Blazing the tech trails at ‘The Only Way Is Up!’ conference

2 days, 16 workshops and numerous commitments towards a living wages and human rights for all smallholder farmers– The Only Way Is Up! conference was truly a dream come true for Fairfood!

On November 5 & 6, the city of Rotterdam set the scene for the worlds’ first international conference on living wage and income, The Only Way Is Up! Organised by seven global players who are committed to harmonising social sustainability in the agri-food industry, the conference became a centre-stage for exchanging knowledge and practical experiences in creating ideal supply chains that treat all its entities favourably. And there was no better way to embark this journey than with the keynote speech from Antonie Fountain.

“We need a bigger boat”: Antonie Fountain discusses poverty, living wages and income in agri-food supply chain.

As one of the organisers, the Fairfood team engaged the audience with its prowess in tech solutions for creating positive impacts on the lives of farmers in low- and middle-income countries. Our two workshops, ‘Small Farmer, Big Data’ and ‘Where Sustainability Meets Tech’ convened a group of experts who discussed the role technology plays in increasing efficiency, re-evaluating profit margins, and disseminating information in a supply chain.  Adding to the panel of our in-house experts were our partner specialists from Trabocca, Topl, GSMA, AgriLedger and AgriWallet, who presented their experience in creating a poverty-free supply chain.

The two-day conference was surely an amalgam of thought-provoking plenaries, informative workshops, and edifying discussions. But most importantly, we are happy to see businesses are now craving for a sustainable change – a desire that brought together global stakeholders and change-makers from across private sector, government and civil society. And the outcome was glorious – new partnerships and transformative initiatives that are much-needed to establish fairness and equity in living wages and incomes in global agri-food supply chains.

The conference also made every individual present realise an unspoken truth – that poverty alleviation is a collaborative journey. With the Living Wage Lab, we hope to continue such combined effort by bringing together representatives from a multitude of sectors to share and support each other in implementing living wage projects.