From Fields to Finance: Farmers and Businesses Unite to Scale Biosolutions for Soil Health

As the world looks toward COP30 in Belém, a new movement is taking root — one that blends biology, business, and belief in the power of farmers. During the latest Road to COP30 webinar, CGIAR Climate Action and Multifunctional Landscapes, Embrapa, and Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA) brought together leaders from across continents to ask a simple but profound question: How can we turn biosolutions from promising innovations into everyday practice for farmers?

Check the last installment of our High-Level Dialogue series here: Sustainable Finance and Policy

A Brazilian Vision for Climate-Smart Growth

Opening the dialogue, Marcelo Fiadeiro of MAPA reminded the audience that Brazil’s agriculture story is one of transformation — from a source of emissions to a laboratory for low-carbon innovation. Through the ABC+ Plan, Brazil is scaling solutions that regenerate soil and reduce carbon, showing that productivity and sustainability can grow side by side. “Innovation is not an option,” he said, “it’s our path to meeting the Paris Agreement.”

From Science to Systems Change

Marcela Quintero, Associate Director General for Research Strategy and Innovation at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, connected that national vision to a global research mission. She described biosolutions as the living bridge between science and sustainability — microbes, mycorrhizae, and other natural allies that can restore the health of soils while cutting dependency on synthetic inputs.

But Quintero warned that technology alone won’t deliver transformation. “We need partnerships that connect laboratories with landscapes, policies with people, and finance with farmers,” she said, highlighting CGIAR Climate Action’s role in linking evidence to decision-making ahead of COP30.

Farmers Speak: Innovation Must Work on the Ground

From Nairobi, Elizabeth Nsimadala, President of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation, spoke for millions who make adaptation real every day. “Farmers are ready,” she said, “but readiness requires access.” Digital tools, local cooperatives, and clear policies are the scaffolding that lets smallholders adopt biosolutions confidently. Her call was clear: treat farmers not as beneficiaries, but as co-creators of innovation.

Science, Markets, and Farmers: A Global Dialogue

The panel spanned four continents but shared one conviction — soil is the starting point of climate action.

At Embrapa Agrobiologia, Guilherme Chaer showed how Brazil’s SoilBio (BioAS) and Soil Carbon Trend Index turn soil biology into actionable data. By tracking organic matter and carbon changes, these tools help farmers and policymakers see what once was invisible: the pulse of living soil.

From the cooperative world, Gustavo Carvalho of Coopavel’s Biocoop described how networks of farmers are building a new kind of marketplace — one that trades not just goods, but knowledge. “Cooperation lowers costs, spreads risk, and builds trust,” he said. In Brazil, those values have helped make bioinputs both viable and profitable.

Michelle Kagari of One Acre Fund brought the financing lens from East Africa, where access to capital remains a barrier. She urged governments and investors to think long-term. “Biosolutions take time to scale,” she noted, “and farmers need patient, blended finance to bridge the gap between innovation and adoption.”

Representing AfricaRice in Mali, Elliott Dossou-Yovo grounded the conversation in farmer realities. Scaling, he argued, is not about replication but co-creation. “We must design with farmers, not for them,” he said, describing how integrating traditional knowledge with scientific innovation can make biosolutions both relevant and resilient.

Closing the global tour, Dr N. Ravisankar of ICAR-IIFSR (India) shared how integrated farming systems have helped Indian cooperatives mainstream biofertilizers and biocontrols. His message was one of South–South solidarity: lessons from India’s policy and institutional frameworks could help other regions leapfrog toward low-carbon, soil-health solutions.

Common Ground for COP30

Moderator James Stapleton drew the threads together. From Brasília to Bamako, the stories carried a shared rhythm: the health of soils mirrors the health of collaboration. Whether through public policy, cooperative enterprise, or farmer-driven innovation, biosolutions thrive when science meets trust.

As the Road to COP30 continues, CGIAR and its partners are cultivating a collective agenda: measurable soil health, equitable finance, and policies that value biological diversity as the foundation of resilience.

Because in the end, restoring the world’s soils isn’t just about what grows beneath our feet — it’s about what grows between us.

About the Series: Road to COP30 Belém is a collaborative webinar series organized by CGIAR Climate Action, Embrapa, and MAPA. Each session spotlights science-policy-business partnerships advancing biosolutions for soil health and climate resilience across Africa, Asia, and the Americas:

• Session 1: Science of Scaling Biosolutions for Soil Health
• Session 2: Farmers and business scaling biosolutions for soil health and climate action
• Session 3: Sustainable finance and policy to scale biosolutions for soil health and climate action