As Grow Asia continues to strengthen collaboration across Southeast Asia’s food systems, we are pleased to welcome Frederique as our new Regional Lead, Programs. With experience spanning global retail, sustainability strategy and value chain transformation, she brings a systems-level perspective grounded in practical implementation. Below is an excerpt from our conversation. Frederique, can you share a brief overview of your professional journey leading up to Grow Asia? Prior to joining Grow...

Authors: Grow Asia and Erika Balzarelli (Founder, The Sustainable Smallholder) Digital innovation is now firmly embedded in ASEAN’s food security, climate resilience, and economic development agendas. The ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on the Vision for Food, Agriculture and Forestry Towards 2045 and the ASEAN Food, Agriculture and Forestry Sectoral Plan (FAF-SP) 2026–2030 articulate six strategic thrusts, within which digital innovation—and critically, its delivery— are positioned as key...

Five Signals from Innovators on the Frontlines Most conversations on digital agriculture in the Philippines still focus on one question: Are farmers digitally ready? But insights from Grow Asia’s most recent Innovation Challenge  suggest a more fundamental issue. By working closely with agri-SMEs and startups building digital solutions for smallholders, the Challenge surfaced a different reality: the primary barriers to digital agriculture are not technological.  They are systemic. Innovators...