Author: Suchetana Choudhuri

In an exclusive conversation with AgroSpectrum, Dimitra Founder & CEO Jon Trask explains why tokenized real-world assets, blockchain-backed MRV and carbon markets could reshape global agricultural finance Jon Trask discusses how tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) are transitioning from speculative blockchain experiments into institutional-grade financial infrastructure for agriculture. Drawing from Dimitra’s work across emerging markets and its collaboration with MANTRA, Trask highlights how verified farm data, MRV frameworks, and blockchain technology can convert agricultural production, carbon credits, and supply-chain outputs into investable digital assets. He explains that tokenization can address agriculture’s historic paradox of being asset-rich but liquidity-poor, enabling farmers and…

Dr. William Chen discusses NAMs, AI, and the future of risk assessment for cell-based foods With cultivated meat emerging as one of the most promising innovations in alternative proteins, regulators and scientists worldwide are working to establish robust safety frameworks for these novel foods. Unlike conventional meat, cultivated meat is produced through cell culture and advanced bioprocessing technologies, raising new questions around safety assessment, regulatory oversight, and long-term consumer exposure. In an exclusive interview with AgroSpectrum, Dr. William Chen, Michael Fam Endowed Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, explains that existing regulatory systems largely focus on hazard identification within production…

Tensions around the Strait of Hormuz are rattling oil markets, disrupting shipping networks and exposing fragile fertilizer supply chains that underpin global food production The narrow waters of the Strait of Hormuz have long been one of the world’s most strategically sensitive maritime corridors. Now, as tensions flare across the Middle East following unprecedented joint military strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran, the waterway has once again emerged as the epicenter of a rapidly escalating global economic shock. Oil prices are climbing. Shipping companies are scrambling to reroute vessels. Freight costs and insurance premiums are surging. And…

In an exclusive AgroSpectrum interview, Abed Masarwa, VP Products at Netafim, Israel, says the new platform marks a shift from programmable dosing to self-learning nutrient management. Abed Masarwa, describes Dosing 5G as both a major technology leap and a strategic pivot toward AI-driven autonomous fertigation, moving beyond predefined recipes to real-time adaptive nutrient management. Launched by Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V.’s Precision Agriculture business, the new range—FertiKit 5G, FertiOne 5G, NetaJet 5G and NetaFlex 5G—combines advanced EC/pH sensing, auto-adaptive injection, and integration with the GrowSphere digital operating system to create a closed-loop, self-learning system. Building on six decades of…

2025 World Food Prize – Top Agri-Food pioneer calls for nature-based, AI-enabled transformation of drylands Dr Mo Segad, a Swedish and American soil scientist and inventor, was officially recognised by the World Food Prize Foundation as one of the 39 recipients in the 2025 Top Agri-Food Pioneers (TAP) cohort. He is a distinguished professor, UNCCD-accredited expert, and globally recognised inventor whose work is redefining climate-smart and resilient desert agriculture. As founder of 3N BioTech, Pure Green AI, and a UN-accredited forestry organisation, and as a distinguished council member of the World Agriculture Forum, Dr Segad integrates AI, soil science, and…

Why Cato believes reforms from the Republican Study Committee stop short of true fiscal reform The Republican Study Committee has advanced a slate of SNAP reforms—tightening eligibility, eliminating broad-based categorical eligibility, barring noncitizens, strengthening quality controls, and expanding interstate data matching—to curb waste and rein in federal spending. While these measures promise meaningful savings, they largely refine compliance mechanisms without confronting the program’s deeper structural imbalance: states administer benefits that federal taxpayers overwhelmingly finance. This misalignment of authority and fiscal responsibility, critics argue, perpetuates weak incentives to aggressively prevent fraud and control long-term cost growth. A more durable solution would…

Why India must move from ad-hoc compensation to a technology-enabled, trust-driven livestock protection framework that stabilises incomes and safeguards productive assets As livestock becomes an increasingly critical pillar of rural incomes amid climate and market uncertainties, the lack of effective risk protection remains a major gap in India’s agricultural policy landscape. In this exclusive AgroSpectrum interview, Ritesh Chauhan, Secretary of Animal Husbandry, Government of Himachal Pradesh, explains why advances in digital identification, veterinary networks, cooperatives, and fintech now make a scalable livestock insurance framework both viable and essential. Drawing from Himachal Pradesh’s on-ground experience, he shares practical insights on building…

Esther Garrido of FAO urges processors, retailers and foodservice operators to integrate authenticity testing and supplier verification into core business risk management In an exclusive interview with AgroSpectrum, Esther Garrido, Fisheries Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, explains why establishing a reliable global baseline for fish fraud remains elusive due to fragmented data, inconsistent methodologies and systemic underreporting. She highlights that strong economic incentives, coupled with weak enforcement, continue to drive species substitution, mislabelling and other deceptive practices that threaten consumer trust, public health and marine sustainability. Esther underscores that fraud detection must be integrated…

Rising regulation, climate stress and labour risk are forcing the global chocolate industry to confront structural weaknesses embedded deep in West Africa’s smallholder supply chains Roughly 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa is produced in Africa, primarily in West Africa, anchoring a global chocolate industry that depends heavily on a single, climate-exposed region. Yet cocoa supply chains face persistent and deeply rooted risks, including child and forced labour, chronic farmer poverty, land degradation, deforestation and escalating climate stress. Production is dominated by smallholder farmers, most cultivating less than five hectares, operating within fragmented systems where informal intermediaries limit visibility…

Mauro Heringer tells Agrospectrum how regulatory coordination, tropical biotech and sovereign innovation are positioning Brazil at the center of regenerative agriculture In an exclusive interview with Agrospectrum, Mauro Heringer, Director of International Relations at ABINBIO and Member of the National Bioinputs Export Committee (ApexBrasil), outlined how Brazil’s dominance in tropical bioinputs is reshaping global agricultural markets. He emphasized that Brazil’s competitive edge lies in its “Proof of Tropical Resilience,” with biological solutions tested across six biomes under extreme climatic and pest pressures—conditions that validate their robustness for global deployment. Heringer highlighted regulatory harmonization, living logistics, and institutional coordination under Law…