By 2050, the world’s population is expected to grow to nearly ten billion people. This brings one of the most fundamental questions of our time to the forefront of the global agenda: how can a growing global population be reliably fed – while creating economic prosperity within planetary boundaries?

These very questions are at the heart of this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos. In a world of rising geopolitical tensions, technological disruption and climate uncertainty, discussions focus on how cooperation, innovation and long-term thinking can once again be aligned.

For agriculture, this challenge is particularly tangible. Feeding more people without expanding agricultural land is not a theoretical exercise. It requires a profound transformation: a new way of managing existing land and a consistent integration of decades of agronomic experience with the transformative power of data and artificial intelligence (AI).

This transformation must take place against a backdrop of increasingly volatile markets and geopolitical uncertainty. Farmers around the world – from Australia’s wheat fields to the US Corn Belt and smallholder farms in India – are grappling with rising costs, extreme weather events, labour shortages and unstable markets. In many countries, including Switzerland, farmers are leaving agriculture altogether. This is not only a structural issue, but a warning signal for society as a whole.

And yet, agriculture has always been a sector where resilience and innovation go hand in hand. These two qualities are precisely what is needed today – not as ends in themselves, but as prerequisites for food security, economic stability and social cohesion.

The food and agriculture sector employs hundreds of millions of people worldwide and forms the backbone of entire economies. Yet productivity growth across the global food system continues to lag far behind what would be required to sustainably meet rising demand. Closing this gap is not the task of individual companies or countries – it requires systemic solutions and cross-sector collaboration, as called for in Davos.

Technology will play a pivotal role. Digital tools, advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence and biotechnology are already reshaping how food is produced. Over the course of my career, I have seen few innovations with the potential to fundamentally transform agriculture. Biotechnology was one of them – AI is clearly the next.

But in agriculture, one thing is clear: AI alone is not a silver bullet. Its value only emerges when combined with high-quality data, local knowledge and deep agronomic expertise. This is also one of the key questions being discussed in Davos: how do we ensure that technological innovation is deployed responsibly and benefits all actors along the value chain?

Many farmers operate on very slim margins. Upfront investments in new technologies therefore represent a real barrier. Limited access to digital infrastructure further compounds the challenge: inadequate broadband connectivity in rural areas hampers the adoption of data-driven solutions. For farms that have existed for generations, the required learning curve can be overwhelming.

This makes it all the more important to design innovations that are practical, accessible and economically viable. Responsibility, scalability and trust are not side issues – they are critical to the success of technological transformation in agriculture. Syngenta has made it its goal to place AI and innovation at the centre of its strategy and to support farmers worldwide through this transformation.

Progress is already visible. Breeders and farmers now use intelligent platforms to analyse fields and soils from a bird’s-eye view, enabling early detection of nutrient deficiencies, disease risks or pest infestations. GPS technology, machine learning and satellite imagery allow fertilisers and crop protection products to be applied with precision – down to the individual plant. This lowers costs, reduces environmental impact and increases efficiency.

Data analytics also plays an increasingly important role in seed selection. Farmers can now choose from hundreds of varieties tailored to specific soils, climate zones or stress factors such as heat and drought. This level of precision is essential to secure yields and minimise risks.

Agriculture has entered a new phase – one in which data and AI not only boost productivity, but also contribute to resilience, sustainability and global food security. If the spirit of Davos makes one thing clear, it is this: the major challenges of our time can only be solved together. Transforming agriculture is not a side issue – it is a central pillar of the future of our global economic system.