching stage and busy networking lounge, founders will showcase their technology and go-to market strategies alongside leading accelerators including AgroStart by BASF, Grow NY, ICL Planet Start-Up Hub, and Innovation Saskatchewan, amongst others.
New for 2024: Scale-Ups are in the spotlight, with game changers like Nitricity, Interstellar Labs, Switch Bioworks and Concerto Biosciences. Since pitching at World Agri-Tech as a start-up in 2023, Nitricity have achieved partnership with Olam Food Group.
For strategic innovation leaders seeking technologies that deliver on global climate commitments, funding and commercialization partners, or insights into GenAI's impact on future business models, World Agri-Tech is a focused platform to unlock deep insights into the innovation and investment driving new value creation across the agri-food sector.
Complementing the summit experience, its 1-1 networking platform is available on desktop and mobile app from two weeks before the summit for early networking and to book all-important meetings at designated tables in the meeting hub.
In 2023, the platform facilitated over 20,000 connections and 25,000 discussions, highlighting World Agri-Tech's importance as the premier location to secure quality time with hard-to-reach prospects, potential partners and investors, all under one roof.
Decision-makers from across the innovation ecosystem joining the summit this March 19-20 include:
When: March 19-20, 2024
Where: Marriott Marquis San Francisco
Find out more information about speakers, program highlights and start-ups here.
The World Agri-Tech Innovation Summits take place every year in San Francisco, London, São Paulo, Dubai and Singapore (under the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit). They’re part of Rethink Events’ global series of market-leading agri-food summits, created by experts in agri-food technology, investment and climate-tech. Rethink Events is a William Reed company.
