| I have been publishing a weekly column on agriculture in emerging economies, technology, and business for the last six years. I have shared the endeavors I’m involved in with you in great detail. Those include various aspects of the challenges ahead and the way to address those. Still, one of the most common questions is, "Yeah, I read your weekly column and the daily posts on LinkedIn. I feel connected and love the messages in them. BUT it’s still hard for me to understand how this whole Dream Valley idea or concept or implementation works together for me?" This column I dedicate to those who asked that question or had it in mind but hesitated to ask. However, to know that I have managed to fulfill the above task properly, I’m asking you to provide me (at the end) with your feedback. Although intuitive, it is still important to emphasize that each country, region, and crop faces different challenges and requires a different tailor-made set of solutions. Hence the description below is a general description of a concept. As you will see, to apply it, there is a need for a dedicated tailor-made solution per the program's initial challenges, situation, and aimed goals. I wish you pleasant reading and look forward to getting your comments and input. The Concept: Dream Valley National Export Program THE PROBLEM Did you know that 152 countries are defined as "developing" and another 23 are defined as "emerging"? Did you know that by 2030, 97% of the growth - increase in the world population will come from these countries? Underdeveloped agro sector, little export, shortage in foreign currency, national economic stress, etc., are some of the fundamental NATIONAL and LEADERSHIP problems. Those are NOT the farmers’ problems (as many wrongly consider it). THE RESULT These countries suffer from chronic problems, including, among others: Poverty, hunger, malnutrition, violence, illiteracy, gender inequality, shorter life expectancy, and morbidity from "poverty diseases" (malaria, intestinal diseases, etc.). In addition, an undeveloped agro sector contributes to accelerated urbanization, which has its many downsides and is considered an additional heavy burden on the national economy. This creates a constant state of constraints that makes it difficult for a sustainable economy and business to grow. Undeveloped countries find themselves "net importers of food" even though tens of percent of the labor force earn their living from agriculture. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TILL TODAY? The world’s current problem-solving attitude to the above ongoing failure is to provide the non-developed countries with funds. They do it through subsidies, loans, donations, etc., and then… expect and hope for good results, which never arrive!. Furthermore, developed countries are even ready to finance endless NGOs to do the job they have failed to achieve. Unfortunately, decades come and go, but we don't see, and the farmers don't experience any dramatic positive change. The donating organizations and countries can conveniently release themselves from moral responsibility for the outcome by saying - "We did the maximum possible. Our conscience is clean. We did whatever we could and was possible. The problem is in the receiving country. The problem is with the local government/experts/farmers, the market, the education, the ….” AGRA - Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa is a perfect example of this situation and attitude. AGRA invested tens of $ billions in providing tens of millions of sub-Saharan African smallholders generous subsidies, access to fertilizers, seeds, mechanization, consulting, etc. However, 15 (!) years later, most farmers/countries under the AGRA project are not doing better than those who are not. Decades passed, the number of farmers in poverty kept growing, and the problem even escalated. More of the same doesn’t seem to be the answer we are looking for. SO WHAT ARE WE DOING? Continuing to walk the same path (again) is worthless and hopeless. At the same time, we understand that non-developed countries can't have rapid economic growth before pulling the agro sector out of poverty and turning it into a highly productive and business-oriented industry. In other words, the challenge for countries with a sizeable agro sector is HOW TO TURN AN UNDEVELOPED AGRO SECTOR INTO A PROFITABLE BUSINESS-ORIENTED AGRO-INDUSTRY. CHANGE OF DIRECTION As demonstrated by the AGRA example, the problem is not in the absence of resources, such as technology, financing, land, workforce, sunlight, and water. Not even in the markets’ readiness to buy and pay for the crops, as market demand is enormous and keeps growing (this explains why African and Asian countries import so much food). Yet, there is an urgent need for a change of approach at the national level, including an INTERNAL STRUCTURAL AND OPERATIONAL shift in concept and doing things. THE EPIPHANY I was fortunate to be the founder and the CEO of Biofeed. This company reinvented eco-friendly crop protection with highly efficient non-spray 21st-century innovative solutions to global pest challenges – field-proven technology & protocols. In this role, and previously as an academic researcher and a farmer myself, I was privileged to learn those points of view and the challenges professionals and smallholder farmers face. In addition, I closely studied and learned about the other value chain stakeholders, i.e., governments, goods/service providers, traders, and consumers. Thanks to this close acquaintance with all value chain stakeholders, and genuine caring for UN SDGs, I was blessed with the following insight– The main challenge of non-developed economies with a sizeable agro sector is NOT the lack of access to agro-technology or funds BUT the inability to continuously increase farmers’ profit per hectare. I then recognized that the root problem on the way to increasing the profit per hectare has nothing to do with technology but a pure result of using inappropriate business models. Current business models in use are perfect for farmers in developed economies but not for those in the early stage of development in non-developed countries. Due to inappropriate business models, nations and their entire agro sector remain stuck in the same place, limited, with no growth ability. Until they change the business models, non-developed countries are doomed to painfully slow growth (if at all) of their agro sector. Because of this, even when we pour into it lots of funds, subsidies, technologies, training, etc., there is a minor (if any) impact on farmers' livelihood. The outcome is; that we don't see the expected agro sector (fast) economic development and growth. Yet, when things don't work as expected, we faulty blame (again) the farmers for our failure and their poverty. Could it be more unfair and useless than that? HISTORICAL CHANGE IN APPROACHING THE "MARKET FAILURE." First, we should stop addressing the challenge of developing and emerging economies as “a problem of insufficient technology or funds for farmers.” Today, even poor farmers have access to more money and technology than my parents and other farmers could dream of only 80 years ago. We can bring the desired CHANGE in a relatively short period through Disruptive Innovation, as coined and defined by Prof. Clayton Christensen. Regardless of the industry, Disruptive Innovation contains and requires: (I) AN INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODEL (II) ENABLING TECHNOLOGY (III) A COHERENT VALUE NETWORK DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL Dream Valley (DV) is designed to fulfill the above three requirements. (I) DV’s novel approach and business model address the agro sector challenges of non-developed economies. (II) DV brings A Package of state-of-the-art technology and services solutions, and on top of it, it uses Biofeed's breaking through eco-friendly non-spray technology. The comprehensive set of tools enables farmers to produce more and higher quality produce without increasing costs or labor. All technologies and services used by DV’s farmers are field-tested and in use. (III) DV’s overall concept is an inclusive business-oriented model incorporating all value chain parties. That includes technology and service providers, R&D, farmers, packaging, logistics, traders, buyers, and consumers. | 
