Food & Agriculture

Overview

The production and distribution of food intersect with some of the most critical issues of our time: pervasive hunger and malnutrition as well as obesity, environmental degradation resulting from agricultural activities, labor injustices, and extreme inequities in the distribution of farmland and food access. Many initiatives and efforts have emerged in recent years, as attempts to address these persistent food-related problems, from local to global levels. Yet, challenges persist– and have escalated in some areas– often due to political and economic causes. Achieving food security, justice, health, and sustainability in food systems, and equitable access to nutritious food, requires significant changes, ideas, and problem-solving by people and organizations in a wide variety of disciplines.

The Challenge

The challenge for this track is to encourage the development of innovative solutions or approaches that address complex challenges in food systems. Proposals submitted to this track may focus on areas such as enhancing agricultural production, increasing food security, promoting sustainable farming practices, and/or creating equitable access to nutritious food. Proposals may be aimed at campus-based programs, local/domestic issues, or international efforts.

The challenge for this track is to encourage the development of innovative solutions or approaches that address complex challenges in food systems. Proposals submitted to this track may focus on areas such as enhancing agricultural production, increasing food security, promoting sustainable farming practices, and/or creating equitable access to nutritious food. Proposals may be aimed at campus-based programs, local/domestic issues, or international efforts.

Past Winners and Examples

Examples of proposals include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • A public health prevention initiative that aims to improve children’s nutrition and health outcomes or address issues of hunger and/or obesity.
  • A technology or innovation that greatly reduces agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions and promotes sustainable agricultural practices.
  • A public awareness campaign that highlights labor issues in food systems and aims to improve working conditions for farmworkers.
  • A project that aims to improve storage methods to reduce food loss and food waste for small-scale farmers in the developing world.
FootMo Kit, 2020
Safi Organics, 2022
Sundial Foods, 2020
Foot Powered Cooler, 2022
Back to the Roots, 2009
Acarí, 2018
Ricult, 2016

Acarí

Team Members:

Mike Mitchell, Sam Bordia

School:

UC Berkeley

Acarí takes the hated and feared invasive armored catfish or ‘devil fish’ as it is colloquially known in Mexico and transforms it into tasty, nutritious food products to increase employment in rural fishing communities and provide a healthy, sustainable alternative to beef jerky. To Acarí, the devil fish is much more than an invasive ‘trash fish’; it is an opportunity to improve the livelihoods of marginalized fishermen across Mexico. Though the devil fish has perplexed politicians and development professionals for nearly two decades, Acarí considers it to be a marketing problem first and foremost and has begun to develop the sales channels and supply chain to effectively transform the devil fish from plague to a protein-packed snack that makes their customers say, “Quiero más.”