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. 

Building a supply chain for under utilized crops is complicated. It takes building trust with farmers, distribution infrastructure and consumer demand, all while navigating crop cycles, consistency, cost and fair trade practices. Below, I speak with Casey Emmett, director of strategic sales at Health Warrior (recently acquire by PepsiCo), about how the chia brand built its initial supply chain for the crop, which at the time was under utilized.

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

Casey Emmett: It is. For starters, a more biodiverse food source is the best shot we have at long, happy lives.

Consider your gut: the diversity and balance of organisms in our microbiomes directly affects just about everything about us, including our sleep, our relationships and the diseases we might suffer over the courses of our lives.

Our microbiomes are, of course, directly impacted by what we eat, a decision we get to make several times per day. No pressure! Michael Pollan said it best in In Defense of Food: “You are what you eat eats too,” and we should assume this applies all the way down the food chain.

That is, not only does the quality of our lives depend heavily upon our food, and the quality of our food depend heavily upon its source — the more pristine the water, the mightier and more delicious the fish (and kelp!); the healthier the soil, the more robust the carrot. It is also worth remembering that there is more life below ground than above it, and we consumers have an enormous impact on what happens down there, if only based on what foods we plant (and then eat).

It’s a two-way street: the better we eat, the better the soil; the better the soil, the better we eat. There’s a kaleidoscope of bugs, bacteria, fungi, dirt, water, and other organisms below ground and, like our guts, it seems the more diverse and balanced the better. A healthy soil, among a multitude of benefits, stores carbon and prevents erosion. And as very wise chef Dan Barber wrote in The Third Plate, soil minerals happen to be “the building blocks of human nutrition.”

You are what you eat eats, too. The healthier the soil, the happier the gut, the longer the healthspan.

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

CE: We work to put the most nutrient-dense, delicious plants as the primary ingredient in truly good food products. As we grow, so does the opportunity to improve existing products, get even more creative and agile with respect to new ones, and amplify that real food message many times over.

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

CE: The agronomic work for under utilized crops takes time to scale. If you sell chia seeds nationwide after they were forgotten for 500 years, it’s a delicate dance between distribution and crop cycles.

For each ingredient we need to be confident in the following, at a minimum:

1. Food Safety

2. Consistent Quality (texture, taste, nutrition)

3. Reasonable Cost

4. Fair Trade Practices

More broadly, from a supply chain and brand perspective, is this a truly good-for-you ingredient that we can build on?

In April 2012, we were busy selling to ten stores out of the back of my Jeep (and my brother Shane’s hallway) when Whole Foods Market asked us to launch our new Chia Bar nationally — in every store in every region – by September.

More experienced companies might have wilted. Thankfully, we had no idea what we were doing! We made our best guess as to inventory requirements for the coming year, and then set about building strong partnerships with great suppliers.

The chia plant, though hardy, traditionally grows within 15 degrees of the equator, i.e. Central America and Australia, and it has a long maturation period (the good stuff is 4-5 months from planting to harvest).

If we were to be in-store in September we’d need to deliver in August, and manufacture in July. Which meant three months to secure enough high-quality chia supply to actually make the bars to launch. Remember: good chia seeds need to 4-5 months to mature. So to begin, we needed to get existing supply on a boat ASAP, and then, if Whole Foods shoppers actually bought the bars — an enormous “if” at the time — grow quite a bit more to last the year.

The growers needed two things to dedicate resources to the emerging trend: 1) a market (a promise to tell the story of chia seeds with a real investment of time & money), and 2) financial commitment. We needed to commit to buy a significant amount of chia seeds

The boom in chia’s popularity coincided with (was caused by?) Health Warrior’s national launch, and the following year, every food company wanted to use chia as an ingredient. There simply was not enough chia to go around. Thankfully, we had already established great partners, both supply chain and financial.

This is a common issue in the industry (see: The Great Oat Milk Shortage of 2018). All those avocados and oat milk have to come from somewhere! And a brand riding or driving an ingredient trend (ala chia) can fall victim to its own success.

Yet another reason we consumers should diversify what we eat: it may give the incredible, unknown ingredient’s supply chain the time it needs to mature.

Today, after years of running the gauntlet, with an enormous amount of help, Health Warrior has thrived, and this is our discipline. We apply it to every product we have, and we’re poised to replicate it with other emerging hero ingredients.

DG: How does Health Warrior 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?

CE: There are about 300,000 edible plant species on earth (FAO estimates vary between 30,000 and 300,000). Our modern food system only utilizes about 200, of which 60 percent are corn, soy, wheat and potato. Among those excluded are some of the most delicious, nutritious and downright interesting foods on earth. We should eat them.

Broadly speaking, we will know we’ve arrived at a “good” level of biodiversity when the major disease factors (75 percent of all disease) that we know to be directly impacted by diet are in decline: heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

We’ll be able to see it, too, when our communities look a little wilder and better integrated with a region’s natural systems. The Billion Oyster Project in New York is one of many good starts toward that end.

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

CE: A more biodiverse food system provides more interesting and delicious foods, and without it, the food system itself is not viable in the long run.

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

CE: So many! I’m a zealot, of course, but I believe the world we should be working toward is one in which all of our plates at every meal are crowded with absolutely delicious, complete foods, and all innovation and investment should be directed toward that goal.

We can make it easier for farmers to transition to organic (better education, financial support, health and crop insurance). As consumers, we can eat regionally and seasonally, where possible, and our schools, grocery stores and restaurants (even national chains) should serve us thus. We can help consumers discern complete food from not (better marketing). And we can account for all those resources we’ve taken for granted, like the air, forest, water and soil.

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

CE: Our core consumer cares, but we have a long way to go. In a bubble, the following is obvious: the best foods are complete foods like the mighty sweet potato. Simple, versatile and knock-your-socks-off delicious, simply prepared.

For the general public this story has not stuck for a variety of reasons, primary among them consumers do not see in their busy lives many truly good food companies, much less food companies sharing the good news: Complete food is not only the more delicious, satisfying, longterm investment, working to prevent all the major disease factors hobbling we humans today. It is also an everyday performance advantage. Good food leaves us cleaner, lighter, stronger today.

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?

CE: As an industry we should encourage the consumption of a greater diversity of plant species, plain and simple. If only we merchandise nutrient-dense whole foods — mostly plants — over heavily processed food, the world will change for the better.

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?

CE: More legumes and fermented veggies, please!

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

CE: A truly biodiverse food system requires a more diverse workforce in every region at every level, from farmers to chefs to CEOs, so I would love to see more women and people of color in the industry; many more plants; better access to markets for farmers; safe, beautiful, and fully compostable packaging for all products; restored soil, forests, and waterways in every region of the United States; and generally, a greater variety and availability of complete foods that are good for the entire chain, from the soil (or ocean) to the gut.

DG: Anything else you want to share?

CE: Recommended reading:

• “Lentil Underground,” Liz Carlisle
• “The Third Plate,” Dan Barber
• “American Catch,” Paul Greenberg
• “The Race of our Lives Revisited,” Jeremy Grantham, Aug 2018
• “The Sustainable Economy,” by Yvon Chouinard, Jib Ellison, and Rick Ridgeway, HBR, October 2011
• “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” Michael Pollan

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

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Casey Emmett, Director of Strategic Sales for Health Warrior

Casey Emmett is Director of Strategic Sales for Health Warrior, helping retailers at all levels invest in truly good packaged food.

Casey has built his career on the notion that we can do better by ourselves and our communities on a lot of fronts. He had the honor to work on Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, helped to organize a stem cell research conference, and coordinated (among many other good people) relief for the famine in Somalia in 2011. For the past 8 years he’s worked to build Health Warrior from scratch.

Casey holds a BA in Religious Studies from Colgate University.

The post How Health Warrior Built Its Chia Supply Chain appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

From January 7-31, 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. See the full list of participants and read about why biodiversity in food is important here.

We are also producing a biodiversity exhibit at The Winter Fancy Food Show, so please stop by to say hello.

Below, I speak with REBBL CEO Sheryl O’Loughlin about how the functional beverage brand promotes biodiversity by incentivizing its suppliers to adopt regenerative agriculture practices, using ethically sourced ingredients in its products and through consumer education.

O’l0ughlin shares insight into how and why regenerative agriculture and biodiversity are core to REBBL’s business. She talks about the company’s complex supply chain, and how its ingredients help protect and support indigenous lands and communities. She also emphasizes the importance of consumer education to help people understand the true cost of food, including its impact on the planet and communities. She explains that as eaters expect more from brands, social media has been a great platform for the brand to connect with millennials about the brands social and environmental commitments.

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Danielle Gould: How and why is biodiversity a priority for REBBL?

Sheryl O’Loughlin: REBBL super herb beverages was co-founded by the nonprofit Not For Sale, whose mission of co-creating a world without human trafficking is inextricably linked to climate change and its effects on economic stability. The world’s poor, who are often farmers, are hit the hardest by drought, erratic rainfall and natural disasters, which often leave them without a source of income, making them vulnerable to exploitation. This is why biodiversity protection and regeneration are core to REBBL’s mission and corporate direction. Our business, the people in our supply chain, our products — the Roots, Extracts, Berries, Bark and Leaves that form our very name — all depend on the health of the plant queendom.

