With artificial intelligence (AI) having taken the world by storm, the Food Indaba 2025, taking place in the Western Cape in July, will convene food activists, urban farmers, AI experts, and artists who will explore how AI could reshape the way Africa farms and feeds its people.
The chief executive officer of South African Urban Food and Farming, Kurt Ackermann, said the Food Indaba will seek to examine whether AI will challenge or entrench existing inequalities in food access, production, and entrepreneurship.
Ackermann said the indaba will also spend a lot of time trying to understand what AI means for Africa and for African food systems. Will it help dismantle the power structures that reinforce injustice and drive bad outcomes, or will it turbo-charge them?
AI in food systems
He said it is important to ask critical questions that will not disrupt the food chain and look around for answers on what difference society can make in reshaping the food system to be healthier and sustainable. Also, every interested stakeholder should have more understanding and more agency in shaping AI in ways that respond to the needs of communities.
“With over 20 events planned to run over two weeks in venues across the city, the 2025 Food Indaba will explore the connections between AI and the food system.
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“This is a pivotal moment for those working to change the food system. To learn about what AI can do, how they can best use these tools to reach their goals, and how they can ensure that the valuable data they are generating becomes part of the existing models and helps improve the way AI understands and represents Africa in food and all other aspects of our lives,” he explained.
Technology in agriculture value chain
Ackermann said it is important for them to look at the root of where food is made, and starting at the farm, the usage of technology at the farm and how it impacts the entire value chain is critical.
“This year, the event programme is broken down into a professional focus, with events taking place during the week and a general public focus, with events clustered largely around weekends.
“Two workshops on AI and food entrepreneurship will be hosted by the Oribi Incubator at Makers Landing and this year’s full day conference brings together AI thought leaders from across the country, to share their insights into the current state of AI and how those in the food system could be harnessing the power of AI,” he said.
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