2024 Winners Announcement
Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards
Awarded annually since 2018, the Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards recognize unique approaches and achievements of individuals and organizations around the globe. The two prizes of $100,000 are awarded in these categories: research innovation and community engagement innovation.
Our 2024 winners have been announced. Keep scrolling to learn more about the winners and read our official announcement.
Two prizes of $100,000 CAD each, are awarded annually.
Arrell Food Institute recognizes global leaders who are ensuring future food security for the planet, and hopes to inspire new leaders to take bold steps towards change. Scientific excellence and community engagement are necessary to overcome the challenges our world will face in feeding 9 billion people and beyond.
This first award recognizes a researcher, or group of researchers, who has advanced understanding of food production, processing, distribution, consumption, safety and/or human nutrition, with a significant positive impact on society. It includes, but are not limited to, food science, crop or livestock genetics, agro-ecology, pest management, supply chain management, soil health, human nutrition, food processing, food packaging, or food safety.
This second award recognizes an individual, or group of individuals, who has contributed to improved nutritional health and/or food security, with a focus on strengthening disadvantaged communities. It Includes, but are not limited to, household nutrition, urban poverty, Aboriginal food security, traditional food systems, socioeconomic policy, poverty elimination, or community development.
AWARDS
2024 Arrell Global Food Innovation Award Winners
UpTrade
Community Award
UpTrade solves for affordability and access to key farming technology and inputs for smallholder farmers in developing economies by enabling them to pay for these assets using their livestock and produce instead of fiat currency.
Using their livestock as money, it makes otherwise unaffordable assets like solar water pumps and solar microgrids, fertilizers and seeds more affordable and more accessible, increasing the farmers’ productivity and livelihood, building financial resilience and reducing the need for migration away from their natural lands. Having better access to tools and the subsequent increased productivity strengthens the smallholder’s farmers’ roles in the food value chain.
Professor Brajesh Kumar Singh
Research Innovation
Singh is a world-leading soil ecologist. His work has brought about fundamental shifts in functional microbial ecology by providing direct evidence that loss of soil biodiversity leads to proportional loss of ecosystem functions from local to global scales.
He has more than 300 journal publications spanning diverse fields including soil biology and health, ecosystem functions, and sustainable food production. Singh is best known for his global studies that demonstrated the central role of soil health and biodiversity in ecosystem functions including crop production and climate regulation
Awards Adjudicators
The Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards are adjudicated by a group of internationally recognized scientists and community activists.