AGRIFUTURE 2025: Innovative collaboration against agricultural burning

On September 23, DLG held the AGRIFUTURE Conference & Exhibition 2025, under the theme “Clean Practices and Green Innovations for a Sustainable Agri-Food System", co-located with the Friends of Thai Agriculture (FTA) Conference: "Putting Out the Fire: Advancing Solutions for Sustainable Post-Harvest Biomass Utilization."

The event drew about 300 participants, including government officials, embassies, agricultural attachés, agri-tech researchers, and forward-looking stakeholders from across Asia and the wider world. 

Call for collaboration on regional concern

Delivering the opening remarks, Ms. Katharina Staske, Managing Director of the DLG Asia Pacific, said: "One of the urgent challenges in Thailand and ASEAN lies in managing agricultural residues. Approximately 40% of biomass waste in Thailand is still unutilised through burning or improper disposal. We gather today at AGRIFUTURE 2025 with several initiatives for sustainable post-harvest biomass utilization and avoidance of agricultural burning."

She also highlighted innovations from leading private-sector actors, including Netafim, AxisTech, and Kubota, who presented solutions for emission reduction, irrigation 4.0 and climate-smart agriculture.

"Only together can we find the green innovations needed to drive meaningful change," she noted. 

The Permanent Secretary of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) introduced the 3R model as a guiding framework: reducing emissions through eco-friendly standards, replacing traditional burning by supporting higher-value and less residue crops, and recycling residues into new, innovative products, with mechanization as a tool to transform waste into resources that enhance soil fertility and create profitable value chains.

From the perspective of MOAC, Mr. Theerawut Chutinanthakun, Director of Greenhouse Gas in Agriculture Research Group (Department of Agriculture), open burning of agricultural residues continues to pose serious threats to our environment, public health and long-term food security. MOAC and other stakeholders will collaborate to advance the vulnerability and science-based solutions.

Policy directions and farmer-centered solutions

In response to the challenge of agricultural burning, the MOAC initiated several key policies aimed at mitigating the impact. These policies involve changing farmers' behavior by incorporating non-burning agricultural practices. Farmers are encouraged to shift from traditional crops to more profitable alternatives, from field crops to fruit trees, vernal plants, or high-value economic crops like avocado, macadamia, and even fast-growing trees. This not only prevents burning but also enhances income opportunities for farmers.

"We also promote eco-friendly standards such as GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) certification for curbing PM2.5 farming. The purpose is to ensure better residue management and enhance sustainability," Mr. Theerawut shared. 

Central and eastern Thailand are agricultural areas where sugarcane, rice, and cassava are grown in large quantities with the largest residue volume of sugarcane. 

Several breakout sessions during AGRIFUTURE 2025 addressed innovation directly. One focused on fire management strategies and the importance of involving local communities to shift away from traditional burning practices. Another examined the role of biobased technologies, such as biobots, in turning pre- and post-harvest residues into sustainable materials.

Dr. Gijs Theunissen, Agricultural Counsellor, Embassy of the Netherlands with Ms. Ana Carolina Lamy, Agricultural Attaché, Embassy of Brazil, highlighted that air pollution in Thailand, particularly during the three-to-five-month burning season, remains a pressing public health crisis. For many, the season means leaving affected regions such as Bangkok or Chiang Mai. For farmers, however, the exposure is unavoidable. This reality, as participants stressed, reinforces the urgency of developing viable, scalable, and locally adapted alternatives to open burning.

Mr. Henning Hoy Nygaard, Regional Minister Counsellor, Embassy of Denmark, presented Thailand’s biomass potential, which exceeds 100 million tonnes per year. Biomass is treated not as waste, but as a resource that can drive economic value while mitigating environmental harm.

AGRIFUTURE 2025 converged on a common message: sustainable solutions require shared responsibility. While legislation and enforcement are critical, they must be matched by practical support for farmers. Collaboration among governments, international organizations, research institutions, and the private sector is key to ensuring that farmers adopt cleaner practices without compromising their livelihoods. By placing biomass utilization and burning reduction at the center of its agenda, the event demonstrated that sustainable agriculture is inseparable from environmental health.

The collaboration showcased the vision of turning residues into resources, pollution into opportunity, and local practices into regional solutions, which reflects the broader aspiration of building a truly sustainable agri-food system.

The Friends of Thai Agriculture (FTA) is a platform that began as an informal network of agricultural counsellors and has since evolved into a dynamic, multi-stakeholder initiative committed to advancing sustainable agriculture and cleaner air.

In October 2024, FTA convened its first Agricultural Burning Conference to collectively address the pressing challenges of open burning and biomass residue. Today's gathering marks its second anniversary conference - a direct response to the call made by experts and delegates last year to sustain the momentum and continue shaping practical, cross-sectoral solutions.