Image Credit: Forbes

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

The Italian government has taken a stand against synthetic foods and cultivated meat by supporting a bill that would prohibit their sale. The proposed legislation aims to promote the consumption of natural and organic food products while limiting the production and sale of genetically modified foods. Those who violate the ban could face hefty fines of up to €60,000 ($65,000). In contrast, the commercial development of gene-edited foods has been legalized in England, allowing for the creation of new food varieties with desirable traits. These recent developments have sparked debates on the benefits and drawbacks of synthetic and genetically modified foods, and their impact on health and the environment.

In other news, we are excited to spotlight our podcast in partnership with AgFunder: New Food Order, a nuanced investigation into the business of tackling our climate and social crises through food and agriculture. Read all about why we launched the podcast.

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1. Italy Proposes a Ban on Lab-Grown Meats to Protect Its Food Heritage – Forbes

The Italian government has given its support to a bill that would prohibit the sale of lab-grown meat and other synthetic foods. If the bill passes, anyone who violates the ban could face fines of up to €60k.

2. Commercial Development of Gene-Edited Food Now Legal in England – BBC

Supporters of the technology say it will speed up the development of hardier crops that will be needed because of climate change.

3. Denmark: Soil Carbon Startup Agreena Lands $50M to Tear Down the Financial Barriers to Regen Ag – AFN

Danish startup Agreena aims to help farmers build a meaningful revenue stream by implementing, tracking and measuring regenerative farming practices.

4. Investors Seek to Tap Millions in Biodiversity Credits From New UK Project – Bloomberg

England’s financial plan may help restore tens of thousands of acres for birds, bugs and bees, though challenges loom.

5. Online Bulk Retailer Boxed Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy – Bloomberg

The company actively sought to sell itself before filing, but rejected Kroger’s offer to buy the company for $400m in 2018.

6. Starbucks Fired the Employee Responsible for Igniting the Starbucks Worker United Union Campaign – CNBC

Rizzo worked as a shift supervisor at Starbucks for 7 years and served as a leader at the Genesee St. store in Buffalo, New York, which was one of the first two stores in the country to win its union campaign.

7. More Restaurants and Bars Are Becoming Worker-Owned in NYC – Eater

A handful of wine shops, bars and restaurants are transferring ownership to employees.

8. Fast Food Workers Are Unionizing, But Some of the Biggest Chains in the Country Are Fighting to Stop Them – Insider

CEOs and fast food chains have often pushed back against those efforts, closing stores and even surveilling employees, some workers allege.

9. Women’s Health Market Set to Explode As Millennials Hit Their 40s – Green Queen

New data point to an untapped market potential for female nutrition. But more work is needed to address the full range of women’s health requirements.

10. How a Tight Supply from the Deadliest Bird Flu Outbreak Is Hammering the Egg Industry – Food Dive

Since the virus surfaced last February, tens of millions of farm-raised birds in the US have died, and eggs have seen skyrocketing prices.

The post Italy Proposes Ban on Cultivated Meat, the UK Legalizes Gene-Edited Foods + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Image Credit: Green Queen

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

Startups across the globe are on a race to scale cultivated meat. This week marked a major win for two companies: Australia-based Vow has unveiled its first factory dedicated to producing up to 30 tons of cultured meat per year, with Factory 2 on the way in 2024. Meanwhile, France-based Gourmey has raised €48 million to build Europe’s largest cultivated meat hub to date.

In other news, interest among venture capitalists in the medical potential of food has risen as the understanding of diet’s role in disease has grown. A coalition of investors have pledged $2.5 billion to startups looking to reduce hunger and improve health through food.

Our newsletter takes a lot of time and resources to produce. Make a one time or monthly contribution to help us keep it going. Whether it’s $5 or $500, every bit helps and shows us that you value our work. 

1. Australia: Vow Opens One of the Largest Cultivated Meat Factories in the World Ahead of Anticipated Regulatory Approval – Green Queen

Factory 1 is capable of producing 30 tons of cultured meat per year, while Factory 2–poised to open in 2024– can produce 100 times the amount of cultured meat as its sister site.

2. France: Gourmey Raises €48M to Build Europe’s Largest Cultivated Meat Hub – Sifted 

The startup, which produces artificial foie gras as its flagship product, will use funding to build a production facility in Paris, set to be Europe’s largest cultivated meat production site.

3. ‘Food-as-Medicine’ Startups Draw Venture Capital – Wall Street Journal

A coalition of investors have pledged $2.5b to startups looking to reduce hunger and improve health through food.

4. Gene Editing Startup Inari Bags $124M to ‘Unlock the Full Potential’ of Seeds – AFN

Inari uses seed gene editing tools to enhance the natural diversity of seeds while enabling higher crop yields with fewer inputs.

5. Liquid Death Water Startup Valued at $700M – Bloomberg

The sparkling and still water brand is projecting $130m in revenue for 2022, and is on pace to double that number next year.

6. Biodiversity Quicky Rises Up the ESG Investing Agenda – Financial Times

Species loss is now seen as a problem as big as climate change.

7. Burger King, Popeyes and Jack in the Box Cut Ties with Ghost Kitchen Reef As the SoftBank-Backed Startup Continues to Face Operational Issues – Business Insider

The startup’s business model relies on deals with large fast-food chains like Wendy’s and Denny’s, and some larger ones have already cut ties.

8. The Rounds Raises $38M Series A for Its Sustainable ‘Household Restocking’ Service – TechCrunch

This Prime alternative has no annual fee, no packaging or waste and no tipping.

9. Typhur Cooks Up $20M to Channel Your Inner Sous Vide Chef – TechCrunch

Typhur’s Sous Vide Station includes all of the components needed for a home chef to try their hand at sous vide cooking, plus a digital touchscreen and video-guided recipes from Michelin-star chefs.

10. Farm Robotics Market Map: 250 Startups Automating Crop Production Indoors and Outdoors – AFN

There are 250 farm robotics startups automating various activities on crop farms both indoors and outdoors according to a new market map.

11. Low-Price Grocers Like Aldi Are Winning As Consumers Trade Down – CNN

With grocery prices soaring, consumers are changing the way they shop for food. That’s great news for discount grocers like bare-bones supermarket Aldi.

12. Key Takeaways from Biden’s Conference on Hunger and Nutrition in America – NPR

President Biden pushed for Congress to permanently extend the child tax credit, raise the minimum wage and expand nutrition assistance programs to help reduce hunger rates.

The post Cultivated Meat Factories Open in Australia and France, ‘Food-as-Medicine’ Startups Draw $2.5B in Venture Capital + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Source: CircleUp

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

In honor of Climate Week, we’re revisiting our editorial series featuring 39 interviews with CEOs, execs, farmers and investors about the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read our interviews with Danone, Starbucks, Impossible Foods, Aerofarms, General Mills, Kathleen Merrigan and more.

In the same vein, Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber is leading a coalition of 19 companies with more than $500 billion in combined annual revenues to support biodiversity. Meanwhile, two hundred and thirty investors worth $16.2 trillion are calling for aggressive corporate action to combat deforestation.

In restaurant news, Sweetgreen has raised $150 million to roll out a delivery service through its app in 2020. McDonald’s announced that it will be testing Beyond Meat patties at 28 locations in Canada. Postmates has raised $225 million in funding ahead of its IPO. Disney World has added over 400 plant-based options to its menus.

Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

1. The CEO of a $55B Company Reveals How Gen Z Is Forcing People to Take Stand on Climate Change – Business Insider

Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber is leading a coalition of 19 companies with $500b+ in combined annual revenues to support biodiversity. As part of the “One Planet Business for Biodiversity” initiative the companies have pledged to boost regenerative farming practices, revamp product portfolios to become less reliant on overused crops, and identify actions to eliminate deforestation and protect natural ecosystems.

2. 39 Food Industry Leaders Explore the Role of Biodiversity in the Food Industry

In honor of Climate Week, we’re revisiting our editorial series featuring 39 interviews with CEOs, execs, farmers and investors about the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read our interviews with Danone, Starbucks, Impossible Foods, Aerofarms, General Mills, Kathleen Merrigan and more.

3. CircleUp Raises $200M to Woo Consumer Retail Startups with a VC Alternative: Loans – Forbes

Investors included Michigan’s state pension fund and Pacific Life. CircleUp’s credit unit draws on Helio to inform its commitments, typically backing companies that have between $500k and $5m in sales.

4. Salad Chain Sweetgreen’s Tech Focus Helps Push Valuation to $1.6B – Wall Street Journal

Investors are putting another $150m behind Sweetgreen, betting that the salad chain’s embrace of technology will deliver them an exit in a sector that has seen minimal venture activity in recent years.

5. Canada: Beyond Meat Stock Soars 12% After McDonald’s Announces Canadian Test of Its Plant-Based Burgers – CNBC

The new “plant, lettuce and tomato” sandwich will use Beyond Meat’s patties in 28 restaurants next week.

6. Cultivated Meat: Why GFI Is Embracing New Language – Good Food Institute

GFI offers a deep dive into the results of its nine-month project to explore, test, hone communication materials and find a name for the nascent cellular agriculture industry.

7. 230 Investors Worth $16.2T Call for Aggressive Corporate Action to Combat Deforestation – AgFunder

The statement calls on companies to tackle the financial risks associated with ongoing deforestation, as well as market and risks within their operations and global supply chains.

8. When Mac & Cheese and Ketchup Don’t Mix: The Kraft Heinz Merger Falters – New York Times

The company behind brands like a famous ketchup and Oscar Mayer meats is dealing with slumping sales, shareholder lawsuits, layoffs and questions about its accounting practices.

9. Food Delivery Startup Postmates Is Expected to Go Public Very Soon, But That Didn’t Stop It From Raising $225M in New Funding – Business Insider

GPI Capital led the round, valuing the company at $2.4b. Sources said the new funding had nothing to do with the planned IPO.

10. TouchBistro Lands $119M To Expand Restaurant POS Tech – PYMNTS

OMERS Growth Equity led the round. TouchBistro will use the money for the acquisition of complementary services and expansion into more global markets.

11. Bodega, Once Dubbed ‘America’s Most Hated Startup,’ Has Quietly Raised Millions – TechCrunch

The startup – now Stockwell – has raised $45M in funding from a number of investors including GV, NEA and DCM Ventures. It has used its latest infusion to explore shared ownership models.

12. Fifth Season Comes Out of Stealth with 60K Sqft Vertical Farm and $35M in Funding – AgFunder

The Pittsburgh-based startup, founded as RoBotany, is planning a staged expansion in other similarly-sized cities throughout the US. Drive Capital and private investors led the round.

13. Disney World Just Added Tons of Vegetarian and Vegan Options – Here Are the Highlights – Fast Company

The company is going to have more than 400 plant-based menu items at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

14. USDA Expects ‘Significant Delays’ in Economic Research Reports – Politico

ERS conducts research into areas such as climate change, nutrition, export data and the farm economy. Farmers also heavily rely on its outlook reports to make planting decisions. Crop markets can swing on the results of the numbers.

15. 2018 U.S. Food & Beverage Startup Investment Report

Over $1.45B was invested across 247 deals in 2018, according to the research in our second annual investment report produced in partnership with Ryan Willams.  Check out the report for a deep dive into the investor and investment trends. We also share a complete list of deals and acquisitions.

Our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector, so sign up for it today and never miss the latest food tech and innovation news and trends, Already signed up? Share the love with your friends and colleagues!

The post 19 Companies Worth $500B Form Biodiversity Initiative, CircleUp Raises $200M for Credit Division + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

Kathleen Merrigan, former deputy secretary and COO of the United States Department of Agriculture, helped write the original 1990 Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), and now she says “the time is right to enhance the National Organic Program with biodiversity dictates.” She argues that rather than creating new standards and labels, which often just confuse consumers, there are already built-in mechanisms to push organic standards to better support things like biodiversity and soil health. She also urges that the only way to drive real food system change is to diversify leadership to better reflect societal demographics. In particular, Merrigan argues for increased investment in female founded companies and great representation of women on boards.

Below, I chat with Merrigan about true cost accounting, how we might evolve organic standards to support biodiversity, and how she’s supporting biodiversity through her new role as the director and professor of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State, as a venture partner at Astanor Ventures and as an advisor and a board member and advisor to a number of organizations.

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Danielle Gould: What is Arizona State University doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

Kathleen A. Merrigan: To understand food production in its full context, we need to factor in, and cost-out, all impacts – biodiversity, human health, water quality, climate, wasted food, etc. In doing so, what are now largely invisible costs (because they are not valued monetarily), become explicit and the choices we make about what, how, and where we produce food will become transparent.

ASU is excited by, and supporting the work that I’m doing related to TEEB for Agriculture and Food, a UN Environment Programme Initiative with several supporters, including the Global Alliance for the Future of Food. Some of your readers may be familiar with TEEB, which stands for The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity. The goal of TEEB is to “make nature’s values visible.” TEEB “AgriFood” grew out of the overall TEEB effort and for the past several years, we’ve engaged nearly 200 scholars across 33 countries in an effort to develop a framework approach that allows us to identify, and place a value on, externalities of food production, be they positive or negative. The simple idea is this: valuations of externalities enable us to understand the true cost of food. This will help our leaders, especially policymakers, make informed — and hopefully better — decisions.