With Not For Sale, we continually evolve our business model to promote regenerative agriculture, to prevent exploitation and support biodiversity in the growers’ communities from which we source the 70+ certified organic ingredients that go into our super-herb proteins and elixirs. REBBL has committed to addressing the needs of all stakeholders — including consumers, retailers, growers and the Earth.

DG: How does Rebbl 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?

SO: At REBBL, we embrace a living systems-based model, a paradigm of connection in which we are inseparable from everything around us. We are one with nature. Biodiversity is inherent in this model — my health is tied directly to your health and the health of every individual member of and broad system in the world, every cacao tree and the forest it grows in, every killer whale and the ocean she swims in.

Obviously, taking this view makes business a little more complicated, since we have to consider the long-range ripple effects of each of our actions before making a decision. And because it’s so complicated, it can be difficult to gauge whether or not our actions are having the desired effect of improving biodiversity. Out of all the indicators of success — rich soil, clean water, flourishing vegetation and wildlife — we anchor our measurement in the comprehensive health of our grower communities. Farmers and their families are the ones implementing regenerative agricultural practices, after all, and the strength of their crops, the health of their land and water and the sustainability of their livelihoods go to mark our progress toward a “good” level of biodiversity.

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

SO: We are excited about three ways we are addressing biodiversity in our business. The first is supplier engagement. Our Supplier Ethos incentivizes the use of regenerative agricultural practices and supports efforts to empower growers to have a living wage, access to education and healthcare, and protection of their rights.

The second is our products. REBBL uses ingredients that are organic and ethically sourced, and wild-harvested when possible. For example, the organic Brazil nuts in our Banana Nut Protein are ethically sourced and wild harvested from trees that require biodiversity to thrive, and so their health depends on the protection of indigenous land and supports the community in maintaining their indigenous agricultural practices. REBBL is a certified B Corporation, which means we have met high standards of compliance and promotion of environmental practices and biodiversity conservation. As an active member of nonprofit Climate Collaborative, a coalition of natural foods leaders dedicated to reversing climate change, we have made commitments, and we track and report on progress so that we are held accountable for following through.

And third is our consumer education and marketing campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity. Social media is a great way to connect, particularly with young people. Our Instagram engagement is through the roof because millennials are hungry to connect with purpose-driven brands. Some of our highest performing ads are those that talk about REBBL’s partnership with Not For Sale. We also go into grocery stores and attend consumer events to offer samples of our tasty and nourishing product directly to consumers. This face-to-face interaction makes for real connections, and gives consumers a chance to try REBBL and fall in love with it, and to engage in dialogue around our story and philosophy. We learn so much from them, too, as they share their stories and tell us why on the preservation of biodiversity is important to them.

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

SO: The days when business was all about the bottom line are long gone. Nowadays, consumers are much more informed about and expect more from companies and brands. They want to vote with their dollars. So, alongside offering a great product, a company must also work toward positive change in order to attract and retain consumers. More than that, however, is the fact that without a biodiverse food system, our business—not to mention humanity as a whole—will cease to exist. We need to heal the environment and improve biodiversity for not just growing the organic ingredients that make our beverages exceptional but for our very survival.

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

SO: The greatest threat to biodiversity is also the greatest contributor to global warming: deforestation and loss of habitat. So the first thing we must do is halt the downward trend by making investments that address it. REBBL has taken a leadership role in supporting the founding and continued efforts of the Climate Collaborative. Our climate collaborative commitments, for example, call for investments in areas such as regenerative agriculture, reduction of food waste and protection of forests.

Next, we need to create urgent demand for protecting and restoring biodiversity through investments in consumer education. For example, most people don’t know that the food industry continues to use palm oil, the production of which decimates the most biodiverse rainforests on the planet! Investing in a campaign that outs those who exploit natural resources would go a long way toward getting consumers to spend their money elsewhere. People also need to understand the true cost of food — when it comes to quality of the products and the standard of living of those who create them, you get what you pay for.

Finally, we need to make investments in innovation, so that we can continually expand our understanding of the issues we face and come up with new, better solutions. Our society spends billions of dollars on research to find cures for diseases, yet a fraction of that goes to studying our natural systems. We just can’t rely on policy makers or government agencies to prioritize this issue, so it’s up to us to take it on. Last month, our Senior Vice President of Impact met with leaders in business, banking, and development at an event hosted by Conservation International, and there it became clear that financing ventures that protect biodiversity is working. At REBBL, we will create better products for all of our stakeholders by continually learning and through a spirit of inventiveness.

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

SO: Our greatest challenge is simply getting to know the unique ecosystems of our grower communities, located in 29 countries and counting. What works in the tropical rainforest probably won’t in the midwestern Corn Belt, and every supply chain has its own needs in terms of nutrient cycling, pollination, pest control, soil and water conservation, as well as post-harvest handling, processing and manufacturing, distribution and the management of food waste. Understanding these complex relationships and the social, ecological and economically appropriate practices that will best support them takes time and energy, an ongoing project that never ends. We will always be asking questions and collecting data, searching for the next best revision of our methods and ways to improve our impacts on the ground.

This challenge is also an incredible opportunity, one that is worth the effort. A deep understanding of the ecology of each supply chain allows us to make decisions that contribute to creating a more diverse and equitable world.

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

SO: According to the 2015 Nielson Global and Corporate Sustainability Report, 73 percent of surveyed millennials are more likely to spend their money on a product from a socially responsible brand. We actually don’t really need to work very hard to get consumers on board; they already care. Rather, it’s about spreading the word so that people know about us and what we are doing. We are out there meeting consumers face-to-face through sampling in stores and at events, along with launching marketing campaigns and other forms of social engagement. Consumers can smell a fake from a mile away, so it always comes back to us walking the talk.

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?

SO: First and foremost, we all have to take responsibility for our actions. There is no real separation between the Californian techie and the Peruvian farmer; we are all part of nature, so even if we happen to be living comfortable lives, we can’t ignore the realities of climate change. If we do, it will catch up with us sooner rather than later. In October of 2017, my family lost everything in the Sonoma county fires, only a few weeks after my parents had been forced to flee Naples, Florida, as a hurricane raged through their city. This was an up-close and personal experience of climate change, one that more and more people are having to go through as the number of natural and human-made disasters rises. We can no longer think of it as someone else’s problem — global warming is upon us. This means that biodiversity has to be a top priority for all of us, no matter our business or our role. It’s all of our problem, whether governments wants to face it or not.

Food manufacturers must take responsibility for the impact of their supply chains; manufactures for the environmental impact of their manufacturing practices. Retailers must take responsibility for what they bring in to their stores, and consumers need to know where their purchases are coming from, commit to spending money on ethical products, and hold those same retailers accountable for their choices. Reversing global warming, cleaning up our oceans, eradicating systemic poverty — these are obligations that belong to all of us.

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?

SO: Right now, over half of the world’s plant-based food comes from corn, rice and wheat, much of which is conventionally grown, and 95 percent of the world’s caloric intake comes from just thirty species total, according to The Lexicon of Sustainability, a US-based NGO that provides communications strategies on food and agriculture. Meanwhile, large retailers tend to segregate natural and organic products in ways that convey the message that these products are specialty or fringe. In a society that values and cultivates a biodiverse food system, we would see a robust selection of fresh seasonal produce and products ethically sourced from the local and regional foodshed, not tucked away in a designated aisle but located front and center, while processed food made from synthetically fertilized monocrops would be gone from the shelves entirely. Everything we eat would be clean and made of real ingredients.

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?

SO: We would like see brands and products that are true to their word. Currently there are a ton of products that claim to be natural and organic, and though they might be certified, they are following the letter of the law but not its spirit. Not only are they often using problematic agricultural practices, they are weakening consumer trust in this sector of the industry. Along with products that are ethically sourced and brands that hold themselves accountable for impact claims, we’d like to see more diverse plant-based products and more companies devoted to regenerative agriculture and other social and environmental missions, just to start. Eventually we’d like to see an agricultural system designed and implemented to ensure that we all have healthy soil and biodiverse environments. This is about moving to an agricultural system that regenerates nature, using its natural systems, so we have a world in the future.

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

SO: A biodiverse food system will look like robust regional foodsheds that prioritize local food security and decentralized management of agricultural biodiversity. A mission of social, ecological and economic sustainability will be at the core of every company. And that, as people, we recognize the vital role we serve in adding value to the ecosystem that we are so intimately a part of. Our job is not just to stop damage or even just to “do good” but to truly enliven the natural system.

DG: Anything else you want to share?

SO: For people who feel daunted by the problems we face, I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you have to start somewhere, and small steps taken by all of add up quick to big positive change. At REBBL, we do it by focusing on our corporate direction: In partnership with Not for Sale, through invention, we nourish at the nexus of humanity, the earth, and the economy, and thrive when they are in harmony. This guides and inspires our work. Most of all, we are rooted in love. When your approach to business is truly grounded in love, you will enliven whatever you touch—your product and all of your stakeholders, including partners, retailers, consumers, and nature and all of her beings.

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

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Sheryl O’Loughlin, CEO of REBBL

In 2017, Sheryl O’Loughlin introduced her first book, Killing It: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart. The book has garnered attention from many media outlets, including Fortune, Conscious Company, Inc., Forbes, and the Huffington Post.

Sheryl is the CEO of REBBL, the first plant-based, super herb adaptogen beverage company. In partnership with Not for Sale, a non-profit dedicated to co-creating a world without human trafficking, REBBL works to create regenerative and just supply chains. At REBBL, Sheryl leads the development of a new beverage that uses ancient wisdom confirmed by science to help modern-day, busy people adapt to stress.

