From soil to smartphone: Digital solutions for regenerative agriculture
When we launched the Haller Farmers App our goal was simple: to democratise access to regenerative farming knowledge. Built on over 60 years of ecological expertise, the app offers low-cost, organic techniques in English, Swahili, and French, with audio narration to overcome literacy barriers, and offline functionality for areas with limited connectivity. From the beginning, we believed that even a basic smartphone could become a powerful tool to restore degraded land, secure water sources and uplift rural livelihoods.
Over the past decade, climate tech has moved from niche concern to mainstream investment. In 2024, global energy-transition investment hit a record $2.1 trillion, an 11% year-on-year increase, underscoring that technology will be at the heart of our response to climate change. To date, more than 3,000 smallholder farmers across 180 countries have used the Haller Farmers App, mostly in Kenya, where our journey began.
To date, our work is structured across interlinked models, each driving impact in its own way and amplified by The Haller Farmers App:
Whilst renewables, storage and transport solutions capture headlines, it’s digital platforms like the Haller Farmers App that play a critical role in closing the gap between innovation and the people who need it most: the smallholder farmers working on the frontline of climate impact. That frontline is itself changing. Sub-Saharan Africa has the youngest population in the world: roughly 70% of people there are under 30, and by 2030 African youth will account for 42% of the global youth population, according to the United Nations. Last year, we hosted a panel discussion chaired by journalist David Eades and featuring Ed Paice, Director of Africa Research Institute, to explore Africa’s youth boom and its global environmental implications. You can watch the full panel discussion here.
This “youth boom” represents both an incredible opportunity and a responsibility. Young farmers are eager to adopt new approaches. Still, they also face the same barriers that their parents did: lack of training, fluctuating markets, deteriorating soils, changing weather patterns and very limited access to technology. Our mission is to meet their aspirations with a blend of indigenous knowledge and modern tools, ensuring the next generation can farm sustainably while safeguarding the planet.
Central to this approach has been our emphasis on partnerships. Beyond Africa, our social-franchising model is already in use by Fundatia ADEPT in Romania and in development through another partner in India. In 2026, we will expand this model with additional white-label technology partnerships, enabling like-minded organisations to utilise our tech to reflect local crops, climates and cultural practices in their own apps.
Still, we know there’s room to go further, and earlier this year we began creating AI-driven content updates with our developers, co-created with farmers through participatory feedback loops to ensure the app evolves as conditions change and new methods emerge.
Looking ahead, we are excited about the promise of digital ecosystems for agriculture. Climate tech isn’t just about mega-projects or corporate emissions targets; it’s about sharing knowledge and empowering individuals to restore soils, secure water, and diversify incomes. When a young farmer in rural Kenya listens to her first agroforestry lesson on a basic smartphone, that’s climate action in its purest form – scalable, community-driven solutions that are capable of supporting communities to build resilience against the challenges they face and build sustainable livelihoods while protecting and conserving the land in which they call home. Thank you to Digital Leaders for shining a spotlight on environmental innovation, and congratulations to all the other finalists whose work reminds us that technology and the partnerships that bring it to life can be a force for ecological and social transformation. I hope our experience shows how blending traditional wisdom with digital tools can inspire a new generation of climate stewards who will carry this work forward.
