Frugal Innovation: 3 Principles to Help Improve Food Production

The United Nations predicts that we need to increase food production globally by 70 percent to feed 9.6 billion people by 2050. But at the same time, given the climate crisis, we need to significantly reduce the use of energy, water, and land needed to produce food and lower its carbon footprint. In other words, we must figure out how to produce and distribute more food using fewer resources and emissions. We must learn to do farming better with less.

Frugal innovation is a disruptive strategy that aims to do better with less, that is to create simple but effective solutions that deliver more economic and social value while using fewer resources and polluting less. By adopting a frugal mindset, food scientists, technologists, and entrepreneurs can develop affordable and sustainable solutions to make global agrifood value chains more productive and climate friendly.