Earlier in her career, Sheryl served as the CEO of Clif Bar and Company. There she led the concept development and introduction of Luna, the first Whole Nutrition Bar for Women, which became a $70M business in three years and continues to be a core brand in the Clif Bar and Company portfolio. She then went on to co-found and serve as CEO for Plum, Inc., a healthy, organic food company that aims to nourish kids “from the high chair to the lunch box.” In 2013, Plum was successfully sold to Campbell Soup Company.

Following her time at Plum, Sheryl was the Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and she held a faculty position at Sonoma State University, where she taught hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs and other professionals.

Sheryl currently serves on the board of directors for Once Upon a Farm, an organic family food company. She is an advisory board member of The Harvest Summit, an annual gathering of innovators working to solve the biggest world challenges, and an advisor to Conscious Capitalism-The Global Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. She is a member of the Forbes San Francisco Business Council and One Step Closer to a Sustainable Community (OSC2), whose mission is to address the toughest sustainability problems by building new regenerative businesses. In OSC2 she co-leads a diversity, equity and inclusion initiative. Previous boards include Zuke’s, thinkThin, Sugar Bowl Bakery and Gardein.

Sheryl earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and her Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She lives in Santa Rosa with her husband, Patrick, and their two sons.

The post Why Biodiversity is Core to REBBL’s Business 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. See the full list of participants and read about why biodiversity in food is important here. We are also producing a biodiversity exhibit at The Winter Fancy Food Show, so please stop by to say hello.

Kuli Kuli, the moringa brand that introduced the green superfood to the US market, is a great example of a CPG company putting biodiversity into practice. It has created an international market for an underutilized superfood, while also supporting sustainable livelihoods for its farmers.

Listed as one of the Rediscovered Food Initiatives’ 25 forgotten supercrops, moringa is a naturally regenerative, nutritional powerhouse. Kuli Kuli sources its moringa directly from women’s cooperatives and small family farmers around the world. It has partnered with over 1,300 farmers, and has provided $2 million in income to women-led farming cooperatives, nonprofits and family farms.

The conversation around biodiversity in food typically centers around crop, species and ecosystem diversity. For Kuli Kuli, it’s equally important to diversify the people responsible for producing our food. Below, we speak with founder and CEO Lisa Curtis about improving Kuli Kuli’s diversity by actively recruiting more people of color and people from lower-income backgrounds.

Come taste Kuli Kuli in The Future Market’s Biodiversity Exhibit at The Fancy Food Show, located in the What’s Next in Food room,  January 12-15, 2019.

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

Lisa Curtis: Kuli Kuli firmly believes that variety is the spice of life. It is in the richness of diversity that magic happens. We are working diligently towards increasing the biodiversity of our team, our customers, our products and our planet. Quite frankly, we’re terrified by recent statistics showing that half of all plants and animals on land could be extinct by 2050. We’re equally frightened by the geopolitical trends towards isolation and power consolidation that further marginalize historically oppressed groups.

DG: How does Kuli Kuli define and think about biodiversity?

LC: Biodiversity is about the strength and variety of an ecosystem. It’s hard to measure but easy to feel. It’s the positive feeling you get when you walk into a moringa field intercropped with beans and carrots or enter into an office with a biodiverse group of people and opinions.

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

LC: Kuli Kuli is actively seeking to recruit more people of color and folks from lower-income backgrounds into our company. We find it frustrating that the food industry is so homogenous. We’re also working closely with our suppliers to help them increase their biodiversity. Moringa is a naturally regenerative tree, with leaves that can be harvested four times a year, but we believe that we could do a lot more to promote the intercropping of other plants alongside moringa across our supply chain.

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

LC: Monocultures of people and plants are vulnerable to disease, literally and figuratively. In the case of people, it is altogether too easy for creativity to be stifled when everyone comes from similar backgrounds.

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

LC: I’m very excited about what the OSC2 diversity, equity and inclusion group is doing to promote a more biodiverse food system — starting with training the CEOs. I hope to see other groups join and/or create their own similar initiatives.

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?

LC: Our greatest challenge is that we very rarely receive applications from people of color, though we get multiple applications per week of people who want to work at Kuli Kuli. I think a great opportunity is to help build the pipeline. We made a conscious effort to hire interns of color last summer and it was undoubtedly the most productive and inspiring class of interns we’ve ever had. I certainly think internship programs are a low-hanging fruit and we intend to do even more in the coming months.

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

LC: I think most consumers care first and foremost about what the product does for them, their health and their taste buds. I think the biodiversity of the product and company that created it are secondary concerns. I don’t think we need consumers to care. I think that we need to do it because it makes our businesses stronger. There are real economic reasons to increase biodiversity even if the marketing ones might be harder to find.

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?

LC: I think it’s very important for everyone to spend time studying two things: subconscious bias and agroforestry. Knowledge is power and I think there are so many people who would quickly act on that knowledge if only they were aware of those topics.

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?

LC: Consider for a moment that of the estimated 200,000 plant species that exist, 75 percent of food worldwide is generated from only 12 different plants, according to the FAO. This over-dependence on a relatively small number of crops is increasing dangerous as our climate changes. At Kuli Kuli, we’re very interested in what we think of us as “crops of the future,” plants that grow well with little water or other inputs and are packed with nutrients. We are of course, obsessed with the potential of moringa, but are also very interested in other climate-smart crops and how we can eventually help introduce those to the US market.

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?

LC: I would love to see more tree crops. Trees are key to the ecosystem integrity and are often very easy to cultivate.

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

LC: It’s amazing to watch how fast the food system has changed in the last decade. In the coming decade, I hope we can structure a food system that has biodiversity, sustainability and equity at its core, and in doing so create a world where malnutrition is something we read about in history books.

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

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Lisa Curtis, Founder and CEO of Kuli Kuli

Lisa Curtis is the Founder & CEO of Kuli Kuli, the first brand to introduce the green superfood moringa to the US market. Lisa founded Kuli Kuli after working with moringa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Lisa has grown Kuli Kuli from a Peace Corps dream into a multi-million dollar social enterprise that sells delicious moringa products in over 6,000 stores. Lisa and Kuli Kuli have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and hundreds of other publications. Prior to Kuli Kuli, Lisa served as the Communications Director at Mosaic where she managed a team of six to grow the company from zero to over $5M invested in solar through Mosaic’s online marketplace. Previously, Lisa wrote political briefings for President Obama in the White House, served as a United Nations Environment Programme Youth Advisor and worked at an impact investment firm in India. She writes for a variety of outlets including Forbes and The Huffington Post. Lisa has been recognized as a StartingBloc Fellow, a Wild Gift Better World Entrepreneur, an Ashoka Emerging Innovator and a Udall Scholar. She was honored as a 30 Under 30 Leader by Forbes, GreenBiz and the University of California. She was also named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 “Top of the Class” for Social Entrepreneurship.

The post Kuli Kuli on Diversifying Monocultures of People and Plants appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

The conversation about the future of food has exploded over the past half decade. Much ink has been spilled examining virtually every new food innovation from lab grown meat, to soil-free indoor farms, to new forms of genetically modified foods.

One of the forces behind this food tech movement are a legion of starry-eyed entrepreneurs fueled by millions in venture and corporate funding, looking to transform this $5 trillion industry into one that’s more efficient, sustainable, delicious, and healthy.

But just as many of these new, high-tech ideas will have a big impact on the future of food, so will many older, lower-tech ideas that have resurfaced into the zeitgeist. One quick walk down the supermarket aisles is a reminder of how the food industry aspires to produce simpler, more wholesome food that evokes attributes of the past, before food became an industry.

Organic. Free Range. Grass-Fed. The premium buzzwords of today simply describe how all food, by default, was made yesterday. What’s old has become new, but as we continue this conversation about the ideas that will carry us into the future, one very old concept is surging back into the food dialogue: food biodiversity.

The Intersection of Taste and Sustainability

Food Biodiversity, or more specifically, agrobiodiversity, is defined as the variety and variability of the plants, animals, micro-organisms, and biocultural systems linked to food. That’s the technical definition.

This variety and variability brings strength and resilience to food ecosystems, as it’s much harder to bring down a system where a diverse constituency of organisms both support and compete against one another to advance the health of the ecosystem.

The Irish Potato Famine is a stark reminder of what can happen when a critical food source lacks biodiversity, as a single disease was able to wipe out enough of the monocultured potato supply that 1 million people died of starvation and sickness.

Biodiversity is crucial to the health and safety of our food supply. But to us, biodiversity in food means something even more. Biodiversity sits at the intersection of taste and sustainability, where we can simultaneously satiate an eater’s desire for new, interesting foods, while supporting a more diverse cornucopia of foods being cultivated in the world.

Globally, 75% of our food comes from just 12 plants and 5 animal species. This enormous level of consolidation around just a handful of food sources not only magnifies the impact of any attack on the food supply — like the Irish Potato Famine — but it also consolidates our taste buds around just a few flavor experiences.

Of course, these few ingredients are remixed within the industrial food complex as a diverse ecosystem of brands, which gives the illusion that we’re eating from variety, but there is so much more to taste and experience in the world.

