AI for Food Security Forum: Enhancing Global Food Systems with AI

This panel session from the CSIS Global Food and Water Security Program’s AI for Food Security Forum will feature an in-depth conversation among Digital Green Global Director of External Relations Eric Firnhaber, PlantVillage Founder David Hughes, IFPRI Senior Research Fellow for Markets, Trade, and Institutions Yanyan Liu, and University of Maryland Assistant Professor of Geospatial AI Catherine Nakalembe, moderated by CSIS Senior Associate (Non-resident) Franck Gbaguidi. 

The conversation will explore the value AI presents to global food systems, including food production, processing, transportation, trade, and marketing. Experts will discuss the wide-ranging applications of AI to food systems in the United States and around the world.  

This conference is made possible by generous support from Google.org.

Speaker Information

Franck Gbaguidi is the Managing Director for Global Environment & Sustainability at Eurasia Group. Based in Nairobi, he leads a global team of experts that supports public and private sector organizations in navigating emerging sustainability trends and developing strategies that turn political risks into opportunities. His work centers on analyzing geopolitical risks related to a range of sustainability issues, including climate regulations, water resources, biodiversity policy, plastic pollution, and environmental litigation. He also oversees Eurasia Group’s sectoral coverage for agriculture and forestry. In parallel, Franck serves as a Senior Associate (Non-resident) within the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining Eurasia Group, Franck held several energy and climate-related roles at the World Bank Group, including serving as climate adviser to the managing director of the International Finance Corporation. Additionally, he has conducted research and consultancy work on carbon risk management for the European Investment Bank, on clean and domestic energy solutions for the United Nations Capital Development Fund, on North American energy policy for the Centre on Global Energy Policy, and on environmental crimes in sub-Saharan Africa for the Earth Institute.

Franck holds three bachelor's degrees and four master's degrees, including a Master of Public Policy from Sciences Po Paris and a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University. His insights have been featured in various media outlets such as Bloomberg, the Financial Times, the New York Times, Responsible Investor, and Reuters.

Eric Firnhaber is Global Director of External Relations at Digital Green, where he leads external engagement and partnership strategy supporting FarmerChat, an AI-powered agricultural advisory platform now reaching more than one million smallholder farmers across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. His work focuses on how generative AI can strengthen agricultural extension systems, improve farmer decision-making, and expand access to trusted knowledge across climate-vulnerable food systems. 

Before joining Digital Green, Eric worked at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, supporting public and congressional engagement around major U.S.-funded infrastructure and agricultural investments in countries including Ghana, Jordan, Cabo Verde, and Georgia. He has also held roles with Omidyar Group and multiple international development organizations focused on technology, partnerships, and delivery systems that translate policy commitments into measurable outcomes for farmers and rural communities. 

Dr. David P. Hughes is the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Global Food Security at Penn State University. At Penn State he founded PlantVillage as an AI-powered platform that aims to be a Land Grant in a Phone. He joined UN Food and Agricultural Organization as a UN Fellow (2018-2020) and brought PlantVillage to 65 countries and 35 languages with UN FAO. During the 2020/21 Locust crisis, PlantVillage helped the UN save food for 41 million people. This success led to PlantVillage at Penn State winning the contract to be the USAID Innovation Lab on Current and Emerging Threats to Crops. This was highly successful but closed by DOGE. David Hughes raised $42 million in public funds from an initial investment of $120,000 into PlantVillage by Penn State. Recognizing some possible concerns with relying on government and public support he formed the private company PlantVillage+ Inc. in March 2024. Hughes was recognized as among the Top 50 Disruptors in America by Newsweek and Most Creative in Business by Fast.com. He holds a DPhil in Entomology from the University of Oxford (2003) and a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Glasgow (1999) and held fellowships at Copenhagen and Harvard. 

Dr. Yanyan Liu is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and a Senior Research Scholar at the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions.   Her research focuses on program impact evaluation, poverty prediction, microfinance, microinsurance, and economic transformation. Her work has been published in journals such as the American Economic Review, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), Economic Journal, European Economic Review, Nature Sustainability, and Nature Human Behaviour.  Prior to joining IFPRI in 2009, Yanyan worked at RTI International and in the Development Research Group at the World Bank. She holds an MS in Statistics and a joint PhD in Economics and Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University.

Dr. Catherine Nakalembe is an Assistant Professor of Geospatial AI at the University of Maryland and founder of the Xylem Lab and Xylem Institute, translating geospatial AI into policy-ready intelligence for food security, climate adaptation, and environmental decision-making. As Africa Lead for NASA Harvest and former Agriculture and Food Security Lead on NASA's SERVIR team, she applies remote sensing and AI to advance agricultural monitoring, land-use mapping, disaster response, and climate resilience across Africa. She holds degrees from the University of Maryland (Ph.D., Geographical Science), Johns Hopkins University (M.S., Geography & Environmental Engineering), and Makerere University, Uganda (B.Sc., Environmental Science). Her honors include the Al Sumait Prize, Uganda's Golden Jubilee Medal, the Africa Food Prize, and a GEO Individual Excellence Award. She is a TED Fellow, a National Geographic Explorer, and a MacArthur Foundation/Op-Ed Public Voices Fellow.