Patterns & Trends inAgricultural Investment

Dr Richard David HamesExecutive Chairman - Asian Foresight Institute

Chief Executive, Centre for the FutureFellow - World Academy of Art & Science

Fast Forward

How can we rapidly redesign our most life-critical systems, cooperatively and in ways that benefit all of humanity, without further damage to each other and to the environment?

What changes will we need to make to our most fundamental belief systems in order for us to be able to see possibilities that have eluded us thus far?

What does it mean to be human and alive in an era obsessed by technology and where a destiny narrative is missing?

Government Focus

Safety and security of citizens can best be assured by surveillance &

regulations

The imperative of each state is to protect citizens by using every

means available to secure compliance

Corporate Focus

Economic growth invariably creates jobs and thus benefits everyone in

a society

The sole imperative for business is to create wealth for its

shareholders and major investors

X X

Conditions are Changing

• Peer-2-Peer, commons and open-source-based investments

• Small scale localised practices• Community influence &

engagement• Clear differentiation in aims &

vision between corporates and communities

• Social impact model gaining traction

• Competitive government grants• Large scale industrial practices

favoured• Corporate domination of the system• Little variation in strategic vision

between agribusiness industries and most NGOs

• 19th century charitable model is the prevailing government mindset

Future Pathways• To sustain current government funding link strategies to the trending aims and

imperatives of the state [e.g. food security; connections between poverty & conflict]

• Remember that copycat strategies will increasingly fail to attract serious investors and public sector funding will dry up

• Cooperation is increasingly far more important than competition [e.g. The Global Innovation Commons; blockchain public ledgers]

• Strategies must be sufficiently distinctive, locally relevant, easy to implement, and empowering to people

• Align with communities in ways that generate demonstrable social impacts

• Achieve unprecedented leverage and release new knowledge through connectivity in the sharing economy & peer-2-peer initiatives [e.g. Faircoop]

• Focus on whole system change rather than wasting effort on trying to eliminate discrete symptoms of a system that requires radical reform

Centre for the Future333 Collins Street

MelbourneVIC 3000Australia

www.richardhames.comrdhames@richardhames.com