Eating from a more diverse selection of foods can reduce our reliance on the small handful of industrialized crops for our sustenance. For example, creating more demand for foods like Moringa, a nutrient-dense superfood from Southeast Asia, Fonio, a drought-resistant ancient grain from West Africa, or Kernza, a deliciously sustainable grain from the United States, provides a chance to simultaneously enrich our bodies, our planet, and the communities that cultivate these foods.

These foods are all great places to start, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg, as we humans in aggregate only eat 150 out of 30,000 edible plant species which leaves an entire world of flavor to explore.

Sustainable, Biodiverse, and Selfish

Forging a closer union between food that sustainably bolsters biodiversity and food that’s selfishly delicious, is a formula that will enable the sustainable food movement to truly attain scale and longevity. You can get a lot of people on board for a cause rooted solely in altruism, but you can get even more if you can also tie that cause to a selfish benefit.

These two causes — one altruistic, one selfish — need not be mutually exclusive. For example, Patagonia Provisions’ Long Root Ale, the first beer to be made from the environmentally enriching grain, Kernza, is a great example of how we can do right by our taste buds and the planet. A more biodiverse food system simply grows our opportunities for more products like Long Root Ale.

This approach of making more irresistibly delicious foods, that enrich the individual, from more sustainable or regenerative ingredients, that enrich the planet, is necessary to further mainstream the idea of food that’s great for people and planet.

In food, great taste gives you the license to promote other virtuous causes, and flavor is the vehicle that will bring us to a more biodiverse and sustainable food system.

To Learn More About Food Biodiversity:

• Biodiversity, an online exhibit at The Future Market
• Join the conversation at #biodiversefood

The post The Future of Food is Biodiverse 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. 

Below, we speak with Rebecca Gildiner, Impact Strategy Manager at Sir Kensington’s, about how taste and cultural preservation drive Sir Kensington’s growing commitment to biodiversity. She talks about creating markets for diverse crops and building supply chains for unique ingredients that directly support smallholder farmers. She also talks about examining Sir Kensington’s existing supply chain to better understand it’s impacts and identify opportunities for improvement.

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Danielle Gould: Is biodiversity a priority for Sir Kensington’s? If so, how and why?

Rebecca Gildiner: Biodiversity is important to Sir Kensington’s because taste is paramount to Sir Kensington’s. We believe the two are inherently linked, that is that biodiversity in the food system results in a myriad of flavors and culinary experiences. Is our mission specifically to create a product that enhances biodiversity in the food system? Not exactly, but a mission to bring integrity and charm to ordinary and overlooked foods through an innovation process led by taste means that we lean on a biodiverse food system to deliver on our promise. Sir Kensington’s also believes that the environment is a shared resource, and so protecting biodiversity is our responsibility as it is any other business who reaps the benefits of nature. Our combined values of environmental stewardship and exceptional taste mean that biodiversity is of the utmost importance to us.

At these early stages in our business, we’ve prioritized biodiversity with a baseline promise of being 100% Non-GMO Project Verified, and we were the first condiment brand to do so. While we realize the research is uncertain on the impacts of GMOs on biodiversity, we abide by a more precautionary principle that introducing foreign, genetically engineered plants into the natural environment could have detrimental impacts on ecosystems and wild plant genetics. We also believe that preserving traditional seed systems is vital to biodiversity, and these systems are currently at risk due to the increasing trend of seed patenting and genetic engineering controlled by large corporations rather than farmers. We also are concerned about the increased chemical use that these genetically engineered crops often encourage, which can harm species such as pollinators.

DG: How does Sir Kensington’s define and think about biodiversity? What does an ideal biodiverse food system look like?

RG: At Sir Kensington’s, we define biodiversity as the rich array of animals, plants, and insects that exist in complex webs of interaction within and across ecosystems. The food system is deeply reliant on biodiversity, where the strongest food production systems are biodiverse themselves and where all rely on adjacent biodiversity such as pollinators and decomposers. As a food company, we’re particularly interested in crop diversity. We believe the food system should encourage production of a wide variety of edible crops that provide diverse diets, comprised of diverse nutrients and tastes, and keep our food supply resilient. But we also consider the impacts of man-made food systems on biodiversity beyond the confines of the farm, such as the harm that deforestation and chemical application can cause to wild populations and waterways.

An ideal food system would look like many small polycultures rich in a diversity of life and plants. But this is likely too ideal, and our production system is under too intense of pressures to produce highs volume to see that mode of production scale. So today, we should at least strive for a system that values and produces a diversity of crops and limits harmful production practices in order to protect greater biodiversity and ecosystems.

DG: What is Sir Kensington’s doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

RG: Beyond our Non-GMO promise, we are gradually finding opportunities to create markets for diverse crops. Historically, Sir Kensington’s has succeeded in building out more sustainable supply chains such as Certified Humane Free Range eggs for our mayonnaise and aquafaba for our vegan mayo, a liquid by-product of cooking chickpeas that was once being thrown out and is now the star of our Fabanaise. Now going forward, we are thinking more about how to build out supply chains for unique ingredients that will support our upcoming innovations in global flavors and create demand for diverse food production.

We in part value biodiversity because we believe it preserves culture. That is, preserving agrobiodiversity means enabling the preservation of cultural traditions and flavors. Next year, as we focus our 2019 innovations showcasing global flavors, we hope to find ways to support production of diverse ingredients, especially through spices. We’ve already begun to do this through our Spice Kits. Through our kits, we are working in shorter supply chains that are directly supporting smallholder farmers, rather than less eco-friendly, large scale commercial farms. This is meant as a launching pad for our own supply chain, as we explore opportunities for new, shorter supply chains for underutilized spices or those grown with more agroecological practices. As a food company, we can help increase biodiversity by creating demand for a variety of crops from more responsible producers within our products and among our customers.

It’s also not just about a biodiverse food system, but also being cognizant of the impacts the food system has on biodiversity. For instance, deforestation is a significant problem in the food industry, most notoriously for soy and palm oil, that the food industry has a responsibility to stop. Sir Kensington’s is putting our own supply chain under a microscope to better understand our own impacts. When we discovered the challenges around avocados in Mexico and the industry’s connection with deforestation, among other social impacts, it became one of our supply chain team’s and my own top priority to find a more traceable, sustainable avocado oil supply chain. We continue to work hard on finding a solution, within a limited market and an exceptionally complex supply chain.

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

RG: As a consumer packaged goods (CPG) company, our supply chains are long and complex, meaning we’re often far removed from the production of many our ingredients. This makes traceability and transparency quite challenging in terms of knowing about biodiversity-friendly practices. The large and rapidly increasing volumes we need as a growing company also make traceability and production oversight even more challenging, and often means working with larger producers relying on monocultures to produce high volumes. And of course, the cost pressures of any CPG to provide a product that consumers are willing to pay for is always a challenge when it comes to sourcing in the most responsible way possible.

Sir Kensington’s has made efforts to combat these challenges, prioritizing close relationships with key suppliers such as our egg and tomato producers, by visiting their farms and choosing responsible, trustworthy partners, and by being 100% non-GMO verified. We are able to support cooperatives of small family farms producing our Certified Humane Free Range eggs, which feels like a step in the right direction. But still many other, more minor ingredients prove more challenging. It comes down to prioritization, and as a company with hundreds of ingredients we need to start somewhere. We focus on where the bulk of our money is going (i.e., our key ingredients) and thus where we have our biggest impacts, and on where the biggest risks are. We must acknowledge that we can’t do everything everywhere, but we don’t use that as an excuse for not always trying to improve and go deeper.

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

RG: Taste! Customers above all want products that taste good, and we know that to create good taste, we need a supply chain that’s rooted in biodiversity. The world’s farmers have lost 75 percent of their plant genetic diversity since the 1900s in the name of high-yielding, profit-maximizing, transportation-friendly crops–not necessarily those that taste the best. We still have a lot of work to do ourselves, and we continue to seek out suppliers with responsible production practices and ingredients bred for flavor. The more delicious our products, the better our business will perform.

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

RG: We know that our consumers prefer values-driven companies who make responsible decisions for the environment and people. So we know that in theory, customers care about biodiversity because it’s better for the health of the planet. That said, customers might not always understand how biodiversity relates to them. The messages we are sent about biodiversity is often one of altruism–that we should care about the rainforest because it’s the right thing to do for the planet and because we should value ecosystems, plain and simple. But biodiversity, or a lack thereof, does affect us–it affects our food supply, our nutrition, our medicine–and is part of a complex ecosystem, the disruption of which we can’t really fully understand the impacts.

History has of course shown us the risks of dwindling genetic plant diversity. An entire population suffered during the Irish potato famine in 1850, caused by a blight that attacked the limited varieties of potatoes being grown. And today we face the threat against the incredibly popular Cavendish banana, a crisis which presents itself less than half a century after the devastation of the formerly most popular banana, the Gros Michel, attacked by a fungus against which it had no defense. I think consumers would care if their favorite foods disappeared from the grocery store, and so they definitely care about this form of agricultural biodiversity. It is these sorts of lessons we need to better communicate.

So while we do believe that our customers care, that’s not the only reason we care. Sometimes the reason we do things internally is not what we communicate externally. As alluded to earlier, our number one communication tool is taste. We believe diverse ingredients make our products taste better, which will drive people to buy them, and that it’s our obligation as a producer to make responsible choices. We’ll continue to do so while seeking out opportunities to educate consumers on why some, if not all, of those decisions are important.

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?

