Global leaders in agricultural technology gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for an intensive day of discussions focused on the future of food and farming at Newsweek’s AgriTech Event. Held in conjunction with the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, the event brought together experts from major organizations, including SAP, PepsiCo, and HCLSoftware, alongside fast-growing agritech scale-up companies. The program was framed by the urgent challenges facing agriculture as climate change intensifies, global demand increases, and resource pressures continue to mount.
Amit Shah, executive vice president of Newsweek International, set the tone for the day’s conversations in his opening remarks at Hotel Parsenn. “In today’s event, we’re proud to bring together established industry leaders and fast-growing scale-ups who are shaping the future of agriculture and food. As we know, the challenges before us are significant. Climate pressure, food security, resource constraints, and rising global demand are testing our food systems in new ways,” Shah said. He added, “what gives me great optimism is that many of the solutions are already in this room, in the form of new technologies, bold ideas, and a shared willingness to work together.”
Throughout the day, the event explored major themes centered on how innovation can underpin a more sustainable and climate-aligned agricultural system. One core thread of the discussion was how a more data-driven foundation could reshape farming practices, looking at how digital tools and advanced analytics can help farmers make more informed decisions in pursuit of long-term sustainability.
Another area of focus was how agriculture could achieve higher yields while reducing its environmental footprint, examining approaches designed to help produce more food using fewer resources. The conversation then shifted toward how innovation can be properly financed in a world where capital is often difficult to secure for emerging agritech ventures. The event also addressed the agricultural challenges that lie ahead, particularly those tied to climate volatility, emerging crop threats, and fast-changing environmental conditions.
The discussions were moderated by Gabriel Snyder, editorial director at Newsweek; Matthew Tostevin, senior editor at Newsweek; and Daniela Di Gianantonio, head of digital agriculture at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). A wide range of speakers contributed insights from across the agritech ecosystem, including Jim Andrew, executive vice president of PepsiCo; Philipp Herzig, chief technology officer of SAP; Feroz Sheikh, chief information and digital officer of Syngenta Group; Ido Margalit, co-founder & CEO of BetterSeeds; Jay McEntire, CEO & co-founder of Arva Intelligence; Ilias Sousis, CEO & co-founder of Wikifarmer; Hunter Swisher, president & CEO of Phospholutions; Pasi Vainikka, co-founder & vice chair of Solar Foods; Ross Hendron, CEO & co-founder of Wild Bioscience; Kalyan Kumar, chief product officer of HCLSoftware; Cem Ertal, co-founder of Topraq; Tim Weaver, chief strategy officer of Holganix; and Karmesh Vaswani, EVP & business head of Infosys Consumer, Retail & Logistics.
In addition to these core contributors, the event drew representatives from major global organizations working at the intersection of technology, development, and food systems. Attendees included members of the United Nations Global Compact, the United Nations World Food Programme, Google, Ericsson, the Gates Foundation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nestlé, and several others, reflecting the broad international interest in strengthening agricultural resilience.