Would such transparency really lead to more sustainable food systems? There is no guarantee of course, but consider the example of wasted food. People were shocked to learn the cost of wasted food, which FAO has estimated to be $1 trillion annually, and the result has been more policy proposals to address the problem. While insufficient reform has occurred to date, I am optimistic that the revelation of the issue through cost accounting will ultimately compel policymakers to act (e.g., not that long ago France prohibited grocery stores from throwing away edible food).

DG: Are there certifications or other signals that can help the average consumer determine what kinds of foods are helping promote biodiversity?

KM: The organic label is best in class when it comes to voluntary certification programs, and I believe the time is right to enhance the National Organic Program with biodiversity dictates. I can assure you that we had biodiversity on our minds when drafting the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) and its implementing regulations published in 2000, and yet you won’t find a specific section on ‘biodiversity dos and don’ts.’

There was anxiety then, and likely now, that it is difficult to measure and enforce biodiversity standards. But we’re smarter today than we were 30 years ago and we have a built-in mechanism to improve organic standards for biodiversity, soil health, and other aspects without new law. OFPA requires every producer and processor to establish an organic plan to be reviewed as part of certification. This requirement has not been utilized in the ways that I had imagined and yet it provides all kinds of opportunity to implement creative and updated thinking about production and handling standards consistent with OFPA and organic philosophy. Unfortunately, this seems to be lost on too many people and we are seeing various labels and certifications in the marketplace promoted as “better than” organic – which is almost always not true and confuses consumers looking to do the right thing.

While we will be prioritizing work on organic at the Swette Center, I should also point out that voluntary standards of any kind are no substitute for public policy – laws and incentives that support biodiversity. Consumers should pressure the marketplace for biodiversity information, but they should also be engaging in policy discussions that create biodiversity mandates, ensuring compliance across food production. A 2017 report on the 400+ voluntary sustainability standards illustrates this point with some good data.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

KM: The influx of new capital, particularly from venture capitalists who made their first fortune in Silicon Valley, has the potential to transform the food sector. Many of these firms engage in “impact investing” – meaning they only make investments that align with sustainable food systems. I am a venture partner in such a firm, Astanor Ventures, based in Europe as well as an advisor to S2G Ventures here in the US. Given the current intractability in government at the federal level, I’ve shifted some of my attention to innovations coming from the private sector, and I’m encouraged by the young entrepreneurs whom I’ve met.

Putting a twist on your question and related to the upsurge of venture capital, I want to pitch the power of people diversity. I’ve always said that it is foolish to think that we’ll change the food system without changing the decision makers around the table so to better reflect societal demographics. Part of the ‘biodiversity’ agenda needs to be about supporting women, who find it more difficult to raise capital for their companies and who are poorly represented in board rooms. I cling to the belief that things will evolve naturally, but maybe we need something like the European legal mandate that 50 percent of board seats be held by women or the new California law that requires all public boards to have at least one woman director by the close of 2019 and by 2021, at least three female directors if the board is six or more people; 2 if the board is five people; and at least one female if the board has four or fewer directors.

DG: What are some examples of food products that promote biodiversity?

KM: We need greater diversity in what we grow and eat for the many reasons your readers understand. My students will tell you that I’m pulse-crazy.  FAO has a pretty good website that describes pulses, along with their health and environmental benefits. It goes to my lifelong interest in figuring a way to make crop rotations profitable for farmers. Good, soil enhancing crop rotations are a cornerstone of sustainability and a practice mandated by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. But too often farmers lose money on crops that do right by the environment but for which consumers are not clamoring. Chef Dan Barber thinks quite a bit about this dilemma and is championing great cuisine. He has served me “rotational risotto” and “cover crop salad” – both celebrating crops that are not yet mainstream but certainly delicious.

Cover crop salad with oat bread, which she was served by Chef Dan Barber at Blue Hill at Stone Barns // Credit: Kathleen Merrigan

DG: If we get to a perfectly biodiverse food system, how would that change the typical selection of products we see in a grocery store?

KM: There is seeming abundance of choice as we travel up and down the aisles of our grocery stores. It is fairly common these days to confront up to 60,000 different items in a grocery, with some superstores having as many as 200,000! The Food Marketing Institute reports that the average number of Stock-Keeping Units (SKUs) in 2017 across all kinds of groceries was 30,098. Yet there is a falseness to this – the many brands, labels, and quantity suggest diversity, but when you get beyond the marketing jazz, much of what is presented to us is basically the same – same ingredients, same varieties, same companies. And changing this is tough. It is difficult to get a new item into a grocery unless you’re one of the big guys. I loved that Whole Foods Market had local food foragers who helped smaller scale farmers and food producers make it onto their shelves, but with all the changes that company has and is going through, those days may be over.

Years ago I used to bring my students to the University of Massachusetts Cold Spring Orchard Research and Education Center in Belchertown where they grew over 200 varieties of apples (today it’s more like 100). It was sheer joy to taste the diversity of the apples, and also learn from scientists why certain varieties fell out of favor, or were better than others in resisting pests. But what grocery is going to carry more than a handful of varieties? Even with growing interest in a tastier apple, I would love to see a grocery store with its core mission being a celebration of biodiversity. I’m going to have to dream on that awhile.

On April 30, 2019, join Kathleen Merrigan and Chef Dan Barber for an event on the Power of Deliciousness. The event will also be livestreamed by Food Tank.

Read all of our biodiversity interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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Kathleen A. Merrigan is the Kelly and Brian Swette Professor of Sustainable Food Systems at the Arizona State University School of Sustainability and director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems. Previously, Merrigan served as Deputy Secretary and COO of the United States Department of Agriculture. She is currently a board member of FoodCorps, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and is affiliated with Astanor Ventures and S2G, two firms investing in ag-tech innovations.

The post Biodiversity Requirements Will Enhance Organic Standards, Says Kathleen Merrigan appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

Can aquaponics and aquaculture support and protect biodiversity? We speak with Edenworks co-founder and CEO Jason Green about why seafood biodiversity is critical and the role aquaponics and aquaculture can play in preserving it. He also talks to us about how the company is creating biodiverse ecosystems, including microbial ecosystems, to grow seafood with no antibiotics, hormones, mercury, or waste discharge, and plants with no pesticides or added fertilizer.

Danielle Gould: Is biodiversity a priority for Edenworks? If so, how and why?

Jason Green: Biodiversity is at the core of what Edenworks does. We are an aquaponic vertical farm. We grow complete ecosystems that combine aquaculture (fish farming) with hydroponics (fertilizing plants with nutrient-rich water), inside controlled environments.

Our aquaponic ecosystems are multi-tiered food webs, just as you find in nature. We start by farming animals — fish and shrimp — both for food and for their waste. Next, we grow the microbiome — all the bacteria and fungi that live with our fish, break down their waste into fertilizer that our plants can use, and colonize plant roots to improve the health of our plants. Finally, we grow plants, which absorb all those nutrients.

By growing biodiverse ecosystems, we generate seafood with no antibiotics, hormones, mercury, or waste discharge, and plants with no pesticides or added fertilizer. It’s a beautiful marriage.

DG: How does Edenworks define and think about biodiversity? What does an ideal biodiverse food system look like? How do you measure biodiversity?

JG: Ideal, biodiverse food systems source from working, biodiverse ecosystems. What ends up on your plate — the items and ratios — should be representative of what nature can sustain.

We measure biodiversity in terms of “food webs” within our ecosystems, ie. what’s eating what. In the language of ecology, we’re looking to increase both “species richness,” the breadth of different species (x-axis), and “trophic diversity,” the number of tiers within a food web.

Beyond the visible levels of biodiversity, there is an invisible aspect to biodiversity: the microbiome. The microbiome is the community of bacteria and fungi that live in and around all of our plants and animals (and us humans).

Our oceans and soils have an almost unbelievable level of microbial diversity. A gram of healthy soil has between 100 million and one billion microbial cells. Unhealthy soil might have around 10 thousand bacterial cells, a difference of 100,000x!

It’s also now been studied that monocultures, pesticides, and industrial fertilizers reduce microbiome diversity, which creates a dependence on those chemicals. Increasing the levels of visible biodiversity exponentially increases the levels of microbiome diversity and removes the need for chemicals. So there’s a virtuous cycle at play here.

DG: What role might aquaculture play in promoting biodiversity?

JG: Seafood has been referred to as the last wild food. It is the last protein market to have meaningful levels of biodiversity. In contrast, beef, poultry, and pork have very low levels of biodiversity. So there’s real concern that if aquaculture goes the way of other protein markets, we’ll lose all that biodiversity.

Aquaculture also has unparalleled opportunity for impact. It’s the largest and fastest growing protein market in the world. In fact, it’s the fastest growing food segment overall.

What’s exciting is that biodiversity is already getting traction as a treatment for the biggest issue threatening future growth in aquaculture: pest pressure. Salmon monoculture operations globally have been under a years-long assault by sea lice. In shrimp farming, the lack of genetic diversity globally is such an issue that every few years, a huge portion of global shrimp stocks get wiped out by a single virus. Industry finds a new species that is resistant to that virus, those genetics come to dominate the global market…rinse, repeat.

Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA; it’s a mouthful) is the industry term for growing whole multi-tiered aquatic ecosystems. For example, instead of just growing salmon, also growing seaweed to absorb excess nitrogen, and bivalves to absorb organic nutrients. These biodiverse ecosystems are more disease resistant and more profitable than traditional monocultures, creating an economic incentive for biodiversity.

Fun fact: in IMTA, the biodiversity doesn’t stop at the species being farmed. All manners of wild sea creatures will begin to colonize these ecosystems, especially the “kelp forests”. Once you start farming for biodiversity, nature helps to snowball.

DG: What is Edenworks doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

JG: Edenworks is the most biodiverse indoor farm. We’ve yet to find another indoor farm that’s growing as much diversity in terms of both produce and protein. To date, we’ve grown four species of fish and more than 80 varieties of leafy greens.

In terms of what’s next for us, there are new, amazing technologies that are also allowing us to measure the diversity and contents of our microbiome.

DG: What is the business case for biodiverse aquaculture?

JG: The business case for biodiverse aquaculture is that it improves quality and profitability. I mentioned the traction that biodiverse aquaculture is gaining in improving disease resistance and profitability in offshore aquaculture. What Edenworks is doing with aquaponics is a parallel approach for growing on land instead of in the ocean.

On the plant side, a square foot of bedspace for Edenworks yields 230 percent of the average for vertical farming of leafy greens. And we deliver those yields using 90 percent less nitrogen fertilizer (derived fully from our aquaculture waste) than vertical farms that use synthetic fertilizer. Without using pesticides or sanitizers, we’ve eliminated foodborne pathogens, including E. coli, and reduced crop disease incidence from one in four harvests to one in one hundred harvests.

Using conventional (synthetic) practices, a 200 percent increase in yields requires a 500 percent increase in fertilizer. Doing some math, we’re showing that biodiversity is about 50x more powerful as a driver of yields.

On the fish side, we’ve improved the feed conversion ratio (ratio of feed in to meat out) by about one third for our bass, and early data from salmon is promising. Feed is the single largest cost and sustainability challenge in aquaculture. We’re showing that through a biodiverse approach, we can improve the dominant cost item, making higher quality, more sustainable product a cost competitive option.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

JG: Hopefully we’ve established that aquaculture can increase the biodiversity of our food system. The biggest hurdle to growth of the US aquaculture industry is regulation. In 1983, the US Joint Subcommittee on Aquaculture commissioned a study on why the US was lagging international growth in aquaculture. It found 11 federal agencies directly involved in regulating aquaculture, another 10 indirectly involved, and more than 1,200 state laws.

Instead of encouraging sustainable, biodiversity-enhancing aquaculture development, the US regulatory environment is all but impenetrable. Little has changed in the 35+ years since that study.

Edenworks sidesteps the regulatory nightmare by growing indoors — which recirculating aquaculture technology only recently made possible. But there are so many opportunities for aquaculture to enhance the biodiversity of our protein market, our watersheds, and our oceans. Improving the regulatory environment to encourage sustainable aquaculture development should be a national food security imperative.

DG: What are the greatest challenges and opportunities Edenworks faces for creating a more biodiverse system? What are you doing to overcome or capture them?

JG: Today, we’ve achieved the metrics that validate our thesis that biodiversity improves quality and profitability — higher yields, safer and more stable production through pathogen resistance, improved fertilizer & feed conversion.

The biggest challenge in getting to this point of validation was fear from most in the capital market that our biodiverse approach added complexity without benefit. We were fortunate to align ourselves with investors who shared our thesis from first principles and who were willing to ride with us so that we could collect the metrics.

DG: Are there certain products you would like to see more of in the food industry that would help promote a more biodiverse agricultural system?

JG: More domestically farmed seafood! It’s especially important that chefs help break negative stigma about farmed seafood and educate diners about high quality, sustainably farmed seafood. Dan Barber has a great TED talk about biodiverse aquaculture: “How I fell in love with a fish.”

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

JG: I’ll explain my vision by analogy. One of our investors runs an amazing grassfed beef business. A few years ago, they realized they weren’t growing beef, they were growing grass and the grass was growing the beef. So they started focusing on the grass. Then they realized that they weren’t growing the grass, the microbes in the soil were. So they started focusing on the microbes. Perhaps counterintuitive, but they realized that in order to maximize the quality and the profitability of their beef, they had to build their ecosystem from the ground up (literally).

