FONTAGRO 2025-2028: a roadmap for regional agri-food innovation

The FONTAGRO 2025-2028 Operating Plan organises four work streams: strategic planning, AI-powered knowledge management, researcher training and bioentrepreneurship support across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Context of the story

The Latin American and Caribbean agri-food system faces simultaneous pressures: climate variability, soil degradation, rising demand for sustainable food and the urgency of closing technological gaps relative to other regions. Since 1998, FONTAGRO has operated as a regional technical cooperation mechanism to drive agricultural innovation among countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Spain. Updating its strategic instruments, the Medium-Term Plan and the Knowledge Management and Communication Plan, has become essential to incorporate scientific foresight to a 2050 horizon, integrate artificial intelligence into results dissemination and consolidate partnerships with global research and innovation agencies.

A four-year strategic agenda for FONTAGRO

The Implemented Initiative

The 2025-2028 POA organises the work of the Regional Fund for Agricultural Technology around four interrelated components: the design of the 2025-2030 Medium-Term Plan with foresight analysis to a 2050 horizon; the update of the Knowledge Management and Communication Plan with artificial intelligence integration; the strengthening of technical capacities of project teams through training in scientific writing, article publication and science diplomacy; and the rollout of the 5th Bioentrepreneurship Innovation Success Cases Contest. Each component addresses a specific objective aimed at positioning FONTAGRO as a regional reference in sustainable agricultural science, technology and innovation.

Strategic instruments, digital platforms and artificial intelligence at the service of agri-food innovation

The technological solution

The proposal combines four instruments: a scientific and technological foresight methodology with a 2050 horizon to define thematic priorities; a modernised digital platform that integrates artificial intelligence for knowledge management and impact evaluation; a structured training programme in scientific project design, results writing, publication in international journals and science diplomacy; and an incubation and acceleration programme for bioentrepreneurships rooted in the bioeconomy and circular economy. The set of instruments is articulated through FONTAGRO's institutional network, composed of national agricultural innovation institutes (NAIIs), government agencies and regional strategic partners, and draws on the Bioemprender network to connect selected entrepreneurs with technical mentors, potential investors and regional markets.

"The 2025-2028 POA seeks to consolidate FONTAGRO as a regional reference in sustainable agricultural science, technology and innovation, connecting member countries through a shared agenda of priorities."

— FONTAGRO Technical Administrative Secretariat

Results

FONTAGRO has designed through participatory means its 2025-2030 Medium-Term Plan, drawing on foresight to a 2050 horizon and public-private partnership models. The Knowledge Management and Communication Plan is being updated around four strategic axes (regional space, innovation, impact and evaluation, and external communication) with the gradual integration of artificial intelligence tools. The project expects to extend the training programmes that reached more than 250 researchers between 2021 and 2024, expand partnerships with international science agencies, and complete the mapping of funding sources. The 5th Bioentrepreneurship Innovation Success Cases Contest aims to select ten initiatives with the potential to generate between 50 and 100 direct jobs and 10 to 20 per cent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions compared with conventional processes.