Presentation by Richard Hames (Centre for the Future) at the APAARI High Level Policy Dialogue, 8 dec 2015

1. Patterns & Trends in
Agricultural Investment
Dr Richard David Hames
Executive Chairman - Asian Foresight Institute
Chief Executive, Centre for the Future
Fellow - World Academy of Art & Science

2. Fast Forward
How can we rapidly redesign our most life-critical systems,
cooperatively and in ways that benefit all of humanity, without
further damage to each other and to the environment?
What changes will we need to make to our most fundamental
belief systems in order for us to be able to see possibilities
that have eluded us thus far?
What does it mean to be human and alive in an era obsessed
by technology and where a destiny narrative is missing?

4. Government Focus
Safety and security of citizens can best
be assured by surveillance &
regulations
The imperative of each state is to
protect citizens by using every means
available to secure compliance
Corporate Focus
Economic growth invariably creates jobs
and thus benefits everyone in a society
The sole imperative for business is to
create wealth for its shareholders and
major investors

5. Conditions are Changing
• Peer-2-Peer, commons and open-
source-based investments
• Small scale localised practices
• Community influence & engagement
• Clear differentiation in aims & vision
between corporates and communities
• Social impact model gaining traction
• Competitive government grants
• Large scale industrial practices favoured
• Corporate domination of the system
• Little variation in strategic vision between
agribusiness industries and most NGOs
• 19th century charitable model is the
prevailing government mindset

6. Future Pathways
• To sustain current government funding link strategies to the trending aims and
imperatives of the state [e.g. food security; connections between poverty & conflict]
• Remember that copycat strategies will increasingly fail to attract serious investors and
public sector funding will dry up
• Cooperation is increasingly far more important than competition [e.g. The Global
Innovation Commons; blockchain public ledgers]
• Strategies must be sufficiently distinctive, locally relevant, easy to implement, and
empowering to people
• Align with communities in ways that generate demonstrable social impacts
• Achieve unprecedented leverage and release new knowledge through connectivity in the
sharing economy & peer-2-peer initiatives [e.g. Faircoop]
• Focus on whole system change rather than wasting effort on trying to eliminate discrete
symptoms of a system that requires radical reform

7. Centre for the Future
333 Collins Street
Melbourne
VIC 3000
Australia
www.richardhames.com
rdhames@richardhames.com