What the agrifood ecosystem says about global collaboration
Innovation rarely stops at the farm gate, and it doesn’t stop at national borders either. Climate pressures, workforce constraints, regulatory settings and access to capital are shaped by global systems that directly influence local outcomes.
At evokeAG. 2026, audience polling during The world at your table session provided a realtime snapshot of how delegates see the challenge of moving innovation between markets and what needs to change for collaboration to deliver real impact.
What emerged was a clear picture: the challenges are widely shared, the barriers are well understood, and the path forward depends on reducing friction across systems.
The challenges are shared and deeply connected
When asked which domestic challenges would benefit most from global solutions, the audience consistently pointed to climate change, productivity improvements, and water security as top priorities. With labour and skills shortages, supply chain resilience, market access and soil health also briefly featured.
These responses highlight that agrifood challenges are rarely isolated. Climate variability affects water availability and soil performance. Labour constraints limit productivity and restrict business growth. Supply chain disruptions influence both input access and market opportunity.
The panel discussion reinforced that while the mix of pressures may differ by region, the underlying drivers are similar, and innovation designed for one market often has relevance well beyond it.
Scaling innovation: where momentum slows
Despite strong appetite for global collaboration, the polling made it clear that scaling agrifood innovation internationally remains difficult.
The cost of market entry and investment requirements was identified as the single biggest barrier, cited by 39% of respondents. Differing regulation across markets followed closely at 27%, highlighting the financial and compliance burden innovators face when expanding internationally.
Other barriers included fragmented ecosystems (16%), limited market access (9%), and cultural differences and trust (7%). Lack of shared data was acknowledged, though less frequently cited (2%).
Together, these responses indicated even proven technologies can struggle to scale when regulatory settings differ, customers behave differently, or support networks don’t translate across borders.
This gap between innovation potential and market reality is where collaboration can make the greatest difference.
What accelerates global partnerships
The audience was equally clear about what helps global collaboration succeed.
Shared funding and co-investment emerged as the most powerful accelerator, selected by 36% of respondents. This was followed by harmonised data standards, safety certification and regulatory approvals (20%), and talent exchange and mobility (18%).
Clear IP ownership and faster pathways for technology adoption were also recognised as important contributors to partnership success.
New Zealand panellist Warren Bebb, Chief Investment Officer at Sprout Agritech, reflected on the importance of co-investment being more than just a financial contribution, highlighting that “good investment brings along a whole lot more, it enables you to have a place in that market that will open doors for you and help you with all of those elements that go into growing a business.”
Co-investment especially for an international context reduces risk, signals confidence and can enable a better understand of the market’s customer.
The role of government: enabling over directing
When asked what capability makes governments effective collaborators in agrifood innovation, the response was decisive.
Flexible regulation and trialling environments was selected by 64% of the audience, which trumped sovereign investment (8%), strong producer networks (10%), or clear research commercialisation pathways (18%).
This result reflects a shift in expectations. Rather than leading innovation directly, governments are seen as most effective when they create conditions that allow innovation to be tested, adapted and adopted.
As highlighted by UK panellist Belinda Clark, Director of AgriTechE, supportive policy settings, regulatory flexibility and well-designed trial environments can determine where companies choose to scale and how fast solutions reach producers.
The audience data from The world at your table session reinforces the idea that innovation can move more freely between markets when connecting capital, capability and opportunity and by working with partners to reduce friction at every stage of scale.
For more information about this session, or to read more about the panel discussion that accompanies these insights, read the article on evokeAG. : Why global collaboration is key to scaling agrifood innovation