My vision for our near future food system is that holistic or whole ecosystem farming approaches become table stakes. I’d like to not be surprised by the cattle farmer who talks to me about worms and protozoa, or the salmon farmer who’s excited about mussels and kelp.

DG: Anything else you want to share?

JG: For further reading on aquaculture, including why the US has an unfair advantage in becoming the next aquaculture powerhouse, we have a great blog post.

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Jason Green, CEO & Co-founder of Edenworks

Jason Green is CEO + Co-founder at Edenworks, a Brooklyn-based aquaponic vertical farm. Founded in 2013, Edenworks’ mission is to become the world’s largest fresh food supplier by replacing globalized supply chains with local product that is sustainable, organic, and low cost. Edenworks grows a variety of leafy greens that are fertilized by the seafood the company grows, including shrimp, salmon, and striped bass.

Prior to Edenworks, Jason developed virtual and augmented reality-based neurorehabilitation technologies and served as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellow. Jason was honored by Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30: Social Entrepreneurship in 2017 and the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s 30 Under 30 in 2018.

The post Edenworks on How Aquaponics & Aquaculture Can Promote Biodiversity appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

As over 90,000 food industry professionals packed the halls of the Anaheim Convention Center last week looking for the next big thing in CPG, three leaders from General Mills, Applegate and Kuli Kuli came together on stage to discuss one of the biggest emerging themes shaping the future of our food: biodiversity.

Promoting biodiversity — defined as the variety and variability of plants, animals, and micro-organisms in a system — is a key priority for each of these companies, and it’s a key element within the broader regenerative agriculture movement.

In the panel, moderated by Danielle Gould, founder of Food+Tech Connect, and hosted by General Mills, Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market, the group dove deeper into what it means to support biodiversity, the benefits it has to people and planet, and the opportunities to help consumers recognize and support the value of a more biodiverse, regenerative agricultural system.

The Panelists (l to r): Danielle Gould, Food+Tech Connect; Gina Asoudegan, Applegate; Shauna Sadowski, General Mills; Lisa Curtis, Kuli Kuli.

Why Biodiversity Matters 

“Every meal we sit down and eat, we are making choices,” proclaimed Shauna Sadowski, Head of Sustainability for the General Mills Natural & Organic Operating Unit. ”So when you put your meal down in front of you, how diverse is your plate?”

Eating a more diverse diet can certainly make meals more interesting and nutritionally complete, but it can also send a message to food producers that there’s demand for more than just the 12 plants and 5 animal species that make up 75 percent of our world’s food. Our heavily consolidated food supply not only concentrates food security risk, but it also ignores a wealth of interesting and nourishing foods that can benefit eaters everywhere.

For Kuli Kuli, introducing Americans to the wonders of Moringa is one way to help diversify our food system. Moringa, a nutrient dense food grown in the tropics, grows readily in tough environmental conditions and is a crop that improves nutrition and livelihoods worldwide. The company’s Moringa-based products, which range from smoothie mixes to energy shots, make it easy for eaters to enjoy this green superfood, but it also brings a lot of value to the ecosystem and communities where it comes from.

“Most of the farmers we work with have never exported anything before,” said Lisa Curtis, Founder and CEO of Kuli Kuli. “We help them figure out the technical aspects in order to get [Moringa] up to American processing standards.”

Kuli Kuli sources its Moringa — which grows with minimal water and in hot, sandy soils — from places like Ghana, Uganda, and Haiti to name a few, and it has worked hard to make sure those who grow this food have sustainable economic growth and nutritional security. Creating demand for previously lesser known products like Moringa builds diversity in our diets while acting as a boon to developing communities where it has become a more dependable source of income.

For General Mills, biodiversity is both about ensuring healthy ecosystems and a healthy business and food supply. “Beyond mitigating economic risk associated with threats like crop disease, pests, and climate shocks, biodiversity benefits effective ecosystem functioning, and in turn, ensures sustained yields over time,” wrote Sadowski.

“As a food company, we rely on the stable availability of agricultural ingredients,” Sadowski continued. “Our efforts to foster biodiversity balance the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.”

That triple bottom line benefit is the core of why increasing biodiversity is so valuable to the food system. In fact, General Mills is leaning in heavily to the idea, as it recently announced that it will be applying regenerative agriculture practices to 1 million acres of farmland by the year 2030.

Building a Farmer-Led Movement

Regenerative agriculture and biodiverse systems bring the farmer back into the forefront, especially in CPG where the brand has historically been the center of attention. Curtis emphasized that food biodiversity is not just about introducing a new ingredient to our palates, but about empowering communities around the world to actively participate in the global food system, thereby bringing them into the spotlight and diversifying the kinds of people who grow our food.

Gina Asoudegan, Vice President of Mission & Innovation at Applegate, added: “regenerative, biodiverse agriculture, to me, does not just mean the soil and the microbiology that’s there, but also the farm and the farming community.”

Supporting biodiversity and regenerative agriculture means giving a much louder voice to the farmers, who have a far more intimate relationship with the soil and environment in which our food is grown and can use that knowledge to guide product innovation.

Typically, manufacturers set the agenda on what is grown and how, with farmers having to follow their customer’s lead. This mentality is shifting at companies like General Mills, Applegate, and Kuli Kuli, and there’s been a stronger effort to elevate and tell the stories of farmers as the true innovators, entrepreneurs, and change-makers. In a sense, CPG is taking a page from the “farm to table” playbook that restaurants have been doing for decades, treating farmers more like partners versus mere suppliers.

“[Farmers should] tell us what’s good for the farmland and then we will take those foods and create products around them,” said Asoudegan, with a round of applause from the audience that followed.

This approach is evident in Applegate’s newly launched the New Food Collective, “a community of farmers, butchers, and eaters who champion real and delicious food.” The first product from that initiative is a line of sausages made from regenerative, pasture raised pigs. Letting those pigs roam and graze the woods and fields builds healthy soil, improves water retention, and builds biodiversity on the land, but also creates incredibly flavorful meat. So much so that the product line won a Nexty Award for Best New Mission-Based Product at this year’s Expo West show.

A key part of the General Mills approach to biodiversity and regenerative agriculture is forging closer ties with its farmers. “We want people to know that regenerative agriculture is a farmer led movement and we need to use our scale to amplify that message to consumers,” noted Sadowski.

The company has been hosting an ongoing series of farmer roundtables as one of the ways to listen more closely to its farmers. One outcome from this collaboration is a Regenerative Agriculture scorecard, which acts as a framework for how to reach key outcomes such as soil health, above ground biodiversity, and economic resilience in farming communities. General Mills designed the scorecard alongside farmers, scientists, and other experts and actively solicits feedback to iterate and ensure user-friendliness and value to farmers.

But while the farmer-manufacturer collaborations have largely been fruitful so far, there are still more opportunities at this stage to expand these types of relationships and make the transition to regenerative practices easier for farmers everywhere.

During audience Q&A, a farmer solemnly raised his hand to critique the move toward more regenerative, biodiverse practices spurred on by manufacturers. He mentioned that while he already knows how to grow food in a regenerative way, he isn’t always compensated for that additional effort and as a result, can’t farm that way right now.

While he didn’t state any official connection to any of the manufacturers on the panel, it was clear that there was still more work to further incentivize farmers like him to shift toward a more regenerative model.

The panel was quick to respond emphatically to the farmer with heartfelt reassurances that they are very focused on the needs of the farmer and building sufficient market demand so they can be appropriately compensated for cultivating a better product. There was a palpable sense of empathy for farmers and all that they go through to make our food.

“People are part of this system, so how do we change the economic models to make this way of farming viable for them?” said Asoudegan. “I am your people!”

75% of our food comes from just 12 plants and 5 animal species: Mike Lee of The Future Market introduces the panel.

Making the Case to Eaters

Listening closely to farmers and being attune to the needs of the land are only half the battle for food manufacturers. They still need to translate the value of biodiversity and regenerative agriculture to everyday consumers, which are critical to creating the financial incentives necessary to shift supply chains. These agricultural values are not yet recognized and valued by mainstream consumers on a large scale, so the industry has a lot more to learn and do to raise awareness.

“When we first started talking about crop rotations, integrated livestock management, and perennial systems…how many of our consumers understood what that meant?” said Sadowski. She also alluded to the fact that the way Annie’s communicated the regenerative benefits of some of its product lines has evolved, and will continue to evolve, as they find out what messages work and don’t work with consumers.

“We are still learning about how to talk about this,” said Sadowski. “We’re looking at the ways we are bringing the topic to people without overly beating them on the head with it. The package is one place where we can communicate, but we also have a lot of other areas.”

Similarly, Curtis recalled times when the environmental benefits of her main ingredient didn’t immediately translate into incremental sales for Kuli Kuli.

“We did consumer tests at farmers market around Moringa trees and how they’re great for soil and for the planet, but found that people would come talk to us for 30 minutes and then walk away without buying anything,” she said. “We found that we were putting people in this non-profit state of mind where they were interested at a high level but did not make the connection of ‘oh, I can make this impact if I buy this product.’”

And therein lies the crucial challenge and opportunity for the movement: how do manufacturers convince consumers at scale that biodiverse, regeneratively grown food is something they should prefer and likely pay a premium for?

It was evident that each company had a strong blueprint and much progress to show for how to create a biodiverse, regenerative production system. But as a still growing movement, there’s a significant challenge ahead to bring the ideas espoused by the panelists to the everyday eater who may not immediately understand how these agricultural methods translate into a differentiated food product.

Just down the hall from the ballroom we were sitting in, some of the more than 3,000 food brands at Expo West were evangelizing a litany of “on-trend” features of the moment: keto, CBD, probiotics, and more. Naturally, these products appeal first and foremost to tried and true needs of the individual: lose weight, ease pain, stay healthy, and so on. Whether those products can fulfil the promises they make is a whole other topic in and of itself, but regardless, it’s hard to ignore the fact that these selfish pursuits have created an enormous financial opportunity for food brands of all sizes.

Juxtaposed against this sea of products vying to meet the most visceral, highly personal needs, the challenge in the coming years for the regenerative agriculture movement is to build the case for the question that every consumer implicitly asks of their food: what’s in it for me?

The case is compelling for how biodiversity and regenerative agriculture can benefit the planet and the people who grow our food. But can the industry make a stronger connection between these methods and how they directly make more delicious, more nutritious food? Can they tell a story of how food grown this way can deliver on the trifecta of being better for people, planet, and palate? Or are the altruistic benefits enough, and the increasingly progressive food consumer will support the regenerative movement solely for the sake of the planet and farmers, with less regard for their own personal benefit?

These are significant questions, and how the industry answers them will set the pace of scale for biodiversity and regenerative agriculture in the coming years. But hearing from the pragmatically ambitious and accomplished panelists and the companies they represent, one is left with the confidence and optimism that the future of our food system is in good hands.

To learn more about the current and future state of biodiversity and what the industry is doing, read our ongoing editorial series and check out more info on the future of biodiversity at The Future Market.

The post Food Biodiversity at Expo West 2019 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

Throughout this series, we’ve spoken a lot about diversifying what we’re eating, but diversity in our soil is equally important. Soil biodiversity, the variability of living organisms in our soil that interact with one another and with plants and animals in the ecosystem, is critical to the health and functioning of all ecosystems. Healthy soil provides a myriad of essential ecosystems services, like carbon sequestration, storing and processing water and enhancing plant health.

Below, I speak with Tina Owens, senior director of agriculture for Danone North America, about how and why the company is supporting soil health through its multi-million dollar research program dedicated to helping farmers enhance the organic matter in their soil and its overall fertility. She also shares insight into how the company measures its impact on soil health, as well as how it invests in farmers to help them covert to soil practices that promote biodiversity.

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Danielle Gould: Is biodiversity a priority for Danone North America? If so, how and why?

Tina Owens: Yes, biodiversity is a major priority for Danone North America because it is a major driver of the health of our planet. Our global vision of One Planet. One Health is guided by the belief that the planet that feeds us and the lives of everyone on it are deeply interconnected. As a public benefit corporation and the largest Certified B Corporation® in the world, we are committed to both business and social progress, and we embed responsible animal welfare, sustainable agriculture and innovative regenerative farming practices into how we do business.

DG: How does Danone North America define and think about biodiversity?

TO: Because we know the health of people and the health of planet are inseparable, we think about and prioritize biodiversity through the very foundation of our food system: the health of our planet’s soil. Soil is key to all survival on planet earth – 95 percent of food directly or indirectly relies on it. We offer a diverse range of dairy and plant-based products, and all of them rely on and have the ability to contribute to healthy soil.

DG: What is Danone North Americadoing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

TO: As America’s largest yogurt maker, we saw an opportunity to initiate a breakthrough soil health research program through our own supply chain and relationships with farmers. In March 2018, we launched a multi-year, multi-million-dollar soil health research program to help farmers reach for better soil health and improve their own livelihoods. We also announced our ambition to commit up to $6M for the research program over the next five years.

Through our soil health research program, Danone North America aims to identify ways to help regenerate soils – including enhancing organic matter and soil fertility with long-term benefits like soil carbon sequestration, reduced chemicals use, water holding capacity, biodiversity and economic resilience of farmer communities. In partnership with growers, dairy farmer partners and third-party soil health experts, our program includes soil sampling, review of crop yield, conversations with growers about their individual needs, data collection and analysis, first reports and field days with farmers to provide training around soil health best practices.

But we can’t do it alone, so Danone North America joined The Carbon Underground, Green America and other food companies to inform the design and development of a new global certification standard for food grown in a regenerative way.