RG: All of us food manufacturers need to do the legwork to familiarize ourselves with our supply chains, understand the implications of our purchasing and processing decisions, and set goals around improving them–continuously. This also means pushing for more traceability in an industry where that is not the norm. These decisions will often take more work and cost more money, which is why we need retailers to provide the education to consumers, and ultimately get their buy-in so that we can prove the economic viability of more sustainable supply chains. Retailers can also help lead the charge of encouraging manufacturers to source responsibly, creating downward pressure to improve the system as a whole.

As a system at large made up of policy makers, farmers, producers, retailers, and consumers, we all need to make better use of the land we already use to prevent deforestation and other land use change in the name of increased production for profit.

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?

RG: Hopefully that would mean a more colorful, diverse selection of more flavorful foods–and likely at higher prices if they were truly internalizing the cost of sustainable production.

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?

RG: I believe that the food service industry has a real opportunity to get people’s taste buds to appreciate variety. According to the FAO, 75 percent of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and five animal species. Think of all the flavors we’re missing out on! By exposing more eaters to diverse fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins, we can create demand for variety and incentive farmers to grow accordingly. For instance, I’ve loved seeing the rise of the Japanese sweet potato–a vegetable I’ve been fond of for years–and I know there are so many more varieties out there that can tantalize the eater’s tastebuds. Food service establishments have the opportunity to serve that first taste, and foster curiosity for what other tastes are out there.

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

RG: National seed banks will be vital to preserve the immense biodiversity that comes out of traditional seed systems, and will be crucial to keep our food system resilient. We also need to invest more funding into protecting natural ecosystems such as forests, and in extension services and subsidies for farmers to help them reduce chemical use and incorporate other agroecological practices. Additionally, the private sector can create markets that incentivize farmers to grow a diversity of crops and pay more for better ingredients. At the end of the day, farmers will farm in a way that people pay them to farm. We need to create demand for a diversity of foods and realize that responsible, diverse production will often come at a higher price point.

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

RG: I hope we can start to reverse and inch closer to the biodiverse food system that we once had. This will mean people enjoying diverse diets and producers not giving into pressure to produce in ways that harm natural ecosystems. I hope that our system invests more in supporting local seed saving traditions rather than looking to GMOs to save the world–a solution with unclear consequences. I hope that markets find a way to restructure capitalist priorities–that we can find a system that prioritizes taste and the environment over yield and profit, that enables food sovereignty and eliminates hunger. It might be the vision of an idealist, but I’m not sure our planet or global population can afford anything less.

DG: Anything else you want to share?

RG: I believe that there is a level of humbleness required from humans to truly value biodiversity. Despite so much scientific progress and many developments, we still know so little. Nature is vast and way beyond our current comprehension. There are literally millions if not billions of species we have not yet discovered, and tenfold the number of interactions amongst them that we don’t understand. So we must realize that we cannot possibly understand to the fullest the consequences of our actions when interfering with natural systems. The hubris of mankind will be our downfall: we are not isolated from nature, nor conquerors of nature, but are benefactors, servants, and friends of nature. We must work with it, rather than against it, which can prove challenging in a manipulative science like agriculture, but which can be done with more reverence for the environment than we’re carrying out now. We rely on nature immensely, and must treat it with respect and humbleness, for the sake of its longevity and our own.

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

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Rebecca Gildiner, Impact Strategy Manager at Sir Kensington’s

Rebecca Gildiner is the Impact Strategy Manager at Sir Kensington’s, overseeing social and environmental impact across the business. Rebecca has 10+ years experience across the food system, from farm work and retail to waste management and food education. Prior to Sir Kensington’s, Rebecca received her Masters of Environmental Management at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies where she focused on food systems and corporate responsibility. She has supported sustainability strategy development for companies such as IKEA Food Services, Shake Shack, SustainAbility, and Foodprint Group.

The post Sir Kensington’s on Creating Markets & Supply Chains For Diverse Crops appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Source: USDA

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 USDA has released its long-awaited GMO labeling standards. The BE labels help regulate food marketing, not food safety or limiting technology. Coca-Cola’s Venturing and Emerging Brands (VEB) unit has led a $15 million investment in Iris Nova, the parent company of Dirty Lemon. Hippeas has closed an $8 million round as it prepares for nationwide expansion in Whole Foods and later convenient stores. Sir Kensington has ventured into spices, launching its first DTC platform.

After Blue Apron shares dropped below $1, the company’s latest comeback efforts relies on the dieters of WW, formerly Weight Watchers, to help its bottom line. US pharmaceutical company Merck has acquired digital livestock and animal health company Antelliq for $2.37 billion.

And to wrap up the year in innovation news, check out Eater’s compilation of Food Trends for 2019 and Biggest Food Technology Advances of 2018.

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

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1. Coca-Cola Leads $15M Investment in Dirty Lemon Parent Co. Iris Nova – BevNet

Along with its own brands, Iris Nova has allocated $1m to invest in other beverage brands this year. Dirty Lemon plans to open new retail stores in Manhattan, Chicago and Miami.

2. Merck Acquires Digital Livestock Tech Antelliq for $2.4B in Biggest Agtech Acquisition on Record – AgFunder

The move highlights the pharmaceutical company’s commitment to the animal health business.

3. Amsterdam: Takeaway Buys Delivery Hero’s German Division for $1B – Skift Table

Takeaway’s orders will double to 47m, with expected cost synergies to exceed 60m euros by 2020.

4. Blue Apron Links With Dieters in Comeback Effort – Wall Street Journal

After shares fell below $1, the company entered a partnership with WW Inc, formerly known as Weight Watchers, giving it access to millions of customers interested in healthy eating.

5. Hippeas Closes $8M Round, Expects to Hit Profitability in 2019 – Nosh

Venture group CAVU led the round. In January, the line will enter Whole Foods nationwide and later enter the convenience channel with a test in 7-Eleven.

6. Sir Kensington’s Launches Spice Line, Tests D2C Sales – Nosh

The spice kits are sold through a microsite, where the company will release a different set each month.

7. Here’s a First Look at the Label That Must Appear on All GMO Foods by 2022 – New Food Economy

The “bioengineered” label will soon be a familiar sight, but the government’s criteria for foods that can evade the label are already causing confusion and controversy.

8. Merck Acquires Digital Livestock Tech Antelliq for $2.4B in Biggest Agtech Acquisition on Record – AgFunder

The move highlights the pharmaceutical company’s commitment to the animal health business.

9. Was 2018 the Year of the Influential Sustainable Consumer? – Nielsen

Americans spent $128.5m on sustainable fast-moving consumer goods — a 20% growth in product sales.

10. The Biggest Food Technology Advances of 2018 – Eater

Automated delivery vehicles, robot cooks and servers, and new ways to experience flavor and meet daily nutritional standards will soon be the status quo.

11. Literally Every Single Food Trend Predicted to Take Over 2019 – Eater

A compendium of every prediction about food, restaurants and dining culture for 2019.

12. Women, Women of Color & Gender Non-Conforming Innovator Database

We created this open-source list to increase representation, support and investment in women, women of color & gender-nonconforming innovators in food. Join the list & help us spread the word using #womxninfood

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 USDA Releases GMO Label, Coca-Cola Invests $15M in Dirty Lemon Parent Co + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

The supplement industry is ridden with cheap, synthetic chemicals. Ora Organic was founded in 2015 to rebuild trust in the category by creating nutritional supplements made from organic, plant-based and sustainable food ingredients. But building trust is difficult, so Ora relied on a number of digital and marketing tactics to gain consumer trust.

The direct-to-consumer supplement startup first gained notoriety in 2017 when it appeared on Shark Tank and turned down a $375,000 investment in front of millions of viewers. CTO and Head of Growth Sebastian Bryers set up lead capture devices on its website, allowing the company to obtain more than 15,000 emails and thousands of subscribers in a month. Through the show, the company was able to earn the attention of investors and gained an overwhelming response from people looking for premium, organic supplements.

While Ora Organics found its first customers through personal networks, Bryers relied on his background in data analysis to help grow the brand. He performed sentiment analysis on top blogs to understand the key questions people were asking, which provided data for the company to create relevant content. This data-driven approach to content allowed the brand to build trust with its audience. Now, the collection of data is automated and used to optimize its advertising as well as ensure the right audiences receive its content.

Sebastian Bryers joined us at our Rethinking CPG Meetup this past August to share insight on the company’s e-commerce strategy and plans for retail. You can see videos of other presenters at our Food+Tech Meetups here.

The post Ora Organic’s Data-Driven Growth Strategy appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

PICTURED:Greg Fleishman, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Galit Laibow (Foodstirs co-founders) PHOTO by: Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com

Glyphosate, the world’s most used herbicide, has recently become a major issue for the U.S. food and supplement industry because of its residues in foods. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classifying glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015. A very well publicized testing report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found glyphosate in a number of popular breakfast foods and cereals marketed to children. And Henry Rowlands at The Detox Project estimates that nearly 20 percent  of organic consumer packaged good brands have pesticide residue in their products – truly frightening. Our customers told us glyphosate is of particular concern to them, which is why we conducted testing. We found that consumers need deep transparency and verification when it comes to food, especially pesticide-free products and foods heavily consumed by children further solidifying our decision to move forward with The Detox Project and get Glyphosate Residue-free certified.

