Bridging the Gap: Why Public-Private Partnerships Are Essential for Conservation Agriculture
In 1943, the Rockefeller Foundation launched the Mexican Agricultural Program, which focused on developing High-Yield Varieties of wheat, corn, potatoes, and beans. Over the next twenty years, High-Yield Varieties (HYV) and new agriculture technologies like fertilizers and infrastructure dramatically increased global food supply. This period eventually became known as the Green Revolution, a time of significant agriculture innovation and technology transfer.
Public-private partnerships played a crucial role in ensuring widespread implementation of new innovations that would forever change global agriculture. The success of new agriculture technology, like the breeding and development of High-Yield Variety crops like wheat and rice, stemmed from public sector support, philanthropic endeavors, and private market development. The establishment of institutions such as the International Rice Research Institute and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center were funded by private organizations including Rockefeller and Ford. Public entities laid the framework for policies and subsidies to incentivize producers to adopt new tools while the private sector was equally essential to manufacture and deliver technology at scale.
The Green Revolution has been credited with boosting crop yields and food security for a growing global population. However, this period also created new challenges including environmental degradation, questions around the increasing use of chemical inputs, and disparities between producers who could and could not afford to adopt new technologies. Today, conservation agriculture is hailed as one way to meet these challenges while simultaneously sustaining food supply, producer livelihoods, and the health of rural communities.
Data from the World Economic Forum shows that conservation and regenerative agriculture are successful in these endeavors, yet producers transitioning from conventional to conservation agriculture face high upfront costs, heightened risk, and inconsistent market demand for products. Public-private partnerships are vital to solve complex problems across the supply chain, relying on all collaborators to develop widespread systems that include private markets, and that provide stability and durability for producers.
DEFINING PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
Public-private partnerships are defined as formal agreements between the private and public sector, which includes participants from private industries, governments, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These public-private partnerships are based on collaboration between diverse actors that have shared goals and objectives.
In recent years, private sector investments in agriculture development and food systems have exceeded public investment. Despite increasing global investments into agricultural research and development (R&D), public R&D investments into agriculture have slowed in high-income countries. As publicly funded R&D has slowed, and farmers face increased economic challenges and complexities around sustaining yield with changing climate conditions, public-private partnerships are important to unite parties and motivate investment into agriculture, food security, and rural development. By pooling resources across public and private institutions, producers benefit from financial support, innovation, and engagement across supply chains.
AGRICULTURE INNOVATION
While public-private partnerships are not a one size fits all solution, they offer significant opportunities for producers. By convening producers, the supply chain, and public institutions, farmers and ranchers are directly engaged in creating resilient agricultural and economic systems that respond to fluctuating market demands. These benefits arise from the sharing of assets and capacity building between complementary groups.
The following are direct benefits of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for farmers and ranchers:
Food Security and Sustainability: Innovations driven by PPPs improve food security and sustainability by disseminating new technologies that increase production while minimizing environmental degradation. Research has demonstrated that PPPs are successful in decoupling yield increases from intensified land cultivation and the PPPs reduce market constraints while increasing productivity.
Mobilization of Capital: Traditional funding falls short in meeting demands to support transitions to conservation agriculture. Public-private partnerships mobilize funding from diverse sources and private investment can enhance the scale and scope of agriculture innovation. Blending finance and capital from government assistance, donor grants, and Corporate Social Responsibility funds from private networks reduce funding gaps needed to transition and maintain conservation ag practices. Private groups can also provide in-kind support and build market access for producers.
De-Risk Regenerative Transitions through Risk Sharing: Public-private partnerships allow for sharing of risks and costs which results in reduced risk for individual producers and reduced transaction costs.
Research and Development: The convening of stakeholders and experts generates access to shared knowledge and enhanced productivity. Partnerships between private and public sectors allow for innovative solutions presented by private industries to be combined with public policy initiatives, facilitating faster integration of solutions with traditional systems.
Efficiency: Risk sharing and collaboration increases efficiency in the use of public funds and development. Additionally, PPPs accelerate the regulatory approval process as simultaneous collaboration between public institutions, the private sector, and stakeholders allows for coordination between financial and governance needs throughout research and development.
Market Structures: Public-private partnerships allow for flexible and rapid responses to changing market demands as there exists well-established links between stakeholders, business, and institutions. A study by Graff et al found that the vast majority of agri-food technologies never reach market, in part, due to inventions that are not developed with market applications for practical use. PPPs reduce the potential for mismatching efforts that do not realistically serve producers and communities.
Digital Infrastructure: Public-private partnerships are increasingly involved with blockchain technology that creates transparency, efficiency, and trust in the food supply chain. Decentralized digital identities and the tokenization of real-world assets bring data sovereignty to the producer and market benefits. This system supports farmers and ranchers in driving prices. Other forms of digital infrastructure, like mobile wallets, digital credit scoring, and sensors can help farmers access loans, subsidies, and risk management tools.
NGOs AT THE HEART OF GRASSROOTS ENGAGEMENT
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), like RIPE, share an equally vital role as public institutions and private organizations in the PPP process. NGOs are catalysts for the adoption of technology through focused, community-centered initiatives and policy development. They may provide technical support, education, and act as early adopters by mobilizing communities and producers. This on-the-ground presence, supported by grassroots connections and producer trust, allows NGOs to facilitate participation and ensure quick feedback during development. Nonprofits serve as important mediators to protect farmer and rancher interests while driving awareness of best practices and equitable adoption of new systems and technologies.
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS IN ACTION
India is using public-private partnerships to transition to digital agriculture and address sustainability and efficiency in agricultural outputs. The mobilization of digital agriculture systems is expected to release $50-65 billion by 2025 through productivity and expanded market access for producers. Key components of this include farm-level, digital advisory, farm sensors and datasets on soil health and environmental conditions, and digital financing tools to provide services for underserved producers, such as women farmers and smallholders. The official report states that by 2025, 40-60% of ag surplus may be sold through digital marketplaces, resulting in reduced waste and improved prices.
Collaborative approaches in agriculture are not unique, as historical and modern examples from the U.S. highlight the power of institutional support and cross-sector collaboration. The long-standing US Land Grant university system and initiatives like the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR) and the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation show how public-private partnerships can successfully drive agricultural transitions from the Green Revolution to regenerative agriculture. Programs such as Farmers for Soil Health continue this legacy by promoting sustainable practices and developing farmer-centered solutions to increase resiliency and address climate risks. Shared resources and data are essential for continuous adaptation and global food security.
THE PATH FORWARD
Farmers and ranchers are the backbone of our food system, managing 63% of privately held land in the U.S, or 1.2 billion acres used for agriculture. The rapid expansion of agriculture technologies and development in the 20th century stemmed from publicly backed institutions and private sector investment in agriculture. To address challenges that our producers face in transitioning to agriculture practices that create sustainable income and environmental conditions, we have an opportunity to leverage PPPs to create solutions to be scaleable, mutually beneficially, and tailored to market demands.
CITATIONS
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