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Foodsystems.tech organizes its work around three innovation domains: future of plant nutrition, sustainable livestock, and next-generation crops.
At first glance, these may look like familiar research categories. In practice, they reflect where innovation could exert the greatest leverage in addressing some of the most persistent challenges in global food systems. Such as, emissions and resource use, and resilience under the changing climate.
Rather than treating these domains as isolated fields, Foodsystems.tech uses them as entry points for understanding how technological change might shape food systems over the coming decades.
Why these three domains?
Food systems are complex, interconnected, and difficult to change. Mapping innovation across the entire system risks either oversimplification or analytical overload.
The three domains emerged through extensive horizon scanning of existing and emerging technologies, initially across 30 innovations and later expanded to 48. Together, they represent a cross-section of interventions with high potential relevance for agricultural emissions, productivity, and long-term sustainability.
While future updates to Foodsystems.tech may introduce additional domains, the current focus reflects areas where innovation could meaningfully influence food system trajectories at scale.
Future of Plant Nutrition
Plant nutrition innovations focus on how nutrients are produced, delivered, and used in agricultural systems.
Many of these approaches aim to address inefficiencies and environmental impacts associated with conventional fertilizers — including emissions from production, nutrient losses, and soil degradation. Innovations in this domain explore alternative fertilization strategies, improved nutrient use efficiency, and approaches that better align nutrient availability with plant demand.
A key challenge is feasibility within existing systems. Cost structures, policy incentives – such as agricultural input subsidies -, and established infrastructure and value chains often give an upper hand to conventional fertilizers , making it difficult for alternatives to compete despite their potential environmental benefits.
Sustainable livestock
Livestock systems are central to global food supply and a major source of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane.
The sustainable livestock domain includes innovations that target emissions reduction, productivity improvements, animal resilience, and nutrient cycling across the value chain. These range from feed additives and breeding approaches to waste management and system-level interventions.
In many cases, the scaling and adoption of these innovations depend on whether they are able to create or find markets. Additionally, evidence on long-term emissions reduction, feasibility in different farm types, and system-wide impacts remains uneven — making careful assessment and comparison essential.
Next-generation crops
Next-generation crops focus on breeding and genetic innovations designed to help agriculture adapt to changing environmental and production conditions, or to mitigate climate change.
These include approaches aimed at improving climate resilience, reducing dependence on inputs such as water and fertilizers, or enhancing carbon sequestration. Some innovations are already being tested in applied contexts, while others remain at earlier stages of development.
This domain reflects a forward-looking question: how crop characteristics may need to change to remain viable under future climatic, ecological, and market pressures. Compared to the other two domains, innovations in this area generally have the longest pathway to technological maturity and are often central to debates around genetic engineering.
How these three actually connect
Although presented separately, the three domains are closely linked.
Crop traits influence nutrient requirements. Livestock systems affect nutrient flows and soil health. Plant nutrition strategies shape both feed and food production outcomes. Innovations in one domain often depend on, or interact with, changes in another.
Foodsystems.tech aims to make these connections visible through Innovation Maps, such as the Systems Map and World Map, enabling users to explore innovations, projects, actors, and their relationships across domains and geographies.
How Foodsystems.tech uses the domains
The domains provide a framework for organizing, assessing, and comparing innovations — not rigid classifications.
Each innovation featured on the platform is evaluated based on:
- Alignment with one or more domains
- Potential for significant system-level impact
- Likelihood of reaching large-scale adoption within the next 20–30 years
All content is grounded in available evidence, supported by expert input, and updated as new research and data emerge.
What This Means for You
For researchers, funders, policymakers, and innovators, the innovation landscape is crowded and often fragmented. The domain structure helps surface patterns, gaps, and emerging signals that might otherwise be difficult to identify.
Rather than prescribing solutions, Foodsystems.tech offers a structured way to explore where innovation development and scaling could matter most — and where further evidence, collaboration, or investment is needed.
A shared language for navigating complexity
Transforming food systems will not hinge on a single breakthrough. It will depend on how multiple innovations interact, evolve, and are supported over time.
By focusing on three interconnected domains, Foodsystems.tech provides a shared analytical lens for understanding that complexity — and for engaging more constructively with the future of food systems innovation.
Frequently Asked Questions about the innovation domains in food systems
What are innovation domains in food systems?
Innovation domains are thematic groupings used to organize and analyze different types of food system innovations. At Foodsystems.tech, they serve as analytical entry points — not rigid categories—helping users understand where technological change may have the greatest potential impact on sustainability, productivity, and resilience.
Are these domains fixed or will they change over time?
They are not fixed. The domains reflect current evidence and priorities. As new research emerges and food system challenges evolve, Foodsystems.tech may expand or adapt its domain structure to reflect new leverage points or innovation pathways.
How do the three innovation domains connect to each other?
The domains are deeply interconnected. Crop traits influence nutrient demand, livestock systems shape nutrient flows and emissions, and plant nutrition strategies affect both food and feed production. Foodsystems.tech emphasizes these connections through system-based tools, such as Innovation Maps, that show how innovation development interacts across domains..
Is Foodsystems.tech promoting specific technologies or solutions?
No. The platform does not advocate for individual technologies. Instead, it provides an evidence-based framework for comparing innovations, identifying uncertainties, and understanding where further research, collaboration, or policy support may be needed.
Who is this framework intended for?
The domain framework is designed for researchers, students, policymakers, funders, and innovators who need a structured way to navigate a complex and fragmented innovation landscape without oversimplifying scientific or systemic realities.
How are innovations evaluated within each domain?
Each innovation is assessed based on:
- Its relevance to one or more domains
- Potential for system-level impact
- Likelihood of reaching meaningful scale within the next 20–30 years
Assessments are grounded in available evidence and updated as new data becomes available.
How does this relate to the Innovation Maps, such as Systems Map and World Map?
The domains provide the conceptual foundation, while tools like the Systems Map and World Map make relationships visible — showing how innovations connect across domains, actor-networks and geographic regions.
