Josef Schmidhuber is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Pure Harvest Smart Farms, UAE.

Josef began his career at the World Food Council and later held senior roles at the OECD and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), where he served as Director and Deputy Director in various Divisions. He has also undertaken numerous short-term assignments with international institutions such as the IPCC, World Bank, and European Investment Bank (EIB).

Josef is a widely published researcher, with work featured in top-tier journals such as Nature, PNAS, The Lancet, and Science, alongside hundreds of reports and flagship publications from major international organizations. Beyond his policy and analytical work, he is also a skilled full-stack software developer, having designed and implemented advanced software tools and data systems for the OECD, FAO, the EIB, and Pure Harves Smart Farms.

His areas of expertise span sustainable food systems, artificial intelligence and software development, agricultural trade, and investment, with a focus on innovation and scalable solutions. In 2007, Josef was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).