Supply & distribution
Moving food from where it grows to where it is needed.
Focus — Natural Resources & Regenerative Systems — Food
FOOD
IDEAS WE SUPPORT.
World Seed Fund supports people whose ideas improve food systems for the households and producers who grow, sell, and eat the food.
Why this area
FOOD
IN CONTEXT.
Food reaches people through a chain of harvest, storage, transport, processing, market, and household. Ideas qualify when they improve a real link in that chain for people who can name what they eat and what it costs.
Scope of the area
WHAT THIS AREA
INCLUDES.
Illustrations of scope, not a fixed list. If your idea belongs here but is not described below, introduce it anyway.
Preservation
Cold chain, drying, and storage suited to local energy and climate.
Nutrition
Diet quality, fortification, and food people will actually eat.
Local processing
Value added near the farm rather than far from it.
Criteria to qualify
WHAT A FOOD
IDEA MUST SHOW.
All five criteria apply. An idea does not need to be complete or proven — it needs to be specific enough that we can judge it, and grounded enough that a next step is possible.
A defined problem, in a defined place
We need to understand exactly who is affected, where, and how they cope today. General statements about a global challenge are not enough to qualify.
- Names the place, community, or system where food systems fall short.
- States the situation today in plain terms — spoilage, cost per meal, dietary diversity, or reach.
- Explains what the households and producers who grow, sell, and eat the food do now, and what it costs them.
Human insight behind the idea
The idea should come from knowledge of the situation — technical, scientific, operational, cultural, or lived — rather than from an assumption about it.
- Draws on direct knowledge of food systems in that place.
- Accounts for why earlier distribution and nutrition programmes did not hold here.
- Was shaped with the households and producers who grow, sell, and eat the food, not only for them.
A credible next step
There must be a specific thing that can be attempted next, at a scale that can be observed honestly, with a stated way of judging whether it worked.
- A defined pilot with a stated size — households, meals, or tonnes handled.
- A stated measure of success — spoilage, cost per meal, dietary diversity, or reach.
- A timeframe within which the result can be judged honestly.
Value for people and place
The benefit should be meaningful to the community or system the idea serves, and describable in terms they would recognise.
- Improves nutrition, cost of eating, and producer income for the households and producers who grow, sell, and eat the food.
- The benefit is described in words the community itself would use.
- Does not shift cost, risk, or harm onto neighbouring people or systems.
A path to keep working
Ideas qualify when someone can plausibly own, operate, fund, and repair the result after the first phase of support ends.
- A named producer group, enterprise, or public programme able to carry the work after the first phase.
- Running costs, materials, and skills obtainable near the work.
- Ownership, permission, or agreement that lets the work continue.
Evidence & boundaries
WHAT HELPS,
AND WHAT DOES NOT.
Evidence can be modest. A careful account of a small trial is worth more than a projection.
Evidence we look for
- Any observation, record, or measurement of food systems in that place.
- Costs, materials, or time recorded from a small trial, however modest.
- Notes, letters, or agreements from the households and producers who grow, sell, and eat the food or the producer group, enterprise, or public programme.
Usually outside this area
- Broad proposals about food with no named place and no named people.
- Equipment or funding requests with no operator and no running cost.
- Work that transfers cost, risk, or harm to neighbouring people or systems.
Submit an idea
INTRODUCE YOUR
FOOD IDEA.
There is no application window and no required format. Answer these four questions in your own words and we will read them.
Who is affected, where, and how do they manage today?
What do you know about food systems that others working on it may not?
What could you attempt next, and how would you judge whether it worked?
Who continues the work afterwards, and what keeps it running?
Human potential is everywhere. Opportunity should be too.