Farm2050 sign first ‘Country Partner’ agreement with Agritech New Zealand to address the need for increased sustainable food production worldwide
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (3 September 2018) – New Zealand has signed a new strategic partnership with global initiative, Farm2050, to accelerate the development of sustainable agricultural technologies to support the need to feed 10 billion people by 2050.
“The world’s population is growing at an exponential rate,” said Peter Wren-Hilton, Agritech New Zealand Executive Director. “This requires increasing current global food production levels by 70%. Against a background of more extreme weather events, changing land use and environmental stress, innovation and technology are going to play a central role in addressing this need. Given its deep agricultural domain knowledge and developed agritech sector, New Zealand is well placed to support the world’s primary sector meet this target.”
The Agreement establishes a business relationship focused on providing New Zealand agritech companies with improved access to connected capital, the ability to conduct offshore farm trials to validate their technology and the opportunity to collaborate with other partners in the Farm2050 collective. It is designed to rapidly scale the impact of New Zealand’s agritech sector in the global market.
“Through Farm2050, we have helped evaluate and assist hundreds of AgTech startups around the world gain access to capital, talent, customers, and industry partners”, said Arama Kukutai, Managing Director of Finistere Ventures & Farm2050 Partner. “As we continue forging ahead, we have put together a world-class list of industry partners to help us to identify and to solve the key challenges facing agriculture. Being a partner offers: access to early stage and promising technologies, the opportunity to help define the standard of the future connected farm, new M&A and business development pipelines, PR and marketing opportunities, farm trials, capital/deal syndication and raising for startups, talent access/secondments, and the opportunity to collaborate with other partners in the collective.”
The Farm2050 ‘Country Partner’ Agreement was signed in San Jose, California during the 2018 Silicon Valley AgTech Immersion Program and Conference. The Agreement was signed by Arama Kukutai of Finistere Ventures and Dror Berman, Founding Partner of Innovation Endeavors, on behalf of Farm2050. Peter Wren-Hilton, Executive Director of Agritech New Zealand signed the Agreement on behalf of New Zealand in the presence of The Honorable Tim Groser, New Zealand’s Ambassador to the United States.
About Farm2050:
Farm2050 was founded to solve the global food challenge. By the year 2050, the global population will reach 10 billion people, requiring a 70% increase in food production. Doing so will require global partnership. Led by Innovation Endeavors and Finistere Ventures, Farm2050 brings together researchers, farmers, manufacturers, distributors, policy makers and investors to support startups leveraging cutting-edge technology to generate abundant, affordable, nutritious food. For more information, visit www.farm2050.com.
About Agritech New Zealand:
Launched in 2018, Agritech New Zealand is a purpose driven, membership funded organization whose members share a passion for the opportunities that agritech can generate. Agritech New Zealand connects innovators, investors, regulators, researchers and interested public. It promotes opportunities and challenges raised by agritech. Agritech New Zealand advances the ecosystem through advocacy, collaboration, innovation, talent and economic growth through international connections and missions. For more information, visit www.agritechnz.org.nz.