Contributing Author: Katie Howell
The Food System Vision Prize announced 79 Semi-Finalists with innovative, transformative ideas for a hopeful food future. Narrowed down from over 1,300 submissions from 112 countries around the globe, the ideas include farm-based health care, new agricultural technology, plans for food sovereignty, and more.
Launched by The Rockefeller Foundation, and supported by SecondMuse and OpenIDEO, the Food System Vision Prize asks the question “how might we envision regenerative and nourishing food futures in 2050?”
“We’ve become so good at describing the [dystopian] world we don’t want,” says Roy Steiner, Senior Vice President of the Food Initiative at the Rockefeller Foundation, “[We need to ask] what if we made all the right decisions? What would that actually look like?” The Prize aims to encourage communities to develop a positive Vision for the future, providing a direction and a way of thinking that will help avoid unintended consequences.
The Prize provides an opportunity to put decisions into the hands of the stakeholders themselves, enabling people to be the protagonists of their own future, Steiner tells Food Tank. “Food is one of the most powerful social technolog[ies] we have,” says Steiner, “food bridges a divide [in a polarized world]… and a Vision enables us to persevere when there is darkness around us.”
The semi-finalists are now entering the refinement phase of the process, further developing the ideas by engaging stakeholders and collecting feasibility data. A board of judges will continue to evaluate the ideas on the potential to inspire real, positive, bold transformation using six criteria: systems focused, transformative potential, community informed, inspiring, feasible, and community co-created.
Recognizing the necessity of collaboration to address the interconnectedness of culture, environment, technology, policy, diets, and economics, the Foundation only accepted submissions from organizations.
In May, 10 Finalists will be chosen to move on to the final phase, before the Top Visionaries are announced in September. Up to 10 Top Visions may be chosen, receiving US$200,000 each and totaling US$2 million.
Photo courtesy of SecondMuse.
