A new regional initiative is being launched to enhance the relevance, scalability, and accessibility of biological agri-inputs within Southeast Asian farming systems.
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SINGAPORE, Aug. 19, 2025 — Biologicals have long been seen as a promising path toward more sustainable and regenerative food systems. However, in Southeast Asia, their adoption and scaling have faced challenges. Today marks the introduction of the Asia Biologicals Platform, a new regional effort aimed at overcoming these hurdles. The initiative will begin with an open invitation to industry participation and will culminate in a dedicated industry forum, the Asia Biologicals Symposium, on November 3, 2025. This symposium will provide a space for stakeholders to align priorities, identify opportunities, and collaboratively develop a regional strategy tailored to the specific characteristics of Southeast Asian farming systems.
The Asia Biologicals Platform represents a multi-year commitment to addressing persistent obstacles in the development, validation, and adoption of biological agri-inputs. It unites innovators, growers, researchers, funders, regulators, and platforms to unlock the potential of biologicals in fostering a more restorative and climate-resilient farming system. This system will be specifically designed to meet the diverse and dynamic needs of Southeast Asia’s agricultural sector.
“We’ve built momentum in the US, Australia and New Zealand—now it’s time to localise and scale this across Asia. The Asia Biologicals Platform brings the shared infrastructure we need to fast-track adoption, align regulations and unlock growth for a new class of agri-inputs.” — Peter Wren-Hilton, Founder, Wharf42 and the Salinas Biologicals Summit
The initiative builds upon the successful Platform10 model, which has facilitated crop-specific field trials through partnerships involving multiple stakeholders. The new effort will adapt this approach for Southeast Asia, initiating collaborative, pre-commercial trials across key crops and regions. This will establish a pipeline of market-ready solutions supported by robust data.
“We want to connect innovators to Asia’s crop challenges, work with funders and governments to support field-based projects that deliver measurable outcomes and drive farmer adoption of biologicals at scale. Through science, partnerships and real-world trials, we want to move beyond pilot fatigue and deliver real outcomes for farmers and ecosystems.” — Joshua Soo, CEO of Agrifood Futures.
“This is about turning good science into real-world change. By generating data-backed evidence and deep regional insight, we can help farmers adopt biologicals and cleaner technologies with confidence—lifting both profitability and sustainability.” —Dr Christine Pitt, Managing Director of Farmers2Founders.
Join the Dialogue – Help Shape the Asia Biologicals Platform
More information will be presented at the Asia Biologicals Symposium during Singapore International Agrifood Week. Leading up to the event, the founding team will continue to engage with the industry to align priorities and develop initial initiatives.
The Symposium will convene stakeholders from across the value chain for pre-competitive collaboration. They will map out shared trials, regulatory strategies, adoption pathways, and regionally relevant projects, all aimed at achieving broad objectives such as:
- Deploy cleaner tech on farms: Prove and scale biologicals that reduce toxicity, restore soil and planet health
- Match innovation to real situational challenges: Focus portfolio offerings on crop-specific needs across Southeast Asia’s farming systems
- Enable farmer-first adoption: Design pilot trials, farmer adoption and engagement strategies to drive uptake
- Unlock investments and blended capital: Provide data, field validation and regulatory alignment to de-risk investment and support joint-up investments and partnerships
Be Part of Building Asia’s Biologicals Future
The Asia Biologicals Platform is currently under development and is being led by Wharf42, Agrifood Futures, and Farmers2Founders. These organizations are combining their respective expertise in biological trials, commercialization, and farmer engagement to create a platform specifically designed for Asia’s unique needs and opportunities.
Whether you are developing, testing, investing in, or supporting biological solutions, you are invited to participate in co-creating the platform at the:
Asia Biological Symposium
3 November 2025 | Singapore International Agrifood Week (SIAW)
Register to receive more information:
About Agrifood Futures | We are a global agrifoodtech specialist based in Singapore, building resilient, climate-ready food systems. Through our global brands—Agrifood Futures and Farmers2Founders—we catalyse innovation commercialisation, scale tech adoption, and connect innovators with investors and value chain actors. Operating across Asia, Australia and Europe, our founder support services, F2F TEKFARM® adoption engine and investor platform drive the commercialisation and internationalisation of agrifood innovation at scale. |
About Wharf42 | We are a global agritech ecosystem developer based in New Zealand. We founded Platform10, the convenor of the Salinas Biological Summits (California) and Brisbane Symposium (2025), and a strategic partner to CSIRO, Plant & Food Research, and Western Growers. With a proven model for biological trial, validation, and deployment, Wharf42 enables public-private innovation partnerships that accelerate regulatory alignment and commercial scale for biologicals.
For partnerships or collaboration opportunities, contact:
Joshua Soo
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