Finally, the company is exploring options to participate in the Regenerative Organic Alliance, a group working to develop a new standard, which will be known as Regenerative Organic Certification. The work with the Regenerative Organic Alliance would complement our commitment to the USDA Organic Standard through pioneering brands, like Horizon Organic, which was instrumental in working with the USDA to establish organic standards and the USDA Organic seal. We seek to understand how this proposed certification can benefit our planet and farming communities through soil health, animal welfare, social fairness and offer more choices for our consumers and our business.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

TO: With all life beginning in soil, using agricultural practices that can help regenerate soils is an urgent need. We believe all food companies have a responsibility to protect the health and vitality of soil we rely on for business. Danone North America believes that making changes like embracing innovative farming practices is critically important for the future of agriculture, and the private sector has an essential role to play in making sure these changes happen on a significant scale.

Beginning in 2017, we began working with EcoPractices, a third-party partner that gives us the technology we need to assess risks and sustainability performance in our supply chain, to better understand the practices behind how crops are grown on several farms that feed into our dairies. This partnership allowed us to determine whether the farms were increasing biodiversity through the planting of cover crops and crop rotations, and we began monitoring pesticides, fertilizers and herbicide application. In addition to our animal feed crops like non-GMO corn, soy and canola, these farms grew twelve cover crops including varieties of oats, triticale, winter wheat, rye, peas and radishes. Because cover crops help our farmers with productivity, while also reducing environmental impact, we continue to advance our strategy of funding cover crops and crop rotations throughout our supply chain.

Our North American agriculture team is heavily focused on opening avenues of new investment via grants, private partnerships and impact investing that will help more of our farmers convert to soil practices that promote a more biodiverse system. But we do not expect the individual farms to bear the brunt of work required to change current agricultural practices, so we use our position within the industry to open doors across the food system – through policy advocacy, access to funding or training or raising awareness – to drive positive change throughout our agricultural community.

DG: What are the greatest challenges and opportunities your organization faces for creating a more biodiverse system? What are you doing to overcome or capture them?

TO: As America’s largest yogurt maker and top plant-based producer, we have an opportunity to promote the vitality of soil on a large scale with the help of our grower and farmer partners. That’s why we’ve committed more than $6 million over five years to our soil health research program and engaged a host of growers, farmers, NGOs and experts to support a healthy planet.

DG: How are you or how do you plan to handle the sourcing and scaling of biodiverse ingredients or agriculture?

TO: As the top organic food maker in the U.S., with pioneering organic brands, we work to find opportunities to apply our knowledge of sustainable practices across all of our businesses and diverse supply chains, from organic to Non-GMO Project Verified to conventional. Whether it is driving more sustainable ingredient sourcing or advancing packaging recyclability, we bring all of our businesses along on the path to a better world through food. We’ve put responsible, sustainable sourcing practices into place throughout our supply chain and made them an integral part of our strategy. Some examples of this work in action include: rolling out a compliance program to 100 percent of our suppliers to help us track where they are located so we can be conscious about working with local suppliers where possible and working to drive change in packaging by committing to pursue the goals outlined in Danone’s 2018 Packaging Policy.

Participating in pilot programs or working groups like Regenerative Organic Certification or the Carbon Farming Innovation Network allows us to serve as a leader within our communities when it comes to incorporating innovative ways of working and adopting new standards and certifications. We’re participating in industry leading programs, engaging at the nucleus of these groups to embed new ways of working and thinking into our long-term strategies.

An example of scaling a biodiverse agricultural product would be under our Horizon Organic brand, the first national organic milk brand in the United States, and a brand that worked with the USDA to establish organic standards and the USDA Organic seal. Our Horizon Organic Grassfed milk, which is from cows that are pasture-raised and graze on certified organic fresh pasture, launched in 2018 and represents our commitment to raising the bar on the organic experience for both the consumer and the dairy cow.

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

TO: We believe a more biodiverse food system requires a reinvention of our relationship with food. In fact, we’d go so far as to call it a food revolution — one for greater well-being for people and the planet — which we are eager and ready to boldly lead, together with consumers, retailers, farmers, suppliers and not-for-profits, to design, produce, market and consume food in new, healthier and more sustainable ways.

We all have a stake in food, both for the fundamental nutritional needs it serves and the enjoyment it brings us. The profound role that food plays in unlocking the health of people and the planet is a central premise behind our parent company Danone’s signature — One Planet. One Health — which invites others to use their everyday decisions to join us in building a healthier world through food.

We are using our size as a large food company as a force for good and hope others join so we can leave this planet for future generations in a state of health better than that which we inherited.

Read all of our biodiversity interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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Tina Owens, Senior Director of Agriculture at Danone North America

Tina Owens is the Senior Director of Agriculture for Danone North America, the largest public benefit corporation and the largest Certified B Corporation in the world. Tina leads the charge for regenerative agriculture practices, farmer profitability, unique animal feed supply chain development and regenerative financing. She also oversees Danone’s public commitment to soil health in North America, working with partners such as Cornell University and EcoPractices.

Prior to joining Danone in 2018 Tina led sustainability and strategic sourcing at Kashi Company, including the brands Bear Naked, Stretch Island Fruit Company, and Pure Organics. At Kashi she led the strategy on eight commodities to convert farmers to organic practices via the company’s collaborative effort with QAI on the Certified Transitional protocol. Under Tina’s leadership this program returned over $2 million in increased profitability from 2016 to 2018 across a cohort of 14 farms. Tina instituted responsible sourcing programs related to honeybee health, cocoa, wheat and oats. In 2011 Tina achieved the first round of Non-GMO Project Verified products for Kashi and continued to support the Non-GMO Project Renovation work for the full Kashi portfolio.

Tina and her family live on 12 acres in Michigan where they are transitioning previously farmed land to grow a variety of food using an agroforestry and regenerative approach.

The post How Danone North America Aims to Improve Soil Health appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

The National Young Farmers Coalition is an organization dedicated to helping young farmers succeed. Below, I speak with executive director Lindsey Lusher Shute about why biodiversity is critical to the future success of agriculture in the United States, what policies and investments are needed to help farmers cultivate more biodiverse farming operations and what eaters can do to support a more biodiverse food system.

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Danielle Gould: Is biodiversity a priority for National Young Farmer Coalition? If so, how and why?

Lindsey Lusher Shute: Biodiversity is an important component of our mission as we support the policies and practices that enable a more sustainable, successful future for U.S. agriculture. According to our latest farmer survey, practices that support biodiversity are also a priority for young farmers: 75 percent of our farmers practice sustainable methods, 63 percent follow organic standards and 81 percent of our farmers run diversified operations.

DG: How does the National Young Farmers Coalition define and think about biodiversity? What does an ideal biodiverse food system look like?

LLS: On a farm, biodiversity means not only the plants, invertebrates, mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish that already live there — but also what we as farmers introduce to the landscape.

I can’t imagine an upper limit for biodiversity, and particularly in this moment when we are seeing the collapse of biodiversity on a global scale. It’s frankly hard to even describe what “good” might mean when it comes to biodiversity because there are still so many discoveries being made. We are a long way off from knowing even the extent of life on this planet and the interwoven nature of it all.

DG: As a farmer, how do you think about biodiversity?

LLS: On our farm, we’ve collaborated with the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program to look at insect biodiversity on our farm and how beneficial insects interact with pests. Over the course of the research on our property, they found three kinds of butterflies that we didn’t even know about: the Fiery Skipper, the Common Buckeye and the Hackberry Emperor. With wild pollinators responsible for pollinating half of all food crops, knowledge of these native species and the habitats that support them is incredibly valuable.

Biodiversity is meaningful to Ben and I because we want our farm to support life in all of its forms, and also because we know that biodiversity is critical to the farm’s success.

DG: What is National Young Farmer Coalition doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

LLS: Biodiversity cannot be achieved on one farm alone; policy and practices across the globe impact the health of our land and the biodiversity of our individual farms. We have spoken out on behalf of our farmers on many issues that impact biodiversity: land use changes, climate change, seed biodiversity, pesticides and herbicides, sustainable farm practices that are intended to work in tandem with the natural environment.

We advocate with our farmers, bringing producers from across the country to Washington, DC to ask Congress to support conservation policies that support and encourage biodiversity on the farm. Lastly, we also work to empower young farmers who are passionate environmentalists and farm in a way that supports biological diversity.

DG: What is the business case for biodiverse agriculture?

LLS: There is no farmer, no matter the scale or practice, who doesn’t recognize the importance of biodiversity. Farmers continuously rely on the bounty of nature and ingenuity of science to help them grow healthy crops.

That said, I would like to see more farmers embrace seed and breed biodiversity because what farmers choose to buy and grow on their farms today has an real impact on future farm biodiversity. When we no longer use a seed variety or only raise a certain kind of livestock — promoting, say, certain traits for economic efficiency alone — our community intentionally narrows the genetic diversity in agriculture.

And really that’s the crux of it: in a world with climate change, we need choices and regionally adapted varieties of seed and breeds. With choice, and with diversity, we reduce risk and build needed resilience.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

LLS: Farmers need to be supported as they implement conservation practices that increase biodiversity. A farm conservation plan, as currently required by USDA, should incorporate more measures of biodiversity and considerations for increasing it on each farm. We need ongoing research into organics, seed varieties, breeding and the like to continue to expand what farmers can grow, as well as more research into farm practices that are both efficient and ecological.

And lastly, we must address climate and land use. The nation must invest in a new economy that will drastically reduce our carbon footprint and halt global warming, and we need to protect our natural landscapes and habitats from fragmentation and development. All of these things — smart planning, research, science and conservation —represent major investments.

DG: What are the greatest challenges and opportunities farmers face for creating a more biodiverse system? What are you doing to overcome or capture them?

LLS: This might not be an obvious answer, but one of the most difficult issues for our farmers is land ownership. Without land ownership very few of our farmers can make investments into farm infrastructure and conservation that could adequately address the global crisis of biodiversity. Who owns and manages our landscapes is a critical question.

We also hear from many farmers about their need for extension and technical support services for organics and sustainable agriculture. This is a major need.

And lastly, we need to take a hard look at pesticides and herbicides and how they are impacting biodiversity. The recent issues around dicamba are a stark reminder of the negative impacts that farmers can have on the environment, and an impact that can extend well beyond the farm.

DG: How might we get more farmers to invest in biodiverse agriculture?

LLS: First and foremost, farmers need to own land. After that, they need low-interest loans or grants to support the cost and a consumer who is willing to pay a little more for food grown with practices that support a healthy ecosystem.

Research that makes the economic case for biodiversity may also encourage these practices. If you can demonstrate that improved diversity ultimately boosts productivity and sales potential, many more farmers may make the transition. As we’re already seeing, the increased consumer demand for sustainably grown products, even at higher price points, is also enabling farmers to invest in these practices.

Lastly, ensure that farmers, including beginning farmers and farmers of color, have access to key conservation programs so incentives are distributed equitably to farmer to promote biodiversity on their farms and ranches.

DG: What are some of the most important things food manufacturers, retailers, chefs and other key actors across the food supply chain can do to support biodiverse agriculture?

LLS: Buy local. Make the effort and deal with the small quantities that may be available now — because your purchases will help a farm and a farm community grow. I’ve also been impressed with Dan Barber and other chefs who are actively seeking to expand the varieties available to them, and who are working directly with farmers on breeding.

DG: Are there certain products you would like to see more of in the food industry — either in foodservice or CPG — that would help promote a more biodiverse agricultural system?

LLS: Again, I just want to have the opportunity to buy more products that were made by family-scale farmers with good practices. I also think that the entire idea of “foodservice” does not lend itself to biodiversity. When an institution is seeking perfect uniformity of weight or size or fat content, they are naturally limiting diversity of what’s grown. To address biodiversity, the entire industry would require a significant shift in priorities and different expectations for preparation and price.

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

LLS: I’ll just say that 10-15 years is lightning fast when it comes to farming and agriculture. We have moved so far from animal and crop production that truly reflects a diverse food system, that I know it will take decades to build something that’s truly different on the ground. That said, I do think that we’re on our way in many respects and I am so hopeful about the young people I see farming today who care deeply about these issues. As these farmers take more leadership in the food system, we see positive shifts.

A more biodiverse food system must be fundamentally based on a system that defaults to locally grown products and is prepared for differences and diversity in ingredients. It is a system where consumers put even greater value on food that is grown with community in mind, with biodiversity in mind and is willing to be a little bit slower overall.

The idea of “slow” and “patient” is a fundamental value in a biodiverse system. We must take the time to listen and observe the environment around us, and work with it as we grow food; consumers must take the time to buy local products and support biodiversity and sustainable practices with their food budgets; and communities must take the time to listen to each other and advance innovative solutions to land use, climate and the pressing environmental issues of our day.

Read all of the interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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Lindsey Lusher Shute, Executive Director and Co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition

Under Lindsey’s leadership, Young Farmers grew from a few volunteer farmers to a nationwide network with 42 chapters in 28 states and a base of over 150,000. Lindsey has edited and authored nine reports for the coalition, including Building a Future with Farmers: Challenges faced by Young, American Farmers and a Strategy to Help Them Succeed. This report established Young Farmer’s first policy platform and was the first to survey the nation’s millennial farmers. Farmland Conservation 2.0: How Land Trusts Can Save America’s Working Farms and a New York Times op-ed, “Keep Farmland for Farmers”, launched a national land access campaign that engaged hundreds of land trust professionals in making farmland affordable for future generations of farmers.

