By Liz Caselli-Mechael, Technical Analyst at FTF Partnering for Innovation
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| Screenshot from Lab to Field Webinar: |
How does technology get from the lab to the field? How can researchers successfully link to commercial partners? What are the common barriers and what are the successful strategies? In the webinar The Lab to the Field: The Challenges of Commercializing Research, four speakers presented on how research organizations and businesses can join forces to improve outcomes for smallholder farmers. We've highlighted challenges, successful models, and lessons learned in bringing technologies to market. Here are three key lessons from our speakers.
1. Bring technology to farmers; don’t bring farmers to technology
We frequently think we know what farmers need, but we’re not always right. Robbie Melton, our speaker from the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), shared TEDCO’s method of using ‘Listening Sessions’ for their farmer clients and having farmers identify their Top 3 agriculture issues. Based on these issues, TEDCO brings in scientists to speak with the farmers about possible solutions. TEDCO also provides a Technology Commercialization Fund that provides funding for farmers to implement new technology when they enter into a cooperative research agreement with USDA, provided they can contribute 50% of the cost.
2. Accelerate innovation through public domain know-how networks
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| Farmers in Honduras leveraging public domain know-how to protect the shelf-life of their floriculture. Image from Cecilia Chi-Ham. |
After introducing on-farm cold storage with the COOLbot for smallholder ginger flower farmers in Honduras, Cecilia Chi-Ham, our speaker from the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA), found that the shelf-life of the flowers was still 3-4 days, significantly less than the 10 day shelf-life that the smallholders needed to be competitive. By involving postharvest faculty from UC Davis and Fintrac agronomists, she found that shelf life was compromised when the flowers were transported with donkeys, which delayed the hydration process. The team strapped PVC pipes with water in them to donkeys’ backs to hydrate the flowers and extend shelf life.
3. Technology requires investments in capacity for both brand and effectiveness
When our speaker from African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Gospel Omanya, began working with the BASF-provided IR maize gene adapted by CIMMYT in sub-Saharan Africa, he realized that local adaptation was only part of the battle to make the seed available to smallholders. From production to storage, seed companies, agroinput suppliers, and farmers required new training to understand how the seed could interact negatively with their other crops if used improperly. Additionally, Nate Kline, USAID Enabling Agricultural Trade (EAT) Chief of Party, highlighted a cross-sectoral example: in Pakistan, Green Star Family Health Planning Systems built 3 million distribution points through social franchising in which they provided BOTH training and access to branded products.