Together with my two other co-founders, Galit Laibow and Sarah Michelle Gellar, Foodstirs began with a simple mission: help families create indelible memories together through the power of good clean food. When it comes to Foodstirs products, we are committed to providing deep transparency that gives our consumers the peace of mind they deserve. When The Detox Project launched the Glyphosate Reside-Free Certification in 2017, we were thrilled there was finally a way to test packaged products for pesticides so consumers never have to question whether they are consuming glyphosate while eating our products, helping them feel safe so they can enjoy the ultimate home baking experience.

To gain our certification, we worked closely with The Detox Project Director, Henry Rowlands, whose beliefs align with the Foodstirs mission that verifiably clean ingredients are crucial to consumers, especially as we see more and more consumers growing their education around food labeling. The thorough process took 2-4 weeks, where we sent our products to be tested by a third-party lab using equipment that has the ability to test down to parts per billion, which is the only way to ensure there is zero trace of the pesticide. Note: the US Government only tests down to parts per million, which is not effective at knowing if there are traces of pesticide residue in a finished product. For most brands and even organic certified brands there is a way to ensure you pass the test. Using crops made with purest of growing methods is key. This includes Biodynamic(r) and Single-Origin Identity Preserved (non-tilled) where no outside chemicals are allowed. If you are currently using crops most susceptible to glyphosate residue, like Oats, Wheat, or Pea, then replacing with Biodynamic(r) or IP is the best chance at ensuring you will pass.

Foodstirs Organic Chewy Oat Bar Mixes in Chocolate Coconut, Cinnamon Raisin and Very Berry Chocolate Chip flavors were the first to become Glyphosate Residue-Free certified, which is important given oats are a major glyphosate-impact crop. As of today, all Foodstirs products are Glyphosate Residue-Free certified. To make sure our offerings are 100 percent free of glyphosate, The Detox Project tests each product 3 times a year and perform spot checks at manufacturing facilities and products sold at retail. To guarantee there are no pesticides, it is important to regularly test your supply chains, which is exactly what The Detox Project does. According to Henry Rowlands, the main reason that glyphosate is appearing in many GMO and conventional food products is because glyphosate is used to dry out crops a few weeks or days before harvest. In order to reduce the possibility of glyphosate residues in their products, food brands can request that farmers in their supply chain do not use glyphosate to dry them out.

Looking ahead, how to be transparent on the glyphosate issue will be one of the main focuses of discussion and action for the food and supplement industry in 2019. With The Detox Project certification, we now have a trusted way for brands to validate their glyphosate free products so that all consumers can have an informed choice. This is great progress towards cleaning up our food system!

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About The Author:

Greg Fleishman, Co-Founder & President/COO, Foodstirs

Greg Fleishman is the President/COO & Co-Founder of Foodstirs along with Galit Laibow and actress Sarah Michelle Gellar. He’s spent the majority of his 20+ year career in the natural food and beverage industry, and has been instrumental in shaping some of the most progressive products and hottest trends on grocery store shelves and online. Greg’s extensive track record includes leading brands and companies within Suja, Sambazon, Kelloggs, Coke, and Kashi plus launching more than 3,500 consumer products across 17 different categories and 12 countries. Greg is also the co-founder of Purely Righteous Brands where he advises leading natural products companies including Chameleon Cold-Brew, 4^th & Heart, Counter Culture, REBBL, and many other leading brands in the green space. Greg also co-founded Modern Alkeme SuperTonics with Larry Praeger. Named to Forbes List of Top Consumer Catalysts of 2016, Greg currently serves on the Board of Directors for Demeter Biodynamic, Nuun, Lily’s, and Once Upon a Farm.

The post Why Foodstirs Got Glyphosate Residue-Free Certified appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Source: KUOW

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.

News of two new cashierless stores in New York were announced this week. Amazon has confirmed plans to open an Amazon Go store in New York City. No timetable or details on the store and its location were disclosed. Cult brand Dirty Lemon has just opened its text-based Drug Store in Tribeca. The store will put the company’s health-conscious drinks more within reach for New York customers and help raise awareness of the trendy brand beyond social media and the internet.

An incubator for vegan startups, called ProVeg, is slated to launch in Germany. FoodShot Global has launched a $10 million fund to get innovative startups to aim for the moon.

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. Join the Alpha Food Labs Community

We’re rethinking the way food is made, starting with community. The Alpha Community. Join us to help develop, test, and get early access to food designed for your tastes and values.

2. Amazon’s Cashier-Free Go Store Is Coming to NYC – TechCrunch

The New York store will be Amazon’s first outside of its native Seattle. The launch date is yet to be disclosed.

3. Germany’s ProVeg International Launches Incubator for Vegan Startups – LIVEKINDLY

The incubator hopes to foster food concepts that go beyond vegan mainstays. It aims to launch in November.

4. Hershey’s to Add Pirate’s Booty to Snack Portfolio – NOSH

Hershey’s has acquired Pirate Brands business from B&G foods for $420m. The purchase is a move further affield from confection and deeper into the snack aisle.

5. FoodShot Global Launches Fund to Land Food Moonshots – The Spoon

The investment platform is a consortium of venture funds, banks, corporations, universities and foundations with a $10m fund that will invest in innovative businesses. It is also awarding $500k in philanthropic capital every year to researchers, social entrepreneurs and advocates.

6. Ripe.io And Its ‘Blockchain of Food’ Secures $2.4M In Funding – Forbes

Investors included Maersk Growth and Relish Works. With partners like Maersk now on board, Ripe.io is looking to take its blockchain of food global.

7. Paying Is Voluntary at This Selfie-Friendly Store – New York Times

Drug Store, a new health-drink outlet in New York by cult brand Dirty Lemon, is betting that customers will pay by text message after grabbing a bottle.

8. West~bourne’s Camilla Marcus on Her Failure to Launch [VIDEO]

West~bourne founder Camilla Marcus joined us at our Fail Friday this past June to share her stories of failure and lessons learned.

9. Spyce Cooks Up $21M as Investors Continue Rush to Robots – The Spoon

The investment was led by Collaborative Fund and Maveron, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Chef Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud and others. Funding will be used to open restaurants on the East Coast and to further develop its robotic culinary platform.

10. India: Meat Startup Licious to Raise Up to $30M – Livemint

One of the new investors the company is talking to is Bertelsmann India Investments. The startup delivers fresh meat to consumers.

11. China’s Top Hotpot Chain Attracts Hillhouse to $963M IPO – Bloomberg

Haidilao’s restaurants are known for serving spicy broths and providing attentive customer service, which includes free manicures, shoulder massages and dance performances.

12. China’s ‘Amazon for Services’ Confirms IPO Plans, Despite a Tech Slump – Fortune

Meituan Dianping has confirmed it is seeking a $55b valuation from a Hong Kong IPO.

13. Singapore: Umitron Increases Seed Funding Round for Aquaculture Automation Tech to $11M – AgFunder

The Innovation Network Corporation of Japan invested alongside D4V (Design for Ventures), with participation of Mirai Creation Fund and angel investors. The startup uses satellite imagery, IoT and automation to increase the efficiency of offshore aquaculture.

14. After Announcing Layoffs, A Meat Processor Is Suing Blue Apron Over $26M – BuzzFeed News

West Liberty Foods is suing Blue Apron, claiming the company reneged on its promise to pay for half of the costs pertaining to a joint free-range chicken venture.

15. GV Leads $60M Series C for Benson Hill Biosystems to Focus on Health and Nutrition
– AgFunder

Other new investors joining the round include Activant Capital, Collaborative Fund and Tao Capital Partners. BHB will use the proceeds to continue to develop the platform with a focus on expanding its capabilities further into the nutrition and health profile of crops.

16. House Farm Bill Would Cut Millions from Food Stamp Rolls – Food Dive

Two million low-income Americans receiving SNAP benefits would lose eligibility under the US House’s proposed Agriculture Improvement Act. Those most likely to be affected are seniors, families with children and households that include a person with a disability.

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 Amazon Go Expands to NYC, Vegan Incubator to Launch in Berlin + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

PetPlate is a direct-to-consumer human grade pet food company that delivers ready-to-eat, nutritious pet food designed by veterinarians and made by chefs. In May 2018, it closed a $4 million seed round led by Dane Creek Capital to scale operations and meet demand. CEO Renaldo Webb joined us at our Fail Friday this past June to share his stories of failure and lessons learned.

Renaldo founded PetPlate because he wanted to be able to feed his real food. After making hundreds of batches of home-cooked food for his dog Winston and his pup pals, Renaldo launched PetPlate as a nationwide subscription service in early 2017, following an appearance on the hit TV show Shark Tank.

Renaldo’s Fail Friday story begins as he’s scaling the company after raising pre-seed funding through Shark Tank. He and his investors decided it was time to expand the company’s manufacturing from a local commercial kitchen to working with a co-packer.

He honed in on three major failures and lessons learned:

1. Not having the right specs for PetPlate’s co-packer was a huge challenge. Ultimately this really comes down to learning what works at a small scale and what the startup’s customers loved, so as not marry them with a process that can’t deliver the experience its customers want.
2. PetPlate tried doing too much at once in the process of scaling bench-top formulations to something it could commercialize.
3. PetPlate moved too fast, especially when it came to finding its co-packer. He learned it’s important to take time to find the right co-packer and to cultivate a good relationship with them. Ultimately, PetPlate was able to find the right co-packer that met its needs and allow them to focus on what was important to the company’s mission: the quality of ingredients.

