Implementing Public-Private Partnerships in Agriculture

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are vital for progress in agriculture and the pursuit of sustainable food security. They engage complementary strengths to achieve more than any partner could do alone.

Many organizations advocate the creation of PPPs. However, their potential in addressing agricultural supply challenges and food security remains largely untapped.

The Ottawa conference entitled 'Implementing public-private partnerships in agriculture' aims to improve this situation. It involves business leaders, government representatives, academic, and other experts. Together, we want to advance a new agenda for promoting and implementing PPPs in agricultural development and the food value chain.

The conference will bring together invited representatives from private industry, public institutions, and civil society to discuss the challenges and opportunities that arise from these partnerships.

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Provisional Program

Monday 26 March 2012

08:30am - Welcome & Opening Remarks: David Malone, President of IDRC

A New Era of PPPs in Agriculture and the Pursuit of Food Security for All: Martin Taylor, Chairman of Syngenta

Conference Roadmap & Outcomes: Sara Boettiger, CEO of GATD

Panel: PPPs to Meet the Rising Global Demand for Food
Global trends (including population and income growth, urbanization, natural resource degradation, climate change, and the need and scope to modernize agriculture and food supply chains) are creating challenges, but also opportunities. The latter may remain elusive unless addressed through partnerships that balance private and social incentives and goals. This panel clarifies the relevance of PPPs in agriculture and the 'field-to-plate' supply and value chain.
Moderator: Pamela Anderson (CIP, CGIAR)
Panelists: Ken Quinn (World Food Prize Foundation), S. Sivakumar (ITC Limited - Agribusiness), Dan Cosgrove (DuPont)

Panel: Catalyzing PPPs in Agriculture and the Food Supply Chain
Successful partnerships balance and align the incentives, expectations, obligations, and rewards. PPPs may emerge as a result of incentives and resources 'internal to the partners' (e.g., the desire to access technology or new markets, CSR, social, or environmental aspirations) or 'external' (e.g., tax incentives, subsidies, external financing). This panel considers the broad landscape of motivation, incentives and financing, and asks how we can improve incentives to form more PPPs in agriculture.
Moderator: Augustine Langyintuo (AGRA)
Panelists: Amit Roy (IFDC), Keith Palmer (AgDevCo), Baskar Reddy (FICCI), Howard Shapiro (Mars)

Panel: Partnering to Achieve a New Vision for Agriculture
PPPs are a central aspect of implementation of the World Economic Forum’s 'New Vision for Agriculture'. This panel highlights the scope of the multi-stakeholder New Vision initiative. It assesses the implications for, and implementation aspects of, partnerships in agriculture involving farmers' organizations, the business sector, government and civil society.
Moderator: Lisa Dreier (World Economic Forum)
Panelists: Martin Taylor (Syngenta), Simon Winter (Technoserve)

Panel: Responsible Sourcing PPPs
Standard-compliant, traceable, and responsible sourcing of farm, horticultural, livestock, and fisheries products from small farmers is a ‘growth industry’ driven by consumer preferences and concerns. For-profit/non-profit partnerships often play a role in ‘getting things going’. This panel examines opportunities and constraints for engaging smallholder farmers in sourcing practices, including contract farming.
Moderator: Jason Potts (Int’l Institute for Sustainable Development)
Panelists: Beth Sauerhaft (Pepsico), Kip Walk (Blommer), Richard Rogers (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

Panel: Agricultural Pull Mechanism
The Agricultural Pull Mechanism is an initiative spearheaded by Canada and other donors to pay for innovation and breakthroughs on delivery, for example through advanced market commitments. Partnerships play a key role. This panel is designed to bring out the practical aspects, including plans for implementation.
Moderator: Nick Leswick (Finance Canada),
Panelists: Susan McAdams, Grahame Dixie (both World Bank), Jaykumar Menon (X-Prize Foundation), Orin Hasson (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, invited)

SFSA-IDRC Platform
A discussion of plans within SFSA and IDRC to launch a platform of resources for PPPs in agriculture, and move forward an innovative research agenda.
Speakers: Jean Lebel (IDRC), Marco Ferroni (Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture)
Tuesday 27 March 2012

08:30am - Panel: What Can We Learn from PPPs in Global Health?
PPPs have a long history in the health sector providing products to the poor. There are key differences, but also many parallels to PPPs in agriculture. Discussion will focus on lessons learned in the health sector and how they may benefit agricultural PPPs moving forward - as well as vice versa.
Moderator: Marco Ferroni (Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture)
Panelists: Marc van Ameringen (GAIN), Hans Rietveld (Novartis), Kate Harris (GAVI), Michael Free (PATH)

Panel: Experience in Brokering & Managing Good PPPs
This panel offers a discussion of critical issues in management of PPPs (e.g., confidentiality, IPRs, cultural differences). Moderator: Bob Ziegler (IRRI, CGIAR)
Panelists: Morgan Nzwere (SeedCo Limited), Joshua Hofheimer (Sidley Austin LLP), DN Kulkarni (Jain Irrigation)

Parallel Panel 1A: Smallholder Farmer Credit & Insurance
Financial services, credit, and agricultural insurance are critical enablers of productivity enhancement and risk management. This panel illustrates the potential role of PPPs to serve the needs of smallholder farmers accessing credit and insurance.
Moderator: Panayotis Varangis (International Finance Corporation)
Panelists: Gerard van Empel (Rabobank), James Wambugu (UAP Insurance Kenya), Jayanta K. Sinha (State Bank of India)
& others

Parallel Panel 1B: Accessing Markets - Food Safety Standards & Exports
Standards and traceability are important determinants of farmers' intergration into global supply chains. This panel highlights how PPPs can help link smallholders to increasingly sophisticated markets.
Moderator: Charlotte Hebebrand (International Food and Agricultural Policy Council)
Panelists: Kristian Möller (Global Gap), Steve Homer (SMHProjects), Hasit Shah (Fresh Produce Exporters' Association of Kenya), Philip Kiriro (East African Farmers' Federation), Spencer Henson (University of Guelph).

Parallel Panel 2A: ICTs & Mobile Applications - Enabling PPPs in Agriculture
Mobile platforms provide promising services for smallholders', including agronomic and market information, access to finance. This panel discusses the role of PPPs in serving smallholders with ICT innovations.
Moderator: Jesse Moore (Signal Point Partners)
Panelists: Mark Davies (ESOKO), Amit Mehra (Reuters Market Light, invited), Kerry McNamara (OCP Group).

Parallel Panel 2B: IPR Management & Biosafety Challenges
Strategic management of IPR is critical to many PPPs' ability to benefit smallholders. Biosafety issues affect organizations' ability to partner, and are a major concern in the structuring of the partnership.This discussion identifies critical issues and explores potential solutions.
Moderator: Alan Bennett (PIPRA)
Panelists: Rolf Joerdens (WIPO), Quentin Palfrey (White House Office of Science & Technology), Natalie DiNicola (Monsanto)

Discussion: The Way Forward