Ashoka’s Nutrients for All and Ashoka Changemakers are seeking your innovative solutions that will ensure the availability of nutrients for healthy, natural ecosystems, farms, food, and people. Enter before the deadline on June 19, 2013 for a chance to win cash prizes totaling US $45,000. The environment, farms, food, and our health and prosperity are inextricably linked by nutrients. The nutrient value chain—the generation and flow of nutrients from the environment to soils, farms, food, and people—creates wellness and vitality for people and the planet.

Healthy environments, by generating and cycling essential nutrients, directly impact the quality and productivity of our agricultural systems. Nutrient-rich agriculture is driven by empowered farmers who manage soils and nutrient cycles intelligently and thereby produce full-nourishment foods. Full-nourishment foods provide bioavailable nutrients that are critical to childhood development, disease resistance, and human performance and vitality. Fully nourished human beings create healthy and prosperous societies and economies.

However, the nutrient value chain is broken. Degraded ecosystems cannot generate and cycle nutrients, nor provide the carbon sequestration, clean water, and biodiversity that our food systems depend on. Unsustainable agricultural practices are accelerating the degradation of the environment, loss of croplands, and reduction in nutrient content of our food. Nutrient-rich foods have also become less accessible to people because of their high cost and processing techniques that prioritize shelf-life and profit margins over nutrient content. Finally, nutrient-related illnesses such as stunting of growth in childhood, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and a host of infectious diseases are debilitating societies and economies around the world.

We need solutions that help strengthen the nutrient value chain and ensure that nutrients are available for healthy, natural ecosystems, farms, food, and people. To discover these solutions, Ashoka’s Nutrients for All and Ashoka Changemakers have launched a new competition: Nutrients for All: Vitality for People and the Planet. We are seeking solutions related to:

Healthy environment (natural ecosystems, soils)
Nutrient-rich farming (agricultural techniques, supporting farmers)
Full-nourishment foods (processing, distribution, markets)
Wellness and vitality (human nutrition, health systems, consumer awareness)

For complete information visit www.changemakers.com/nutrientsforall/competition.