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Tag: Agroforestry

It’s official!

Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) has been awarded the Food Planet Prize 2026—the world’s largest environmental award—for its role in leading one of the most ambitious transitions to agroecology ever undertaken. The prize, worth $1.5m, was presented in Båstad, Sweden, on June 2. 

All other finalists—Conscious Kitchen (US), NoPalm Ingredients (NL), and Savanna Institute (US)—received $150,000 in recognition of their work. 

Over the past ten years, 1.8 million farmers in southern India have joined what is now one of the world’s largest transitions to natural agriculture—and the numbers keep growing. Launched by the government of Andhra Pradesh, APCNF works through women’s collectives and a network of over 10,000 farmer trainers to help smallholders abandon synthetic inputs in favor of natural farming practices rooted in soil science and traditional knowledge. Year-round cover cropping and pre-monsoon dry sowing are among the methods being adopted across more than 8,000 villages. 

Winning the Prize will let APCNF go even further: 

  • More demonstration sites for visitors from India and beyond—to show the world what community-managed natural farming actually looks like; 
  • Country-by-country toolkits for large-scale, locally adapted implementation; 
  • New research partnerships to keep building the evidence base; 
  • A natural farming leadership course; 
  • More support for “farmer scientists”—smallholders trained at an academy to design and document their own field experiments, treating the farmers as legitimate leaders and the farms as sites of agricultural research. 

In awarding the Food Planet Prize 2026 Grand Prize to Andhra Pradesh Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCNF), Professor Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, co-chair of the Food Planet Prize jury commented:

“APCNF demonstrates how nature-positive farming can be implemented across entire communities and regions, providing a scalable pathway for millions of farmers while simultaneously improving livelihoods, resilience, and environmental outcomes.

While transforming the way food is produced, APCNF has realized measurable reductions in dependence on synthetic agricultural inputs and enhanced resilience to climate shocks, droughts, and economic volatility. Essentially, APCNF shows how the future of agriculture can be built by working with nature rather than against it.”

On behalf of APCNF said Vijay Kumar Thallam, Executive Vice Chairman:

“APCNF is honored to receive the 2026 Food Planet Prize on behalf of 1.8 million farm families, 700,000 farmworker families, and the 340,000 women’s self-help groups driving this transformation. We accept this Award for farmers across India who are showing the world a climate-resilient, nature-positive pathway, and we thank the scientists. A special thanks to Honorable Chief Minister Sri Nara Chandrababu Naidu whose vision made it possible. This recognition strengthens our resolve to scale natural farming to all 6 million farmers of Andhra Pradesh.

Tag: Agroforestry

We’ve been waiting to share this—and the moment is finally here.

After reviewing more than 1000 nominations from around the world, we’re proud to announce the four finalists for the 2026 Food Planet Prize!

Rigorously vetted, already delivering results, and ready to scale, each finalist is a worthy winner of the Prize and a source of much inspiration!  You can learn more about these excellent initiatives by reading or listening to the feature articles linked below.

Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF), India  

In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, a quiet agricultural revolution is unfolding, led by farmers, women’s collectives, and a belief that the soil already knows what to do.  

APCNF is one of the world’s largest transitions to agroecology — 1.8 million farmer families across more than 8,000 villages in India are ditching synthetic chemicals for natural farming. The result: healthier soils, lower emissions, and a blueprint now spreading to 22 other Indian states and three countries.

Conscious Kitchen, United States   

Across Northern California, an ambitious program is replacing processed school meals with organic ingredients grown on nearby farms.  

The U.S. school food system serves 30 million meals a day — most of them ultra-processed. Conscious Kitchen is changing that, connecting local organic farms to public schools so nearly a million students eat scratch-cooked, organic food — while giving small and mid-sized farms a reliable, large-scale customer and a real pathway to financial stability.

NoPalm Ingredients, Netherlands  

A Dutch start-up is producing palm-like oils through fermentation, offering manufacturers a way to reduce their reliance on deforestation-linked crops.  

Palm oil is in nearly 50% of packaged supermarket products — and its production drives tropical deforestation, biodiversity loss, and carbon emissions. NoPalm Ingredients converts food waste — potato peels and dairy by-products — into fermentation-based fats that work as a drop-in replacement, no recipe reformulation needed.

The Savanna Institute, United States  

By helping farmers integrate nuts, fruit, and timber into crop fields, a Midwest nonprofit is building a more resilient agricultural system. 

The American Midwest is one of the most productive — and most environmentally impoverished — agricultural regions on Earth. The Savanna Institute is changing that: it has helped 400+ farmers establish agroforestry across 2,100 hectares in just three years. Integrating trees into cropland sequesters carbon, buffers extreme weather, and restores biodiversity – while keeping farms productive. 

The finalists will come to Sweden to present to the Food Planet Prize international jury, which will vote on the winner on June 2. This year, the winner will be awarded 1.5M USD, and each of the remaining finalists will receive 150,000 USD.  

Stay tuned! 

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