Mini-Conference: The Future of Agriculture – What Is Asia Doing to Avoid a Potential Food Crisis?

Overcoming Inefficient Practices, Applying New Technologies, and Meeting New Challenges

Is Asia equipped to feed its growing population? By 2050, we expect up to 10 billion people to live on our planet (with more than half in Asia). This will require a 70 percent increase in today’s food production. At the same time, the agricultural sector is affected by climate change effects, limited availability of arable land and fresh water. How can the gap be closed? On June 18, 2020, we hosted our first online Mini-Conference on the topic featuring a keynote presentation by AgFoodTech’s Dr. Jaleh Daie, and two parallel breakout sessions with Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Sridhar Dharmapuri, and Beanstalk Agtech’s Rob Hulme.

Dr. Jaleh Daie is Chairman and Founder of AgFoodTech, Partner at Aurora Equity, and Asia Society Northern California’s Board Director. Previously, she was head of STEM at David & Lucile Packard Foundation and managed a broad portfolio ($120M/yr). Women in Tech Hall of Famer, Jaleh is a multifaceted global thought leader and speaker with exceptional depth and breadth of experience in private and public sectors. She is an investor, strategic advisor and board director, has served administrations of three Presidents, worked in eight countries, given numerous global keynotes, and has been featured in major media.

Jaleh started her career at Rutgers University and University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was professor (achieved rank of full professor in six years); senior science adviser; Department Chair; Chief Executive of a multidisciplinary unit; founder of a university-wide graduate program; and author of over 100 scholarly papers. Simultaneous to a well-funded research program, she managed three independent operations.

Her honors include: LSQ Ambassador, Congressional Citation, Honorary Naval Aviator, Teksia Lifetime Achievement; honorary doctorate; Fellow (AAAS & AWIS); “25 Smartest”, Scientist’s Leaders of Science.

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Sridhar Dharmapuri is Group Leader of the Agriculture and Food systems team at the FAO Regional Office for the Asia-Pacific in Bangkok. As the Senior Food Safety and Nutrition Officer for the region, he is leading FAO’s work on strengthening core elements of national food safety systems, nutrition sensitive agriculture and urban and rural food systems for safe and healthy diets.

He has a doctorate in Life Sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India and an MBA from Kansas University, USA.

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Rob Hulme, Director Asia at Beanstalk Agtech, is a global agribusiness executive who still likes to get his hands dirty. His family still operate a 5th generation cropping and sheep operation in Australia, and this drives Rob’s passion for our food system. He has qualifications in Ag Science and Business, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Rob has over 28 years’ global experience in research, operations, strategy and M&A. His most recent roles with Bayer in Asia included Country Head Vietnam and Greater China, and Head of APAC Business Development and ASEAN Innovation for the Bayer group.

As Asia Director with Beanstalk based in Singapore, Rob works actively with innovators, agribusiness corporates, investors and government agencies across Asia Pacific. He is involved with several AgriFoodTech Accelerators, and NGO Advisory Board and Mentor Roles with Startups in Australia, Singapore and China and is a sought-after speaker.

Current projects include vertical farming systems, plant based proteins, marine plastics and waste to energy systems.

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