You can see videos of other presenters at our Fail Friday here.

The post PetPlate on Scaling Smarter appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Increasing demand for healthy, sustainable and personalized options has disrupted the CPG space. Big food companies are losing market share to startups with more nimble business models, greater consumer focus and faster innovation cycles. Since 2013, food and beverage startups have raised $9.5 billion across 2,100 deals globally. From direct-to-consumer functional foods to plant-based ingredient innovations, startups are radically rethinking how food products are developed, packaged and sold.

Join us to hear from some of the game-changing startups who are rethinking consumer packaged goods at our August Food+Tech Meetup. Founders will do a deep dive into their business models, approaches to product development and lessons learned. We will also have networking with the community and lots of great food and drinks to sample from, RIND Snacks, Dafero, Lavva, The Worthy Company, Masienda, Egunsi Foods, Seek Food, DIRTY LEMON, Makku and Yolélé Foods.

SCHEDULE:
6:30 – 7:15pm: Networking
7:30 – 9:00pm: Presentations + Q&A
9:00 – 9:30pm: Networking

PRESENTERS:
Zak Normandin, Co-Founder & CEO of DIRTY LEMON
In 2015 Normandin launched DIRTY LEMON, the world’s first direct-to-consumer beverage brand that sells exclusively by text message. Backed by A-List celebrities and business leaders alike, DIRTY LEMON is recognized nationally by media leaders such as Vogue, Forbes and Fast Company. In developing this proprietary technology, Normandin built a conversational commerce platform that provides effortless transactions, bypassing existing distribution inefficiencies, to improve the customer’s experience.

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

Santiago Proaño Gómez, Brand Manager at Innovation Lab Tyson Foods
¡YAPPAH! is a new brand from Tyson Innovation Lab that exists to help fight food waste and address other sustainability challenges. ¡YAPPAH! products incorporate ingredients like upcycled proteins, and rescued vegetables and grains. These Protein Crisps are crunchy, tasty snacks that also provide the good stuff like chicken and veggies. It’s a snack that helps fights food waste AND delivers the flavor nuance of a meal.”

HOST:
Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. We are an independent, founder-controlled company of 132 people working together in an old pencil factory in New York City. Over 10 million people, from every continent on earth, have backed a Kickstarter project from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. To date, tens of thousands of creative projects — big and small — have come to life with the support of the Kickstarter community.

SPONSORS:
Like our namesake borough, the Brooklyn Brewery is made up of a rich collection of characters from all over the world. In our Williamsburg home, these characters are dedicated to brewing and selling great beer and enriching the communities we serve. Together, these Brooklyners have assembled the skills needed to transform a home brewing hobby into an independent brewery with a brand that has become an international beacon for good beer.

The post Rethinking CPG 2018 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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.

Agfunder has released their AgriFood Tech Investing Report 2017, posting a 29% year-over-year increase to $10.1 billion for early stage investments in agrifood tech startups. The number of deals fell 17% as investors made larger bets on fewer companies.

The retail war continues. Walmart has introduced meal kits to its stores and online grocery service. It is also developing a new technology that has the potential to save it $2 billion in food waste and was just issued a patent for robot shopping carts. Instacart has applied for a patent for a mobile self-checkout system. Meanwhile, Amazon has committed to $22 billion in future food purchases as it bulks up Whole Foods.

In CPG news, bone broth company Ancient Nutrition has closed a minority investment of $103 million led by VMG Partners. Exo has been acquired for an undisclosed sum by insect food company Aspire. Kraft Heinz has launched its own food innovation platform, and Unilever has officially entered the organic market with its own plant-based brand.

Flippy, Miso Robotic’s hamburger flipping robot, is finally joining the human crew at the fast casual restaurant’s Pasadena location. Ordermark has raised $3.1 million to simplify restaurant delivery orders.

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. AgriFood Tech Investment Surges to $10.1B Bringing in a New Normal – AgFunder

Early Stage investment in agrifood tech startups reached $10.1b in 2017,posting a 29% year-over-year increase and reversing the downward trend of 2016. The deal count fell by 17% to 949, with the most dramatic contraction at seed stage.

2. 100+ Investors, $103M in Ancient Nutrition Capital Round – Project Nosh

Bone broth company Ancient Nutrition closed a $103m minority investment led by VMG Partners, along with Hillhouse Capital, ICONIQ Capital and others. The investment will allow the brand to expand into Asia.

3. Meal Kits Come to Walmart Stores and Online Grocery Service – TechCrunch

Walmart’s affordable alternative to meal kit delivery subscriptions is now available at over 250 stores as well as its online grocery pickup service. The meal kits will be available to over 2k locations by the end of the year.

4. Amazon Has Committed to Roughly $22B in Future Food Purchases as It Bulks Up Whole Foods – CNBC

Big multi-year contracts are rare for the e-commerce giant. The disclosure reflects its long-term plan to turn Whole Foods into a major revenue driver.

5. Insect Food Company Aspire Acquires Cricket Protein Bar Maker Exo – Forbes

Aspire’s current line of Aketta cricket food products will be re-branded as Exo products. Exo’s supply chain will only be using Aspire’s cricket protein. Financial terms were undisclosed.

6. Instacart Is Thinking About a Self-Checkout System, Patent Reveals – Fast Company

Instacart has filed a patent for a mobile self-checkout system that would allow shoppers to bypass in-store checkouts, hinting at ways the retailer might speed up its delivery operations.

7. Walmart Issued Patent for Robot Shopping Cart – The Spoon

Walmart was just awarded a patent that it filed two years ago for what looks like a self-driving shopping cart.

8. Kraft Heinz Launches New Platform to ‘Shape the Future of Food’ – Food Business News

The Springboard platform seeks to partner and develop brands within one of four pillars: natural and organic, specialty and craft, health and performance; and experiential brands.

9. Walmart Is Unleashing a Weapon Worth $2B That Could Deal a Blow to Whole Foods – Business Insider

Walmart is developing a technology called Eden that inspects products for defects and can predict the date when it will spoil. The company states it will save $2b in food waste over the next five years.

10. Unilever Enters the Organic Snack Space with Mission-Based Brand – Food Dive

Unilever’s plant-based snacks, Growing Roots, will allocate half of its profits to urban farming initiatives.

11. Flippy, the Robot Hamburger Chef, Goes to Work – TechCrunch

A year after announcing its partnership with Caliburger, Miso Robotics’ AI-enabled line cook is joining the human crew at the fast casual restaurant’s Pasadena location.

12. Ordermark Raises $3.1M to Simplify Restaurant Delivery Orders – The Spoon

The seed round was led by TenOneTen Ventures, with participation from Act One Ventures, Mucker Capital and others. Funding will be used to accelerate growth and integrate with more delivery services.

13. India: Zomato Confirms $150M Fund Raise from Alibaba’s Ant Financial – YourStory

The funds will be used to strengthen the team’s leadership position in its core markets by investing in product and technology. With this deal, Zomato’s valuation has been pegged at $1.1b.

14. Argentina: Syngenta and Bunge Ventures Back South American Agribusiness Marketplace Agrofy – AgFunder

Agrofy has raised a $6m Series A round led by Sao Paulo Ventures to build out the site’s capabilities and broaden the product supply. The marketplace offers farm machinery, financial services and consulting services.

15. Global Agtech Startup Investments Rise 29% in 2017 – Reuters

Global agriculture and food technology startups received a record $10.1b in 2017, up 29% from 2016. The number of deals fell 17% as investors made larger bets on fewer companies.

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 $10B Invested in AgriFood Tech, Amazon Commits to $22B in Future Food Purchases, Ancient Nutrition Secures $103M + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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.

Retail news is on fire this week. Amazon launched its delivery service for businesses that will rival FedEx and UPS. To take on increasing competition from the e-commerce giant, Instacart has swallowed $200 million in a Series E round led by Coatue Management and Glade Brook Capital Partners. Israel-based CommonSense Robotics has scored $20 million for online grocery fulfillment. In China, the checkout-free chain He Ma plans to roll out 30 more stores in Beijing.

Hamburger-flipping robot maker Miso Robotics has landed $10 million as it rolls out Flippy to 50 Caliburger locations. In India, Ola is pumping $62.2 million into recently acquired Foodpanda to bolster its logistics and tech capabilities.

And finally, the Trump administration proposed a radical overhaul of the SNAP program with a Blue Apron-type “Harvest Box” that only includes shelf-stable and canned food. Reaction has been largely negative.

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. Amazon to Launch Delivery Service That Would Vie with FedEx, UPS – Wall Street Journal

Dubbed “Shipping with Amazon” (SWA), the new service will pick up packages from businesses and ship them to consumers. It will first roll out in Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

2. Instacart Adds $200M to Defend Against Amazon Delivery – Bloomberg

The Series E financing was led by Coatue Management and Glade Brook Capital Partners, valuing the company at approximately $4.2b.

3. Israel: CommonSense Robotics Raises $20M for Robotics Tech for Online Grocery Fulfillment – TechCrunch

The round was led by Playground Global, with participation from previous investors Aleph VC and Innovation Endeavors. Funds will be used to scale up its facility deployment rate, develop robotics and AI as well as expand global operations and sales.

