Soil Health is key to agricultural development, ecosystem functions and food security. 95% of the world's food supply comes from soils - but 33% of our soils are degraded. This happens due to a number of reasons, including unsustainable industrial farming practices, excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers, and application of harmful agrochemicals and plastics. A shift towards safer, low-input agricultural solutions will improve soil productivity and protect human health and ecosystems. 

On World Soil Day, the GEF-funded Farm Programme experts have shared their reflections on the recent trends in the biocontrol industry:

🌱 Biocontrol research & development diversity and expanding solutions underscore the sector’s strength.
🌱 Corporate venture capital underpins biocontrol’s growth, but institutional investment must expand.
🌱 Data science, digital finance platforms and operational AI technologies are essential infrastructure. 
🌱 Scientific value must align with financial metrics to strengthen investor confidence in biocontrol. 
🌱 Global initiatives like FARM play a key role in supporting dialogue between innovators and finance. 

Read more in the blog post by @Benjamin Warr and @Alison Watson: 

https://www.greenpolicyplatform.org/blog/innovation-adoption-financing-growth-biocontrol-industry

Could rapidly declining insect populations put food security at risk? 

Organic vs. conventional rice farming: how different are the gender roles? Indonesian researchers are digging into the answer. Watch the video below to learn more. Alison Watson 

"And while funding to ... [biocontrol] companies has been volatile over the past 10 years, skewed by large deals rather than following a clear trend, continued investment in early stage biocontrol deals is a notable indication of the sector’s promise and recent success."

The  recent approved EU Soil Monitoring Law highlights the need to:

- Reduce nutrient losses by at least 50%, the overall use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50% and the use of more hazardous pesticides by 50% by 2030 20 .

Soil pollution should be reduced to levels no longer considered harmful to human health and natural ecosystems and respect the boundaries our planet can cope with, thus creating a toxic-free environment.

The entire agrifood value chain should embrace this vision, and more countries establish clear targets to reduce the use of harmful agrochemicals and agricultural plastics  !

FARM participated in the Annual Biocontrol Industry Meeting (ABIM) 2025 last month in Basel, which brought together over 2,000 experts in the sector. Read more in the link below. 

Congratulations @jennifer Lewis, Executive Director of IBMA for the succesful conference!

Reach out to us if you are working in the industry and want to be part of future initiative with IBMA and ABIM.

FARM Knowledge Series presents the case study of FARM India: Farmer training models that work. Watch the series here! Driving behaviour change among farmers is key to transitioning to safer alternative solutions to pesticides, yet many struggle to envision the transition despite understanding the importance of biocontrol techniques. See how FARM India works in addressing this issue. Rahul Ponnan Tanu Sethi Shreya Pandey

Is Big Ag breaking apart, splitting services into more targetted businesses? Do these more targetted business facilitate more contextualisation of expert advisory? Does this in turn simplify advisory and raising finance for a more clearly articulted market and vision for the future? Does it "isolate" risk?

Africa, have your say !!! The African Development Bank, through its Environmental and Social Safeguards Department, is leading the development of the Africa ESG Hub—a digital platform to support ESG, sustainable finance, and responsible business practices across the continent.

From the AFDB:

To ensure the platform meets the priorities of stakeholders, we are conducting a brief survey tailored to different stakeholder groups. Participation in the survey is entirely voluntary but deeply valuable.

Whether you are striving to enhance ESG integration in investment decisions, navigate disclosure expectations, improve market access, or shape policy, your input will influence the development of a platform built for Africa’s sustainable future. Your responses will help enhance the features and impact of the Hub in improving access to sustainable finance, partnerships and global value chains for African businesses.

The survey consists of 5–6 questions and will take no more than 5 minutes to complete. All responses will be kept confidential.

We kindly ask for your support in helping us amplify the reach and impact of the survey. Specifically, we would greatly appreciate if you would participate in the survey and also share with your networks and encourage relevant stakeholders to participate.