Himanshu Gupta at Davos 2022: solving food insecurity
World Economic Forum (Davos 2022) · 2022
In the Hub Culture studio at Davos 2022, Himanshu Gupta explains why food insecurity sits on the shoulders of a billion smallholder farmers, how climate change squeezes them, and what ClimateAi does to get resilient seeds to market cheaper and faster.
What he said
Who actually carries the world's food security?
Smallholders. Gupta points to roughly a billion farmers on under an acre each — small in isolation, but essential to local food supply chains.
“there are close to a billion farmers who own less than one acre but are very important for the local food supply chains”Watch at 0:57
What is climate change doing to those farmers?
Undercutting them. Gupta's blunt framing is that a changing climate is turning farming into a losing proposition.
“climate change is making farming unprofitable”Watch at 1:17
What is ClimateAi's mission?
To climate-proof the food system. Gupta states the mission as protecting global food and agriculture supply chains with zero loss of lives, livelihoods, and nature.
“climate ai is to climate proof global food and agriculture supply chains while ensuring zero loss of lives livelihoods and nature”Watch at 1:41
What does that look like in practice?
Faster, cheaper resilient seeds. Gupta's work with seed companies is aimed at getting climate-resilient varieties to market at lower cost and higher speed.
“help them launch climate resilient seeds to market cheaper and faster”Watch at 1:54
Why is that so urgent?
Because the pipeline is glacial. Gupta notes it takes 10 to 15 years to launch a new variety — far too slow for a fast-moving climate.
“it takes 10 to 15 years to launch”Watch at 2:07
Key takeaways
- About a billion smallholder farmers underpin local food supply chains.
- Climate change is making farming unprofitable.
- ClimateAi's mission: climate-proof food systems with zero loss of lives, livelihoods, and nature.
- The goal is resilient seeds to market cheaper and faster.
- Launching a new variety takes 10–15 years — too slow for the climate.