The coalition has become a force for leadership development and grassroots campaigns. It has passed 4 state laws and recently won hundreds of millions of dollars for small and sustainable farms in the 2018 Farm Bill. The national network of chapter leaders is now a pathway to leadership for young farmers, helping them raise their voices at the local, state and national levels.

Lindsey regularly speaks at conferences and to national media on farm issues, and was recognized as a “Champion of Change” by President Barack Obama. She was named among “20 Food Leaders Under 40” by Food Tank, and an “American Food Hero” by Eating Well Magazine. Lindsey holds a M.S. in Environmental Policy from Bard College and a BFA from New York University.

Lindsey and her husband, Benjamin, own and operate a 900-member CSA farm in Columbia County, New York.

The post The Future of Farming Must Be Biodiverse, Says National Young Farmers Coalition appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

Wholesome Wave enables underserved eaters to make healthier food choices by increasing affordable access to locally and regionally grown fruits and vegetables. Now, the team behind Wholesome Wave is launching Wholesome Crave, a for-profit, socially responsible soup company created to directly benefit Wholesome Wave.

Below, I speak with founder and James Beard Award winning chef Michel Nischan about how he and Wholesome Crave think about biodiversity. As Millennials and Gen-Z look for more global and flavor-driven food experiences, he argues, we need supply chains and foods that better meet their needs, which also happens to support biodiversity.

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Danielle Gould: Why is biodiversity a priority for Wholesome Wave and Wholesome Crave?

Michel Nischan: Wholesome Wave focuses solely on making produce available to food insecure families. Wholesome Crave will be prioritizing biodiversity in the food supply chain once we’re up and running. We will continue working to expand market demand for an array of biodiverse ingredients to be able to offer exciting and stimulating flavor profiles, cultural appeal and to differentiate Crave from existing offerings.

DG: How does Wholesome Wave and Wholesome Crave define and think about biodiversity?

MN: Crave looks at biodiversity as an essential component in creating a new reality in a supply chain currently very limited in any meaningful diversity. We know that by pleasing our eaters and offering them greater diversity, the resulting demand at scale could have positive environmental and human health impacts.

DG: What is the business case for products that promote a more biodiverse food system?

MN: Biodiversity equals flavor excitement. With Millennials and Gen-Z highly interested in and spending money on a wide variety of ethnic cuisines, the supply chain needs to step-up in ways that can address this expansive market demand. Planting biodiverse crops, and marketing them appropriately/accordingly, would provide quite a competitive advantage, considering how so much of the current supply chain is held by “old-school – big-food” companies.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

MN: Agricultural land leases need to go well beyond the current norm of year-to-year. Harvesting equipment for multiple varietals of legumes, grains and specialty crops. Ag technology to respond to changes in climate linking to varietals that grow well in draught, heavier rain patterns, etc.

DG: What are the greatest challenges and opportunities your organizations faces for creating a more biodiverse system, and what are you doing to overcome or capture them?

MN: The current food supply chain is set up more for efficiency than diversity. Market demand will be the answer here, as well as logistics tech that can introduce producers directly to the end user. There is plenty of supply chain infrastructure to support wheat, but Teff cannot be run through the same infrastructure, other than the transportation element.

DG: Does your average consumer care about biodiversity today? No, but that is changing. Why should they care?

MN: With the rapidly growing number of eaters (who are already craving diverse flavor) expressing their values regarding the environment, labor practices, sustainability and so on, biodiversity is a consistent solution. How do you (or will you) get them to care? By delivering exceptional flavor coupled with using digital communication to demonstrate the end benefit to under-served communities, directly to the eater.

DG: What are some of the most important things food manufacturers can do to support biodiversity? Retailers? Other key parts of the food supply chain?

MN: Vary the ingredients they use in their products. Onions, carrots and celery can be found in 70 percent of a full portfolio of a soup company’s product list.

DG: Are there certain products you would like to see more of in the food industry that would help promote a more biodiverse agricultural system?

MN: Asian, site-specific Central American, fermented, ancient grains and legumes.

Read all of our biodiversity interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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Credit:Tom Hopkins

Michel Nischan, Chef, Author and Food Equity Advocate Founder & CEO, Wholesome Wave & Wholesome Crave

Michel Nischan is a four-time James Beard Award winning chef with over 30 years of leadership advocating for a more healthful, sustainable food system. He is Founder and CEO of Wholesome Wave, Co-Founder of the James Beard Foundation’s Chefs Action Network, as well as Founder and Partner with the late actor Paul Newman of the former Dressing Room Restaurant. Nischan, whose parents were farmers, began his career at 19, cooking breakfast at a truck stop. He quickly realized that the ingredients coming in the back door fell far short of the farm-fresh harvests he’d grown up on, and began a life-long career championing the farm-to-table concept, decades before it had a name.

Nischan was instrumental in securing $100M for Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grants for the food equity field in the 2014 Federal Farm Bill, expanding affordable access to locally grown fruits and vegetables. He’s also the author of three cookbooks on sustainable food systems and social equity through food. A lifetime Ashoka fellow, he serves as a director on the board of the Jacques Pepin Foundation and on the advisory boards of Chef’s Collaborative, Modern Farmer, Good Food Media Network and The National Young Farmers Coalition. The James Beard Foundation honored Nischan as the 2015 Humanitarian of The Year. To learn more about Chef Nischan, follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and visit www.chefnischan.com To learn more about Wholesome Wave visit, follow us on Twitter and Instagram or visit www.wholesomewave.org

The post Millennial & Gen-Z Eating Behaviors Will Shift Supply Chains, Says Michel Nischan appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

As we’ve talk about in this series, capital is critical to building a more biodiverse food system. One organization at the forefront of driving capital to this space is Arabella Advisors, an advisory that helps its clients develop food system, conservation and climate change related philanthropic and policy strategies. They also lead Good Food Ventures, an investment club that sources and diligences transformative market-based solutions.

Below, I speak with Eric Kessler, founder, principal and senior managing director, and Cyrus Kharas, associate director, about why we need greater investment in technologies that support transparency, supply chain innovation and connect eaters to the producers of their food.

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Danielle Gould: Why is biodiversity a priority for Arabella Advisors?

Cyrus Kharas & Eric Kessler: Many of our clients dedicate a tremendous amount of attention, effort and resources to making sure our food systems are healthy and sustainable – and biodiversity is a meaningful component of that. For example, some of our projects have involved supporting sustainable biofertilizer development, clean-meat products and policy initiatives that advance a healthy more biodiverse planet.

DG: How does your organization define and think about biodiversity? What does an ideal biodiverse food system look like? How do you measure biodiversity, and when will we know when we’ve arrived at a “good” level of biodiversity?

CK & EK: We believe a more biodiverse food system will be one that provides more diverse and ecologically sensitive food choices. Within Arabella’s food systems work, we see how the variability among animal and plants results in healthier, more sustainable and more resilient food systems that can serve the needs of all communities. We measure biodiversity by the number and range of living beings and how well an ecosystem can withstand shocks, such as those resulting from climate change. It isn’t clear necessarily how we will know when we have reached a sufficient level of biodiversity, but what is certainly clear is that pursuing it needs to be a priority.

DG: What is your organization doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

CK & EK: As philanthropic advisors, we help our clients build grant-making portfolios and policy agendas that target specific food system, conservation and climate goals. In addition, we spearhead Good Food Ventures, an investment club that sources, conducts due diligence on and presents transformative market-based solutions to investors who are interested in contributing to a healthy and sustainable food system. The companies in which our clients invest are for-profit companies that aim to achieve strong financial and environmental impacts – often with an explicit focus on biodiversity.

DG: What is the business case for products that promote a more biodiverse food system?

CK & EK: The market has shown that the economic case for healthier foods sourced from sustainable locations via transparent and humane practices is strong and growing. If we think about how niche an organic market was 20 years ago versus the prevalence of organic produce and markets today, the trend is incredible. The markets for organic or local produce, grassfed proteins, fair-trade coffee and chocolate, and other products have emerged and grown is all an investor needs to see to understand the value the market is putting on environmental and social values like biodiversity.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

CK & EK: Investors need to support the development of the food supply chain and the creation of new technologies that support transparency and connect consumers with producers. It will be critical for entrepreneurs to effectively and efficiently reach the end consumer, which makes supply chain developments for small-scale farmers or innovative clean-protein products essential. Investments in technologies – ranging from biofertilizers to enablement software to get products in front of consumers – will be critical at each juncture of the supply chain to ensure an efficient market that can support businesses that have recognized the importance of biodiversity in their business model.

DG: How might we reinvent capital structures or create incentives to create more investment in biodiversity?

CK & EK: We already see great momentum in the investment world concerning biodiversity and healthy food systems. For one, there is much more money, attention and talent focusing on the sector. Naturally, that activity leads to competition, innovation and creative solutions. Demographic trends also drive more visibility of market opportunities in the broader food system. For example, many people understand that global population growth will require improved efficiency in food production and delivery. Cutting-edge companies are now exploring cost-effective ways to develop proteins to feed the growing population using controlled and sustainable methods, and investors have noticed.

We can also continue to look at technology for ways to reinvent capital or incentives for investment to drive improved biodiversity. With new technology, consumers can track where their food comes from and how it gets to them. This transparency will allow open and efficient markets to determine the supply/demand dynamics for products that build a focus on biodiversity into their model.

DG: What are some of the most important things investors, food manufacturers, retailers and other key actors across the supply chain can do to support biodiversity?

CK & EK: Investing and adopting new technologies will be critical, particularly when it comes to creating a supply chain that encourages a more biodiverse food system. Investors can also encourage consumers to make purchasing decisions that account for biodiversity, sustainability, fair treatment of workers and other social and environmental issues by supporting education and messaging. Finally, all of these actors should continue to promote the importance of biodiversity in their business and provide additional momentum for businesses that recognize and incorporate that awareness into their business models.

DG: What exciting products, technologies or services are you seeing that support a more biodiverse food system?

CK & EK: We see hundreds of companies, products, technologies and services that are working to serve communities better, healthier and more environmentally sustainable foods. As mentioned earlier, clean-proteins or plant-based meat alternatives are a huge opportunity for the market. Entrepreneurs are also addressing the food retailers, grocers, restaurants, campuses and even other food-product producers waste and how that food can be repurposed or transformed into useful products. While these products may not directly promote biodiversity, their business models reduce our dependence on products that degrade biodiversity and the environment.

DG: Are there certain products you would like to see more of in the food industry that would help promote a more biodiverse agricultural system?

CK & EK: Clean proteins, local produce, more diversity within food and produce categories and more seasonality are all trends that we would like to see and would immediately contribute to a more biodiverse agriculture system. Part of what will support a more biodiverse agriculture system is a more transparent supply-demand dynamic for new and diverse food.

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

CK & EK: In 2030, consumers will know exactly where their local produce comes from and how it is grown and will be able to make informed decisions about what they eat and what types of producers and farmers they purchase it from. And the benefits of each incremental step toward greater biodiversity will cascade. We will experience cleaner air and water. We will have safer food void of contaminants. Our farmers will have more dependable incomes. Food desert communities will be extinct. And on and on.

DG: Anything else you want to share?

CK & EK: We see many equally important channels investors can support to make true biodiversity reality: important nonprofit service providers, critical research endeavors, innovative entrepreneurs, influential advocates and more. At Arabella we will continue to champion these efforts to drive the change we all want to see in our food system and in our communities.

Read all of our biodiversity interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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Cyrus Kharas, Associate Director at Arabella Advisors

Cyrus Kharas is an associate director on the Impact Investing team at Arabella. He works across a broad range of Arabella’s individual, institutional, and corporate clients, and contributes to the firm’s analysis of trends and opportunities in the impact investing field. He has substantial experience in economics, international development, capital markets, and social impact, and brings this expertise to support projects across Arabella. In his time at Arabella, Cyrus has managed several projects ranging in focus from capital markets dynamics for minority and female entrepreneurs to climate change initiatives. Cyrus is driven to find creative ways to unlock philanthropic and private capital to solve global challenges.

Prior to joining Arabella Advisors, Cyrus spent several years at Goldman Sachs in the investment management division, where he focused on cross-asset class allocation and portfolio strategy. His team focused on institutions and the current and retired partners of Goldman Sachs. Previously, he was an analyst at Calvert Impact Capital, where he designed and managed portfolios of impact investments for institutional clients with specific impact goals. He participated in the underwriting and presenting of investments to the clients, as well as ongoing financial and impact monitoring of the portfolio. Cyrus began his career at the US Treasury Department in the Office of International Affairs.

Cyrus serves on the junior board of the New York City-based Advocates for Children, a nonprofit organization dedicated to representing disadvantaged kids in the NYC school system. He has a BA from Tufts University in psychology and economics and an MBA with a concentration in economics from NYU Stern School of Business. Cyrus is an avid soccer player and fan. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.

Eric Kessler, Founder, Principal and Senior Managing Director of Arabella Advisors

Eric is a serial entrepreneur who has started, led, and advised organizations pursuing social change across the country and around the globe. As founder of Arabella Advisors, Eric has been at the forefront of innovation and impact in the philanthropic sector during one of its greatest historical expansions.

