a close-up of the design of the agroadapt game box. (maggie rhoads)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nalthough the game is not yet available for purchase, damen said they are sharing the game at other events throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201ci think slowly we\u2019ll get it out to our network,\u201d damen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
understanding real-world problems through gaming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n in the game, participants get more points if they work collaboratively with groups rather than working by themselves. the points are added up using a computer algorithm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to begin the game, participants are split into three groups and given a specific amount of coins. policymakers are given 50 coins, community leaders are given 30 and farmers are given 20. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
next, the groups vote on which fictional country in which they want to grow their crops, floralandia, rainlushia or sereniplains. damen said the countries are based on the environments of real countries based on gathered data. using this data, damen created a biophysical simulation, creating these countries using mathematical formulations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cwe\u2019ve made them fictitious for the purpose of the game, but the data underneath is actually from real countries,\u201d damen said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
once a country is chosen, groups choose what crops they grow. the goal is to pick a crop that secures maximum production through a climate disaster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
policymakers give a recommendation of what crop to grow to the community leaders and the community leaders recommend to the farmers, but the farmers have the final decision on what crop is grown. if the farmers go along with recommendations from the other groups, they get coins because they collaborated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
how to play<\/h2>\n\n\n\n the first round begins in 1980 where players pick five strategies against climate change cards. the point of these cards is to protect crops against the impending natural disaster caused by climate change. each card has an environmental, economic and social score which can either be positive, neutral or negative. the cards are paid for with the group\u2019s coins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
players then receive points based on how well their strategies worked when a natural disaster such as a drought, flood, or wildfire occurs. they do not know what natural disaster they are preparing for but are given the likelihood of each one affecting their country. crops and strategies previously picked determine how many crops are lost. the players either win or lose coins depending on how well or poorly the teams’ strategies performed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the same process repeats for the second and third rounds, which take place in 2010 and 2040, respectively. but the amount of time farmers, community leaders, and policymakers get to interact with each other increases each round. the team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
each round of the game is led by a game master. for one round of agroadapt played at the world food forum, the game master was rutendo mukaratirwa, 28, who is a geospatial scientist in the land and water division of the fao. mukaratirwa said she was a member of the game development team, like damen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
mukaratirwa has held the role of game master over 10 times and has seen players\u2019 perspectives change on how to combat natural disasters through playing this game. mukaratirwa said towards the end of the game, players are more willing to spend their money on a solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cthey are more open and willing to collaborate and lose money,\u201d mukaratirwa said. \u201cbut in the end, they win and can actually get more points.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
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the farmer team is set up in front of the screen to play agroadapt. (maggie rhoads)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nplaying agroadapt at the world food forum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n one participant of agroadapt was dante bertocci, 23. bertocci is the ceo of his own startup company and in the game, was on the policymaker team. he said during the first round, his team did not collaborate with other teams because they were focused on making use of their money but ran out of time to make a decision on how to spend their coins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cpolicymakers have a tendency to take their sweet time,\u201d bertocci said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
bertocci\u2019s start-up involves gathering agricultural byproducts, grinding them up, sterilizing them and using them as substrate for mushroom cultivation. although he mainly works with farmers, bertocci said agroadapt allowed him to step into the shoes of a policymaker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
during one game of agroadapt, the farmers won, which included team member adam gerrand, 63, who is a forester working for the fao. he said farmers are \u201cat the bottom of the heap\u201d because they do not get paid as much as other groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
gerrand said \u201cthankfully\u201d the farmers’ strategies worked, even though they prepared for a drought, but were hit with a wildfire.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cwe were kind of lucky, but we ended up doing well,\u201d gerrand said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
although he did not work on the agroadapt development team, gerrand said he\u2019s worked on other games and finds them engaging for people. he said the game has \u201creally good\u201d concepts as it makes policymakers, community leaders, and farmers interact with each other to receive better scores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cif you have fun, you learn better,\u201d gerrand said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
at the 2024 world food forum in rome, italy, participants learn about the importance of group collaboration in the face of climate change through an interactive game called “agroadapt”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4916,7095],"tags":[],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-42896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate","category-art"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
agroadapt at the world food forum planet forward<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n