Evergreen Innovation Platform

^{Above: The EIP team with members of the Agri Entrepreneur Growth Foundation at the AEGF Centre of Excellence in Bhima-Koregaon in Pune, India.}

The Evergreen Innovation Platform’s (EIP) mission is to help create a sustainable and climate-resilient future for smallholder farmers in India through innovation. EIP is growing a global innovation ecosystem that empowers entrepreneurs offering technological solutions targeting these farmers’ unique needs — helping them improve their productivity, resilience, and climate adaptation and mitigation.

EIP was established in 2022 with the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture and the Milken Innovation Center, and is supported by additional organizations, including strategic funder The Lemelson Foundation and strategic partner the Agri-Entrepreneur Growth Foundation (AEGF) 

EIP leverages its local and global partnerships to source and validate innovations providing the most effective solutions for smallholder farms in India, focusing on technologies with market compatibility.

Its process includes conducting needs assessments for smallholder farmers, validation and adaptation of the technologies and their business models, pre-commercial testing and demonstrations, and helping startups to refine their value proposition for smallholder farmers and to drive commercial sales to scale. 

^{Left: The EIP team in Ahilyanagar, India. Right: An EIP field visit in Ahilyanagar, India, with Lemelson Foundation Program Officer Maggie Flanagan.}

EIP seeks to create broader ecosystem impact by supporting innovators with market access and risk mitigation, while helping farmers improve yields, income, and food security — and contributing to increased resource efficiency, soil health, and resilience for the planet. 

Its unique revenue model is designed to support disruptive and transformational technological solutions for smallholder farmers. Its platform covers the costs of the technology start-up’s validation, pre-commercial testing, and demonstrations, conducting them in a cost-effective way by leveraging AEGF’s network of more than 20,000 agri-entrepreneurs. If the solution shows compelling results and there is clear demand from smallholder farmers, then EIP helps secure distribution contracts and recovers their investment through a share of the distribution fee and commission on sale.

The platform is currently working with more than 15 companies, onboarding 4-8 new technologies annually, and proven solutions are being implemented at multiple locations throughout India. One example of a product that EIP has validated and moved to market is Soil Sathi by Arogyam Medisoft. Their innovative technology empowers rural farmers with affordable, on-site soil testing to provide precise data on nutrient levels, and recommends the exact fertilizer needs for specific crops and local conditions — improving soil health that increases productivity quality, while reducing fertilizer overuse and saving farmers money 

Read the latest news from the Evergreen Innovation Platform:

• Smallholder Farmer Needs Report 2024 – EIP’s second report offers a deep understanding of the challenges faced by smallholder farmers in India and provides actionable solutions, with a special focus on critical issues like soil health and market access.
• EIP’s Ecosystem Impact and Case Studies