While guiding Arabella from a small startup to a company with more than 160 employees that advises on several billion dollars of philanthropic resources annually, Eric has focused on helping clients achieve their philanthropic goals by devising grant-making strategies, mounting effective advocacy campaigns, evaluating impact, and managing their foundation’s operations. In addition to serving a broad range of family, institutional, and corporate clients, Eric leads the firm’s work with clients who are working to improve our food system through policies and business investments that promote nutritious, sustainable, and affordable food.

Eric’s interest in the food sector extends well beyond his work at Arabella. He chairs the committee at the James Beard Foundation that oversees efforts to engage the culinary community in advocacy on food policy, and he created the foundation’s Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change. Eric also co-founded the Chef Action Network and has a personal private equity portfolio invested in businesses at the forefront of improving our food system. And, he proudly serves as an appointed member of Washington, DC’s Food Policy Council.

In addition to his work at Arabella, Eric founded and serves as secretary of the New Venture Fund, a nonprofit that incubates new social sector innovations, and co-founded the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.

Eric is on the boards of the James Beard Foundation and the National Democratic Institute. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and Summit Series. He also serves as a trustee of his own family’s foundation, which holds assets generated by the sale of a fifth-generation family-owned business.

Eric holds an Executive MBA from Georgetown University and a BA from the University of Colorado.

The post Arabella Advisors on Transformative Food System Investment Opportunities appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

MAD believes chefs have the power to transform our food system. Founded by restaurant noma’s René Redzepi, the organization gives chefs and restaurateurs the knowledge, skills and community they need to drive real change in their restaurants and communities through its Symposium, programming, publications and media. Celebrating the abundance and unique flavors of the natural world has always been a priority of Redzepi’s, as evidenced by his forage-driven menus, so it is no surprise that biodiversity is a key priority for the organization. In 2017, it even launched VILD MAD, or Wild Food, an app and program to help chefs and young people learn about foraging for food.

Below, I speak with Melina Shannon-DiPietro, executive director of MAD, about how the organization is creating a global community of chefs who are leaders in sustainability and biodiversity.

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Danielle Gould: Is biodiversity a priority for MAD? If so, how and why?

Melina Shannon-DiPietro: One of MAD’s priorities, a pillar of its organization, is giving the hospitality industry the skills, approaches and perspectives needed to proactively lead on environmental sustainability in their kitchens and outside the walls of their restaurants. Biodiversity is central to this approach, so much so that we created a program called VILD MAD or Wild Food (more details below).

Biodiversity builds resilience into our system; whereas over reliance on too few varieties or species leaves our food systems vulnerable to shocks and stresses. What’s more, biodiversity can source high-impact solution to health, environmental and food security challenges.

Chefs influence what’s on our plates. The ubiquitous baby salad mix was a chef’s influence. Now we need chefs to consistently lead on climate-friendly foods.

By creating a network of talented chefs and by fostering the conversations between the different actors in the food world, MAD focuses its attention on biodiversity both from the production and consumption perspective. Chefs are at the center.

DG: What is MAD doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

MSD: Our VILD MAD, or Wild Food, project, is the first program of its kind to bring chefs and young people out into nature to see biodiversity first hand; to give them encyclopedic knowledge to forage; and to support them with ongoing resources, from recipes to ecological approaches. The program includes “safaris” into nature in Denmark, as well as an app that is available, in English and Danish, no matter your geographic location. These tools expand one’s ideas of food and flavors and fosters curiosity about the natural environment.

DG: What is the business case for promoting a more biodiverse food system?

MSD: Customers are interested in health. Eating variations of the same four crops, served up in different ways, doesn’t make for good health. Companies who want to be serving tomorrow’s customers will be looking for greater diversification in their portfolio.

We know in financial investing, diversification makes good sense. That’s also the case in thinking about the world’s resources: we want the built-in intelligence of a sustainable food system.

We talk a lot now about artificial intelligence: at its best, it’s an intelligence that makes us smarter. Ecological systems already have innate intelligence; we’ve disrupted them in a way that makes them dumber. Now we need to reverse our approach to take advantage of their natural intelligence.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

MSD: We see chefs, and the hospitality industry at large, as one major lever for change; so, we’re investing – and inviting partners – to invest in MAD’s programming. Chefs face a major challenge as they are called on to be actors for the twenty-first century: they need the time and space to meet, collaborate and learn from experts in ecology, biodiversity and climate change.

In the EU, recent legislation means chefs and restaurants may need to take some foraged, biodiverse crops off their menus. We want government to more pro-actively partner with the restaurant industry before setting policy.

DG: Does your average customer care about biodiversity today? Why should they care? How do you (or will you) get them to care?

MSD: I’m struck by how much people do not know about biodiversity. When was the last time you took a walk in the forest? Tried to identify plants you see along a walk? Ate something you didn’t recognize?

What I see is each time we bring people out into nature for a foraging trip – whether it’s a kitchen stage, a Michelin-star chef or a Fortune 500 CEO – is that they see the land in a whole new way. They see nature as a larder; full of ingredients for our health and that are tasty, and they see more of our interdependence with nature, and they want to do more to protect it.

DG: What are the greatest challenges and opportunities your organization faces for creating a more biodiverse agricultural system, and what are you doing to overcome or capture them?

MSD: We need to move faster as a society. We need to build bridges and be more collaborative across sectors and break down the wall that’s grown between conventional and alternative agriculture.

In the next year, we’re getting more chefs out into nature to experience foraging and to understand biodiversity better. We are encouraging those same chefs to partner with farmers who can cultivate new and diverse crops; or harvest from the edges. We’ve already seen in Denmark that what chefs put on the plate ends up in the grocery stores.

DG: What are some of the most important things restaurants can do to support biodiversity?

MSD: Restaurants employ X percent of the population; they influence and shape culture; they speak to the media and to the general public. Restaurants can be a space for experimentation and discovery when it comes to new flavors, and of education for their teams and their customers.

DG: Are there certain products you would like to see more of in the food industry that would help promote a more biodiverse agricultural system?

MSD: My vision is too big for a computer screen. I’d like to see hundreds of varieties of maize, apples, tomatoes. I’d like to see thousands of partnerships like Dan Barber’s work with Cornell to build a better butternut squash.

I’d like to see the food industry – the people working in food systems – equipped with knowledge about ecosystems and agriculture. Knowledge changes everything.

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

MSD: Let’s start by seeing more diversity in crops and in flavors, in supermarkets, school cafeterias, and restaurants across the board; let’s see more people out, and posting on Instagram the new foods and flavors they’ve discovered. Maybe some of them will go discover them in the wild.

Read all of our biodiversity interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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Melina Shannon-DiPietro, Executive Director of MAD

(Danish for food) the non-profit organization founded by René Redzepi of restaurant noma. MAD is transforming our food system by inspiring and empowering cooks, servers, and eaters to create sustainable change in their communities. Melina has been building programs, public dialogue, and partnerships that evolve our understanding of food, community, and environment for eighteen years. Prior to MAD, Melina was a director at Friends of the High Line, the organization that transformed an abandoned elevated rail line into one of New York City’s best-loved public parks. Melina began her work in food as co-founder of the Yale Sustainable Food Program. Originally from Albany, New York, Melina now lives in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The post How MAD Helps Chefs Transform & Diversify Our Food System appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

Sweetgreen made a big splash last year when it put the Koginut Squash, a new squash bred for flavor by Row 7 Seed Company, on its menu. The Koginut Squash Bowl received considerable social media influencer attention and mainstream press (like Vogue, Fast Company and The Washington Post). It even landed a Times Square Billboard. Rather than leading with the sustainability benefits, the campaign to make this new vegetable a pop culture sensation centered on flavor. As we think about how to broaden the pool of people who care about the sustainability of their food, this collaboration serves as a great example of how to make heady stuff stuff like biodiversity and sexy.

Below, I speak with sweetgreen co-founder and chief concept officer Nic Jammet talks about how sweetgreen thinks about biodiversity and encourages it across its supply chain.

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Danielle Gould: Is biodiversity a priority for your sweetgreen? If so, how and why?

Nic Jammet: At the farm level, biodiversity is a priority for us when we approach sourcing local produce. At a larger scale, we look to maintain a wide variety of agro-ecosystems by incorporating a diversity of animal based and non-animal based proteins on our plant-forward menu.

This past September, we made biodiversity a priority by introducing Koginut Squash to the menu. This new seed bred for flavor in partnership with Row 7 Seed Company has the potential to change what we eat and where it comes from a scale never before seen.

Row 7 and sweetgreen’s nationwide collaboration supports a shared commitment to delicious, sustainable and nutritious food from the ground up. Part of sweetgreen’s food ethos has always been finding ways to source smarter, make better decisions and help customers be a positive force in the world and on the food system.

Sweetgreen works with our 100+ local farmers, several of whom planted and harvested 23 acres of Koginut Squash (equal to 100,000 seeds) across the country, making them the first mass scale partner to work with Row 7 in its mission to make better seeds and ingredients more accessible to all.

DG: How does sweetgreen define and think about biodiversity? Why?

NJ: At the farm level, we define biodiversity as a farm that harvests 5 or more different crop varieties. We also evaluate the following aspects of a farm:

• Crop rotation

• Integrated Pest Management practices

• Plants polinator abitats

• Green manure application/compost

• Biodynamic certifications

• Soil management planning

• Cover cropping

DG: What is sweetgreen doing to promote biodiversity?

NJ: We support growers who practice biodiversity, and we also discuss what is important to us (above) with those growers who do not practice it currently. It factors into our purchasing decisions.

Transparency of where food is coming from and how it is grown sustainably is one of the best ways to support biodiverse growers who are trying to make a positive, lasting impact on the food system. We need to give credit back to them, create long-term sourcing relationships, and expand the marketplace so that consumers understand that their dollar can have significant impact every time they buy food (which is often!).

DG: What are the greatest challenges and opportunities sweetgreen faces for creating a more biodiverse agricultural system?

SG: A big challenge is the lack of support for small to medium sized growers who are trying to support biodiversity quite simply because it is the right thing to do. The marketplace is set up to support cheap food versus supporting growers utilizing practices such as biodiversity.

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

NJ: In 10-15 years, we intend to show that this country does not have to only grow corn, soy and wheat, but we can grow a wide variety of crops that improve soil health and are more profitable than the monocrops that we’ve defaulted to. A great example is the movement in Montana growing legumes. They’re converting conventional wheat growers and having them grow organic chickpeas and lentils. Those crops are more profitable and the demand continues to grow.

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Nicolas Jammet, Co-Founder & Chief Concept Officer of sweetgreen

Nic Jammet is Co-Founder & Chief Concept Officer of sweetgreen, the destination for simple, seasonal, healthy food. Nicolas graduated from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, where he met fellow sweetgreen co-founders and co-CEOs, Nathaniel Ru and Jonathan Neman. In 2015, First Lady Michelle Obama selected Nicolas for the Presidential Delegation to EXPO 2015, an international summit to discuss global nutrition and health as well as sustainable food solutions. He has been recognized as a key innovator in food and business, named to Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business,” Inc.’s “30 Under 30”, Forbes’ “30 Under 30” and Food & Wine’s “40 Big Food Thinkers 40 and Under”. In 2016, sweetgreen was named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies.”

The post Sweetgreen’s Flavor-Forward Approach to Biodiversity appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

There are over 30,000 edible plants, but we only consume around 150 of them. Believe in Bambara is one company that wants to change that. The business-to-business (B2B) supplier is dedicated to introducing the bambara groundnut, a sub-Saharan grain legume, to the U.S. plant-based protein market. Bambara is a climate-smart, drought-tolerant and versatile plant-based protein that also help to fix nitrogen in the soil. The company partners with a women’s cooperative of smallholder farmers, so it also support local economic development. Below, I speak with co-founder Tamara Cohen about why and how her startup is bringing the bambara to the US.

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Danielle Gould: Is biodiversity a priority for your organization? If so, how and why?

Tamara Cohen: Biodiversity drives everything we do at Believe in Bambara, because our work is built on the belief that food manufacturers should have easy access to climate-smart, ecologically-sound ingredients. The bambara bean has all the prized attributes crop scientists have been trying to emulate through genetic modification. This realization led us to pursue the opportunity to provide an underutilized and more sustainable alternative to the commodity crops and dominant plant-based proteins currently available on the market. Our commitment to diversifying food ingredients is informed by science that there exists in nature lesser-known species that may be more efficient and more effective than the few food crops we’ve come to rely on.

DG: How does Believe in Bambara define and think about biodiversity?

TC: As an ingredients supplier, when we consider biodiversity we are focused on agricultural practices that give back to the land in order to promote growth of other species. We absolutely reject the idea that crops should be cultivated as part of a monoculture. Biodiversity includes taking into account all of the ecosystem’s species, especially those cultivated for consumption, and considering how they can work together to promote soil fertility and pollination.

DG: What is Believe in Bambara doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

TC: To implement our beliefs, we have partnered with a cooperative of smallholder women farmers in West Africa that practice sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices, such as intercropping and crop rotations. None of these practices are new to these farmers. They’ve been using the bambara bean in their crop rotations as a nitrogen-fixing crop for decades as part of their holistic regenerative agricultural practices. As we expand our operations, we will seek opportunity to work with cooperatives in regions that have a more acute need for sustainable agricultural development, due to limited resources or unfavorable conditions. Bambara thrives in areas where most other food crops would not take root, so we are excited about the possibility  of regenerating non-arable land through its cultivation.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

TC: There has to be a two-fold strategy in investments in biodiverse food systems to allow companies, like ours, that are working on promoting underutilized crops to rapidly expand and scale our supply chain. First, without economies of scale we won’t be able to compete in the market with commodity crops such as wheat, corn and soy. Margins in food are small, and, unfortunately, a lot of companies are looking for a supplier that can help them keep their expenses as low as possible. This ties into the second part of the strategy: farm subsidies. It’s widely known that farmers have been cashing in on food crops thanks to generous government subsidies. Eliminating the subsidies on these commodity crops would level the playing field and allowing these crops to compete with prices that are more reflective of the cost of production. A food system that ceases to invest in and reward industrial, monoculture farming would be increasingly beneficial to biodiversity.

DG: What are the greatest challenges and opportunities your organization faces for creating a more biodiverse system? What are you doing to overcome or capture them?

TC: One of the biggest challenges is consumer education, which is why this interview series is so important, because it’s raising an issue that many people, even within the industry, haven’t contemplated. Without consumer demand for more biodiverse plant-based proteins it will be difficult for us and other companies working to diversify the food supply. Despite being a B2B supplier, we are actively working to tackle this challenge by putting ourselves in front of consumers at trade shows and events to introduce them to bambara in an interactive way, where they can see, feel and taste the ingredients and also learn about why it can be so beneficial for climate-smart and regenerative agriculture. We think of these encounters as something like a science fair, which makes each visit fun for us and the attendee. We’re also grateful to have wonderful partners that share our values and are working on their own to raise the profile of bambara through education, research and advocacy.

DG: How are you or how do you plan to handle the sourcing and scaling of biodiverse ingredients?

TC: We have partnered with an established women’s cooperative of smallholder farmers for our sourcing of the bambara beans. This partnership has been great because they have the ability to rapidly scale thanks to their presence in dozens of rural communities in Ghana and their existing familiarity with the crop. As demand increases we plan to expand our sourcing to include other regions in Sub-Saharan Africa with the same opportunity, organized smallholder cooperatives and an acute need for sustainable agricultural development.

DG: What are some of the most important things retailers, food manufacturers and other key parts of the food supply chain can do to support biodiversity?

TC: The visibility that consumer-facing companies have is unparalleled, and they have the ability to introduce the terminology to the zeitgeist. Incorporating the ingredients is not enough, they have to talk about it, elevate it and educate consumers about why biodiversity is so important. Consumers have now become accustomed to learning about a product through key icons, such as those that denote that an item is vegan, gluten-free, fair-trade or organic. Maybe a next step can be a icon that highlights that a product or dish promotes biodiversity?

DG: How might a more biodiverse food system influence the typical selection of products we see in a grocery store?

TC: The exhibit The Future Market put on the Fancy Food Show was a great example of what we can expect to see in the future, with familiar products made of underutilized and biodiverse ingredients. Unless we have a radical change in the types of food that people consume, I believe the products available won’t necessarily change drastically. What will change, though, will be the ingredients used to produce them. These will be ingredients that are chosen because of their environmental and social impact, rather than the bottom line for the manufacturer. I am confident though that as these ingredients come to scale their pricing will become competitive with the commodities we’re so used to seeing on our shelves.

DG: Are there certain products you would like to see more of in the food industry that would help promote a more biodiverse agricultural system?

TC: It’s really encouraging to see how many brands are now going into regions that have been previously neglected by the business community to source ingredients, while simultaneously providing a vehicle for economic development for the local farmers. Two major examples of this being companies like Yolele and Kuli Kuli that have brought fonio and moringa to the US market, respectively. Our company is obviously following in those same footsteps, as we believe that we may be able to identify crops in these areas that have previously been underutilized. I believe that we’re only hitting the tip of the iceberg, and there are likely hundreds if not thousands more food crops that have not yet been identified by parties that have the resources to bring them to market.

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

TC: I would love to be able to pull up to a fast-food restaurant window and be able to access these ingredients, rather than having to shop at a specialty market or high-end restaurant. There are a lot of necessary innovations that will have to be adopted simultaneously in order to meet the needs of the growing global population. In the future, long-haul transit of food ingredients should be reserved to those products that have an extremely long shelf life, like grains and pulses, while regional markets will should specialize in the native species that will be consumed fresh, such as herbs, fruits, and vegetables.

Read all of our biodiversity interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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Tamara Cohen, Co-Founder of Believe in Bambara

Tamara Cohen is a co-founder of Believe in Bambara, where she leads efforts to introduce the bambara bean (vigna subterranea) to the US and world market. Believe in Bambara was conceived by Tamara and her co-founder, Holly Tassi while completing their undergraduate degree  at Syracuse University.

Prior to Believe in Bambara, Tamara spent four years at a New York tech firm where she specialized in business-to-business sales and account management for the digital publishing industry. Previously, Tamara was based in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where she worked with Kav La’Oved – Worker’s Hotline advocating for the rights of the increasingly vulnerable populations of migrant workers in Israel. She also worked at the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) coordinating research papers on the education of peace and tolerance in various Middle Eastern school curriculum.

Tamara has a MA in Global Migration and Policy from Tel Aviv University and a BS in Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises from Syracuse University. She is also an active member of various community organizations, such as IfNotNow, the Park Slope Food Coop, and The Wing.

The post Believe in Bambara on Its Climate-Smart, Plant-Based Protein appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

Data will be key to creating a biodiverse future. The Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) has created a global coalition of over 850  governments, academia, researchers, private companies and farmers to ensure food security and to preserve biodiversity through the sharing of open agricultural and nutrition data.

Below, I speak with GODAN executive director André Laperrière about how open data can be used to help eaters, health professionals and governments improve public health and preserve biodiversity. He also shares great examples of initiatives to protect biodiversity, like Biodiversity in Standards and Labels for the Food Industry, an EU-based project aiming to standardize biodiversity criteria and labeling standards and to encourage manufacturers and retailers to include biodiversity criteria in their sourcing guidelines.

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Danielle Gould: How does your organization define and think about biodiversity?

André Laperrière: Biodiversity is a critical element of the world’s ecosystem. As we are learning, the combination of all species currently inhabiting our planet creates a balance that allows for each, including us, to survive, thrive and contribute to each other species development. Every time a species become extinct, it creates a misbalance in the world’s life equilibrium. This is the first reason why biodiversity is important.

The second important element is that there are still thousands of species yet to be discovered, from fungus to mammals in the seas and land alike. These may be part of the discovery for cures and diseases affecting human life, as better knowledge of the specifics of livings whose existence we are aware of, will also lead to medical and nutrition progress, unless we fail to protect them.

Third reason why biodiversity is important is nutrition. Since 1900 the world has lost 75 percent of its crops variety, meaning we grow on average only 25 percent of crops we used to grow for human consumption.  As we know, 75 percent of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and five animal species, as few as 3 crops in some countries. Consequence: much less diversity in human food consumption, resulting in various forms of mal/incomplete nutrition problems. Fortunately, some countries are beginning to address that; in the most recent Food Security Index, for instance, South Korea won the palm, with its agriculture sector sharing half of its agriculture for traditional high volume crops, and the other half for a variety of other crops, who make nutrition much better – and Korean food taste so good.

DG: What is GODAN doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

AL: GODAN is a global institution composed of 850 governments, academia, research, private companies and civil society/farmer institutions in more than 110 countries. We help them develop and implement the right policies to trigger innovation in increasing agriculture productivity (currently around 20 percent in a number of countries), managing better cultivated land instead of simply expanding bad practices to new lands where biodiversity is trying to survive.

We awork with academia to increase knowledge on nutrition across the entire value chain to encourage valuing high quality crops that have been neglected (ex: Quinoa). We also work to develop adapted technology (again to manage agriculture in a way that safeguards and better, capitalize on biodiversity, like harvesting wild forest fruits – many proven to be up to 10 times more nutritious than the traditional ones found in the markets) in order to learn to live with nature and protect it, instead of falling into the biodiversity killing ‘slash and burn’ practices still in use in big segments of the world. We are working with farmer and fishermen organizations, as well, with the same goals. GODAN also has a senior advisory role in a number of organizations that promote and work hard on biodiversity, such as SDSN, CGIAR (including biodiversity international) and many others, and works closely based on the expertise available in its network.

DG: What’s at stake for our society if biodiversity is reduced? Are there examples where a lack of biodiversity has caused problems within an ecosystem or community?

AL: Unfortunately, there are many. For example, IPS reports that fish catches are expected to decline dramatically in the world’s tropical regions because of climate change. Furthermore, in 2006, aquaculture consumed 57 percent of fish meal and 87 percent of fish oil as industrial fisheries operating in tropical regions have been scooping up enormous amounts of fish anchovies, herring, mackerel and other small pelagic forage fish to feed to farmed salmon or turn into animal feed or pet food. This has resulted in higher prices for fish, hitting the poorest the most.

Another example is the elimination of natural predators for various reasons, from commercial interests to myths. More than 100 million sharks, for example are estimated to be killed every year. As another example, wolves mostly eradicated from western Europe have resulted in overpopulations of deer, leading to disease, starving, accidents through interaction with humans, damage to types of crops, etc.

Another example is when a campaign was done to stop seal hunting in eastern America/Canada; already with the shark population dwindling down rapidly, humans had over the years become a key predator that kept the seal population in balance through its annual hunting. Further to the virtual halt of such hunting due to bad publicity (resulting from poor hunting practices), the seal population exploded, which in turn triggered a significant attack on other parts of the fish fauna such as the lobster industry, very affected as lobsters and other species suddenly became under threat as food for much larger number of seals.  These are a few examples as to how the natural biodiversity balance can be rapidly affected once one of its elements is removed from the chain.

DG: What is the scientific and/or business case for a biodiverse food system?

AL: Biodiversity, when well managed, leads to more food products available and sustained, increased income and quality of life from its caretakers, increased economic activity linked to tourism (ex: in Namibia former poachers were converted in nature guards and villages whose populations used to hunt wildlife now protect it to further develop eco-tourism industry in their area).  Biodiversity can also lead to improved nutrition of the populations thanks to greater food diversity, itself leading to a decrease in food/malnutrition related illness and costs to the state.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

AL: We need to enforce laws designed to protect diversity. Second, we need to increase the awareness of the consumers as to the importance of diversified and sustainable foods, implement relevant fiscal regimes that will encourage the consumption of more varieties of food – especially those that can be produced locally – and their production. We also need to educate as to how species that we may not eat as humans, may have a critical importance due to their interaction with other species that are useful and desirable for human consumption.

DG: How might we reinvent capital structures or create incentives to increase investment in biodiversity?

AL: The two keys are sustainability and awareness. Sustainability is important for those who grow and harvest species for consumption. Through relevant trainings, many good projects across the globe have led to the protection and efficient management of fishing areas by fishermen themselves, whose long term life depends on it. Learning better fishing techniques and tracking catches have managed to protect these fishing environments, increase their catches as the fish population (like lobster) increased thanks to a more facts/data-based approach they learned. At the national level investments need to be done to help consumers make better nutrition related choices and choosing sustainable food sources over others. Access to tax incentives, but most important to credit, is also key especially for small farmers who are unable to invest in sustainable agriculture practices (ex: fertilizers, precision agriculture data, etc.). Finally, have governments and communities look at biodiversity in itself as an industry from which its protection can generate income, both through eco-tourism and through marketing wild and relatively unknown foods with great nutrition qualities.

DG: What are some of the most important things food manufacturers, chefs, retailers, farmers, and other key parts of the supply chain can do to support biodiversity?

AL: Promote the greater use of natural, local and wild foods to demonstrate their nutritive benefits and to create unique new tastes that in turn will enhance consumer knowledge about biodiversity and the advantages provided in protecting it. Restaurant NOMA in Denmark, for example, became a world success based on this approach.

Farmers should also be educated as to how modern practices can play a significant role in improving their productivity, reducing their costs and increasing their income in harmony with the environment they are living in. Good examples in Latin America show where cattle owners learned to raise their animals without cutting all the trees to make grazing areas. Rather, they learned to use the natural forest crops as a source of income, more and more in demand as people become aware of them their new flavors and high nutritive values. For this approach to be adopted more widely, actual data must be shared, understood and used to increase awareness and demand towards protecting biodiversity.

DG: Where can consumers and food industry professionals go to learn more about biodiversity issues and what they can do to help?

AL: Through open data, consumers can learn to make better food choices, health professionals can give better nutrition advice and governments can make better policies and incentives to protect biodiversity and improve the health of their populations (through food diversification, better food quality, sustainable food production respecting/protecting biodiversity. This is at the heart of GODAN’s mission.

DG: Are there certifications or other signals that can help the average consumer determine what kinds of foods are helping promote biodiversity?

AL: Yes, and this is coming more and more. For example, in August 2016, Global Nature Fund, Lake Constance Foundation, Agentur AUF! (Germany), Fundación Global Nature (Spain), Solagro, agoodforgood (France) and Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal) have initiated the project “Biodiversity in Standards and Labels for the Food Industry,” funded by the EU LIFE programme.

WWF and other organizations have also begun to associate their logo/brand to sustainable food production, as large food chains and markets have begun to realize that consumers are more aware of the importance of preserving biodiversity so adhering to such practices becomes a positive, marketing element built in their business model. This trend will grow and be further promoted by organizations like GODAN and many others.

DG: How would a biodiverse food system change the typical selection of products we see in a grocery store?

AL: Your dinner plate probably doesn’t include goosefoot, hopshoots, vervain, beremeal, medlars, Saltcote Pippin apples or Shetland black potatoes. But it could. These plants were once common British fare, and they grow here still. We simply don’t eat them. Nor do we eat the majority of the 30,000 edible plants growing on the planet today. For the most part, we eat about a dozen, according to the Soil Association’s Robe Percival.

In a perfectly biodiverse food system, the diversity of products available at the store will be based on products that are grown/raised in a sustainable manner respectful of the environment and that protects the soil, water and other resources that will allow the production of these products to continue. The products we will see will be based on evolved taste and awareness of the consumers on the relative benefits of each types of food available, its origin and processing, again encouraging sustainable production and consumption of healthier food. It will also display more of the locally available food, that often times due to marketing, trends, and commercial reasons had been gradually replaced by a limited number of high volume crops.

DG: What, if any, exciting products, technologies or services are you seeing that support a more biodiverse food system?

AL: I see a wave of innovators using open data, motivating producers to further open their product-related data (origin, composition, nutritive value) and producing a range of apps, bar code readers, websites and campaigns to promote knowledge of food alternatives for consumers to choose what is better for their health. Now, two new parameters are being included in this advocacy mix that will shape food purchases: food miles/carbon footprint of food products and sustainable production practices (ex: promoted by WWF). Among our partners, as an example, we have a small organization composed of volunteers that have now tracked composition and origin of thousands of products and developed a free app that allows consumers to scan their possible purchase and learn how it compares with other options vis a vis parameters listed above.  These are the pioneers that are moving, especially the new/young generation, towards making more environment/biodiversity aware decisions which in turn will contribute to their immediate (nutrition) and long term (environment) health.

DG: Are there certain products you would like to see more of in the food industry that would help promote a more biodiverse agricultural system?

AL: I would like to see more locally available foods made available locally. More high quality crops that can grow very well even in harsh environments and are a healthy substitute to other high volume crops. Quinoa is an excellent alternative to millet, for example. I would also like to see more transparency in food related data, especially in terms of origin, processing and contents vis a vis nutrients and components that should be avoided (sugar, salt, fat for example, who is more and more displayed but where norms/limits still lack in many countries). I would like sustainable food products to be more clearly advertised and promoted, and that this effort be supported not only by the producers but also by the state as in the end if benefits through reduction of health problems, stimulating local production, and better informed populations.

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

AL: In 15 years, I believe food systems will be much more data driven than they are now, as the trend has started and is increasing very rapidly. This will range from consumers demand for better food, leading to production producing it and stores making it available. I would expand the vision of the food system to education, quoting Japan as a great example where they made nutrition a mandatory part of their curriculum, with great results.

Read all of our biodiversity interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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André Laperrière, Executive Director of the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) 

Mr. André Laperrière joined the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative as its first Executive Director, in September 2015. During his career, Mr. Laperrière has led/managed numerous projects on behalf of large Private Corporations and subsequently, within the United Nations and the World Bank. In this context he played a senior role in the design and the implementation of major reforms within a number of agencies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. He has extensive work experience in the Americas, Caribbean, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, in particular in developing countries and in conflict/post conflict environments.

Before joining GODAN, Mr. Laperrière was Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Washington DC. Among other positions, he has also been the first Executive Director of the Trust Fund for Victims at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Director of the Administration and Finance Division in the World Health Organization (WHO), and Coordinator for reconstruction and rehabilitation activities under the responsibility of UNICEF in Iraq.

Prior to his career in the UN, Mr. Laperrière was Director in the International Services of Price Waterhouse. In this position, he led multiple large scale business evaluations, privatizations, mergers and structural reform projects in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Caribbean. Mr. Laperrière was born in Canada, where he completed postgraduate studies in Administration and in Industrial Relations. Mr. Laperrière is an expert in international development.

The post GODAN on Open Data to Support Biodiversity & Health appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

Creating a regenerative and more biodiverse food system will requires significant investment. FoodShot Global is doing just that by helping innovators tackle some of our greatest food system challenges through its integrated capital platform of non-dilutive, equity and debt funding. Below, I speak with founder and chairman Victor Friedberg about white space opportunities  and capital structures that can help us transition to a regenerative and biodiverse food system at scale.

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Danielle Gould: Is biodiversity a priority for FoodShot Global? If so, how and why?

Victor Friedberg: Yes, biodiversity is a priority for every organization I’ve built in the food sector. While I could argue for biodiversity as an end in itself, I would rather make the case that striving for biodiversity is an opportunity to create a new generation of flavorful, nutrient-dense and sustainable food products — and the agricultural systems that can support them. Consumers will drive the growth of this new biodiverse food system by voting for policies and practices that support its development, and, over time, businesses and organizations will reap the benefits of this biodiverse system by reducing risk (climate, supply, economic) and generating growth.

DG: What is FoodShot Global doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

VF: I founded FoodShot Global to identify global food system challenges and invest in groundbreaking solutions. With Sara Eckhouse, the Executive Director, and a world-class consortium of Founding Partners – including Rabobank, Generation Investment Management, MARS, the Innovation Institute for Food and Health at UC Davis, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Builders Initiative, Armonia and the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture – we’ve built a capital continuum of non-dilutive, equity and debt funding to address global food system challenges.

In our inaugural year, we are focusing on healthy soil because it is the foundation of agriculture. Rich, biodiverse soils are essential to achieving the healthy, sustainable and equitable food system that will feed 10 billion people. In order to catalyze innovation to build a regenerative and sustainable soil system, FoodShot Global established the $525,000 GroundBreaker Prize for research, social enterprise and policy advocacy. We have also aggregated up to $10 million a year in equity investments and $20 million in debt financing. With our Founding Partners – and additional supporting partners ACRE Ventures, The Soil Health Institute, The Nature Conservancy, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and Activant Capital – we leverage our collective thought leadership, networks, market access, pathways to commercialization and convening capacities to accelerate the development, deployment and impact of new techniques, technologies and breakthrough science that will enable soil to be the engine for a 21st century regenerative, biodiverse, nutrient-rich food system.

DG: What is the business case for products that promote a more biodiverse food system?

VF: The business case for healthy, biodiverse soil is simple: without it, eventually the economics of the planet will degenerate with the soil. We’ve set up an economic agricultural system in which we make massive withdrawals (nutrients, water, organic matter) with meager deposits. Nature is already starting to make its margin call, and the ripple effects of that on our agricultural system and for farmers has been profound – reduced yields, entire crop seasons wiped out, floods, drought and wildfires.

But beyond this macro frame for soil, there is a market case for building biodiversity into our food system. Food brands, whether CPG, food service or ingredient, will be seeking out unique and powerful flavors and new functionalities that differentiate them from their competitors and provide customers with unique food experiences. And just like investors diversity their portfolios to mitigate risk in the face of market volatility, we need to diversify our food system to reduce vulnerability to pests and disease that could lead to catastrophic crop failures.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

VF: Investments that prioritize biodiversity need to be made throughout the entire food system. When it comes to soil, these could include capital investments into soil analysis systems that measure soil fertility, nutrient content and compaction; soil inputs including bio-pesticides, inoculants and microbial seed coatings; intelligent farm management systems that offer predictive analytics; market innovations that increase the profitability of cover crops and crop rotations; and seed varieties that prioritize flavor and resiliency. At a systemic level, we need to invest in genetics that allow more diverse crops to compete in the marketplace, new ingredients that efficiently integrate biodiverse, nutrient-dense crops into food at a large scale, infrastructure to distribute fresher food that delivers to consumers the flavor and functional benefits of biodiverse crops, research that links the functionality of biodiverse crops and efficacy around human health, and support for the rural and indigenous communities that can grow biodiverse crops.

DG: How might we reinvent capital structures or create incentives to create more investment in biodiversity?

VF: There are existing capital structures that will continue to be effective at investing into brands, ingredients, agricultural products, services and land. A broad range of venture funds, including S2G Ventures, the one I co-founded, are doing incredible work in the sector. An increasing number of investors share common values around a more healthy, sustainable and equitable food system, and they see the opportunities to generate both financial returns and impact.

But shifting the food system and bending it back towards biodiversity will be difficult. Doing so at the needed speed and scale will require innovative models, including permanent capital, evergreen funds, land funds and real estate investment trusts that can provide time and resources for transition. This will allow the creation of virtual vertically integrated supply chains that are not owned by the brand/manufacturer but are so tightly bound by the specifications, agreements and incentives that they function as vertically integrated systems (with the potential for biodiverse and regenerative crops). We also need debt instruments that can be made accessible to farmers or structures that provide farmers with upside ownership for taking on the difficult work of transitioning to a biodiverse system.

DG: What are some of the most important things investors, food manufacturers, retailers and other key actors across the supply chain can do to support biodiversity?

VF: Identify, adopt and promote .

DG: What, if any, exciting products, technologies or services are you seeing that support a more biodiverse food system?

VF: One example is Dan Barber’s work at Row 7 Seed Company, an innovative, system-level start-up that is naturally breeding seeds for flavor and functionality rather than for yield and other efficiencies. Row 7 is using creative partnerships, such as the collaboration to incorporate the Koginut squash into SweetGreen salads, to market these crops. Another company I’m a co-founder of, Alpha Food Labs, is building biodiversity into the product development processes by leveraging the insights and early-adopter power of the Alpha community to create food products that use functional ingredients from various geographies and cultures.

There are also CPG companies with “hero” ingredients that are bringing biodiversity to grocery stores. Lavva, a best-of-class non-dairy yogurt, which I am the executive chair of, is a great example of the benefits of a biodiverse mindset. Lavva’s hero ingredient is the Pili nut, a tree nut with amazing emulsification properties and high mineral content from the volcanic soils in which it grows. Kuli Kuli is another company that is using a hero ingredient by building a product line based on the mainstreaming of Moringa.

Finally, Patagonia Provisions and the Land Institute have developed an interesting project to build a market for Kernza, a perennial long root grain. On the soil biodiversity systems perspective, there is a tremendous amount of innovative work being done to create biological soil inputs, inoculants, and microbial seed coatings, as well as new models and techniques for larger-scale farms that are implementing rotational farming.

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

VF: The vision for the next 10-15 years is dependent on three macro frameworks:

1. First, that renewable energy becomes both politically and economically massive so that crops are no longer used for biofuels.

2. Second, that meat consumption continues to reduce in the Western world (partly through scaling of meat alternatives), that developing countries do not drastically increase meat consumption, and that large-scale regenerative meat farming becomes viable.  These conditions must be met so that the massive, industrialized mono-cropped acreage currently dedicated to biofuels and animal feed can be reclaimed for agriculture that embraces biodiversity and meets consumer demand for biodiverse products.

3. Third, that agriculture is able to adapt to climate change and associated GHG levels. A recent Harvard report found that levels of carbon dioxide from human activity are making staple crops such as rice and wheat less nutritious and could result in 175 million people becoming zinc deficient and 122 million people becoming protein deficient by 2050.

The demand for biodiversity in food will come from both the ability of science to discover new ingredients and from the ability of innovative brands and chefs to promote the health and wellness benefits of the widest range of crops and flavors. In the world, scientists have identified about 1.75 million different species, including 950,000 species of insects, 270,000 species of plants, 19,000 species of fish, 9,000 species of birds, and 4,000 species of mammals. This is only a small portion of the total number of species on Earth. There are millions more species yet to be discovered and named. About 25 percent of the medicines used today are taken from or modeled on chemicals found in plants, animals, or other living things. We are just beginning to realize the human benefits of biodiversity.

We need to de-commodify commodities. We have built a food system that is designed to extract and discard identity, diversity and value from our crops.  In the future, corn, soybean and wheat will be a smaller percentage of overall acreage in the world. Instead the future is our ability to be able to efficiently. And the enabling driver assumption is that soil biodiversity, through a broad range of solutions, whether low tech farm management best practices or high tech regenerative soil interventions have regenerated soil ecosystem diversity and organic matter.

Read all of our biodiversity interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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Victor E. Friedberg,  Co-Founder, Seed 2 Growth Ventures (S2G); Founder and Chairman of FoodShot — MoonShots for Better Food ; Executive Chairman of Lavva ; Co-Founder of Alpha Food Labs

Victor has been at the forefront of innovation, global development and sustainability for over 20 years. As Co-Founder of S2G Ventures he has been a principal force in developing the S2G mission, culture, strategy and team.  Through his work, he has pioneered system investing as a strategy for investing into food and agriculture and applied this approach in building the S2G portfolio.  As Managing Director, Victor lead the S2G investments into Beyond Meat, sweetgreen, Ripple, Maple Hill Creamery, Apeel Science, Ataraxis. FishPeople and Lavva.

He is Founder and Chairman of FoodShot Global — Moonshots For Better Food an innovative investment platform to accelerate global food system transformation with partners Rabobank, Armonia, Generation Investment Management, MARS, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Builders Initiative, FFAR, The Innovation Institute for Food and Health at UC Davis and The Stone Barns Center For Food and Agriculture.

As Executive Chairman at Lavva, Victor guides forward-looking business strategy to establish pathways to brand aligned sourcing, manufacturing and new product development. He works collaboratively with the management team at Lavva to provide support for key opportunities and needs for the day-to-day execution of the business as needed.

He was named by Forbes Magazine one of the Top 25 deal makers and influencers in Consumer Products in 2016.

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