4. This Week in China Tech: Alibaba Brings AI to Pig Farming and Retail Tech on the Rise – Forbes

Ali Cloud, Alibaba’s answer to Amazon Web Services, has partnered with Te Qu and Kang De groups to raise pigs using AI. The Amazon Go concept has been in China since 2016 through the company He Ma. It is expanding with 30 more stores opening in Beijing this year.

5. Miso Scores $10M to Bring Its Hamburger-Flipping Robot to More Restaurants – TechCrunch

The latest windfall was led by Acacia Research Corporation, bringing total disclosed funding to $14m. The company is ramping up production and getting ready to deliver its hamburger-cooking robot Flippy to 50 CaliBurger locations.

6. India-Focused Agtech VC Omnivore Partners Holds First Close on $46M for Second Fund – AgFunder

Investors included KfW, the Small Industries Development Bank of India, the Dutch Good Growth Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, Ceniarth, RBL Bank and Sorenson Impact Foundation. The fund is focused on increasing profitability for smallholder farmers.

7. India: Ola Parent to Pump $62.2M in Newly Acquired Food Delivery Platform Foodpanda India – Inc42

The capital infusion will be geared towards bolstering Foodpanda’s logistics and tech capabilities. Foodpanda aims to make onboarding of new restaurants more seamless.

8. Safe Catch Snags $5M to Extend Line of Mercury-Tested Fish – Food Dive

Funding came from Echo Capital, Essential Investments and unnamed angel investors. The company plans to expand and promote its products.

9. Yakult Declines After Danone’s $1.8 Billion Share Sale Plan – Bloomberg

Yakult shares tumbled the most in 19 months after Danone announced plans to sell $1.8b of the Japanese company’s stocks amid pressures from an activist investor to boost returns.

10. Nestle Buys Majority Stake in Organic Food Company Terrafertil – Reuters

The move is the latest step by Nestle to expand its profile in healthy foods as it seeks to offset weakness in the packaged foods sector. Financial terms were not disclosed.

11. Agrylist Raises Another $1.5M for Its Intelligent Indoor Farming Platform – TechCrunch

The round came from iSelect Fund, Argonautic Ventures, Horizons Lab and Onlan Capital Fund along with existing investors Compound and the New York State Innovation Capital Fund. It plans to use new funding to support its growth of product lines and expand into new markets.

12. TechAccel Backs Chloroplast Engineering Startup Plastomics – AgFunder

Plasmotics is increasing the speed and lowering the cost of designing new seeds. TechAccel’s investment will fund a science advancement initiative designed to accelerate the startup’s technology and insect control trait currently in development.

13. What’s in a Name (for Lab-Grown Meat)? – The Spoon

The United States Cattlemen’s Association filed a petition with the USDA asking for new beef labeling requirements to make sure anything labeled “beef” or “meat” comes straight from a cow.

14. Trump Administration Wants to Decide What Food SNAP Recipients Will Get – NPR

Under the proposal, low-income Americans who make up 80% of all SNAP recipients would get about half of their benefits in the form of a USDA foods package, which would not include any fresh fruits or vegetables.

15. Vegan Burger Brand Impossible Foods Launches Food Bank Program – Live Kindly

The company has partnered with Alameda County Community Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank to provide regular donations of its plant-based burger patties to residents in food assistance programs.

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 Amazon Takes On Fedex and UPS, Trump Replaces SNAP with Blue Apron Model, Instacart Raises $200M + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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 maker of Keurig’s coffee maker machines has purchased Dr Pepper for $19 billion in cash, making it one of the largest nonalcoholic drink deal on record. Tyson’s VC arm is now taking bets with lab-grown meat with an investment in Memphis Meats. Ripple Foods received a $65 million investment led by Euclidean Capital.

In retail news, meal kit service Sun Basket has secured a $42.8 million investment from August Capital. Uber drivers can now begin selling products through Cargo, which raised $5.5 million from CRCM Ventures and eighteen94 capital, Kellogg’s VC fund. Alibaba has made two major investments in India’s delivery space: $200 million in BigBasket and $150 million in Zomato. Irish food group Total Produce has purchased a 45% stake in Dole for $300 million with plans for a complete acquisition within five years.

Two major publications have brought attention to two major issues occurring on America’s farms: a sexual harassment epidemic and children’s safety at risk operating farm machinery.

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. Keurig to Acquire Dr Pepper Snapple – Wall Street Journal

The deal will give shareholders of the soda maker nearly $19b in cash and go down as one of the largest beverage deal in years. Keurig’s owner, JAB Holding, is expanding its coffee business into sodas and ready-to-drink beverages.

2. Tyson Joins Bill Gates, Cargill to Invest in Lab Meat Producer – Bloomberg

The company’s VC arm has invested an undisclosed sum in Memphis Meats, adding to the string of high-profile backers including Cargill, Bill Gates and Richard Branson. The company will use the Tyson funds for product development.

3. Goldman Sachs Invests in Pea Milk Startup – Bloomberg

The $65m investment in Ripple Foods was led by Euclidean Capital with participation from Khosla Ventures, Fall Line Capital, S2G Ventures and Goldman Sachs.

4. Sun Basket Secures $42.8M in Funding – Meat + Poultry

The Series D round was led by August Capital and included Unilever Ventures. New funding will be used to build out its personalization tech, expand its menu offerings.

5. Cargo Raises $5.5M to Let Uber Drivers Sell Snacks and Essentials Nationwide – TechCrunch

The funding comes from CRCM Ventures and eighteen94 capital, Kellogg’s VC fund. The startup plans to deploy its hardware and software solution in about 20k cars and open in one new city each month for the next six months before its Series A.

6. Nuro’s Self-Driving Vehicle Is a Grocery-Getter and Errand-Runner – TechCrunch

After raising a $92m Series A round, the startup has revealed its autonomous vehicle platform designed to transport goods from a local business to a customer or from one person to another.

7. ‘Super’ Crops and Cows – Bill Gates, UK Inject Cash into Farm Science – Reuters

Research for growing “super crops” and breeding higher-yielding dairy cows received a funding injection of about $174m from Britain’s Department for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

8. Total Produce to Buy Stake in Dole Food Company for $300M – The Irish Times

The Irish food group will purchase all shares in Dole within five years, having acquired an initial 45% stake for $300m in cash. Total Produce has the right to acquire an extra 6% of Dole at any time.

9. India: Alibaba’s Twin Investments: BigBasket Gets $200M and $150M for Zomato – Business Standard 

With the capital, BigBasket will take on giants Amazon and Flipkart, which are vying to grow their presence in the online grocery space. Zomato will utilize the funds to combat its two largest rivals Swiggy and Foodpanda.

10. There’s a Sexual Harassment Epidemic on America’s Farms – The Atlantic

Many of the women who work in agriculture often have few options but to put up with abuse on the job. Undocumented workers without papers and workers on temporary visas are extremely vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace.

11. 5-Year-Olds Work Farm Machinery, and Injuries Follow – New York Times

Children are growing up driving large farm machines to help their families. Thousands are injured every year, and many are killed.

12. Kroger Strikes Back at Amazon Go with Expansion of Shopper Tech – Bloomberg

Kroger is expanding its “Scan, Bag, Go” technology to 400 stores. The system allows customers to use a handheld scanner to log grocery items in their cart as they shop, while also viewing coupons and a running total of their order.

13. Why Online Grocery Could Be a $100B Opportunity in the Next Four Years – Food Dive

Online grocery adoption is accelerating thanks to changes in consumer behavior and a few key acquisitions. Seventy percent of shoppers will be buying groceries online by 2022.

14. CaliBurger to Launch Payments Using Facial Recognition – The Spoon

After a successful pilot, the quick service restaurant is expanding the use of facial recognition at its Pasadena location from just unlocking loyalty accounts to paying for meals.

15. Walmart to Launch Online Grocery Delivery in Japan, E-Book Sales in US – NPR

Walmart is joining with Japan’s largest e-commerce retailer Rakuten to launch an online grocery delivery service in Japan. The deal includes opening a combined e-commerce fulfillment center in Tokyo to deliver groceries to a wider region.

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 Keurig Acquires Dr Pepper, Tyson Invests in Memphis Meats, Ripple Foods Raises $65M + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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.

Siggi’s was acquired by French dairy company Lactalis for an undisclosed sum. Sonoma Brands closed $60 million for its second fund. Weed startups are disrupting the alcohol industry by offering consumers with new products like cannabis wine and pot-infused seltzer. Hershey and Cargill are the latest food giants to leave the GMA.

Investors have lost their appetites for meal kits as they look towards perishable grocery services like FoodMaven, a new food waste retailer that just raised $8.6m from Walmart’s billionaire heirs the Waltons, among others.

Toyota and Ford announced new pilot programs testing self-driving delivery vehicles at CES this week. Toyota revealed a Pizza Hut “e-Palette” that would cook and deliver pizzas, while Ford has partnered with Postmates to develop driverless on-demand distribution.

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. Lactalis Buys Yogurt Brand Siggi’s, as Emmi’s Sells Its Stake – FoodBev

The acquisition was made for an undisclosed sum. Siggi’s will remain a standalone company. Emmi will sell its 22% stake in the brand and focus its US business on milk and cheese products.

2. Jon Sebastiani’s Sonoma Brands Raises $60M – Forbes

The VC fund announced the closing of its second fund, aimed at continuing investment in emerging consumer brands and taking minority positions in startups. It also announced it’s spinout of Smashmallow.

3. Why the Most Hated-On New Ice Cream Brand in America Is a Booming $100M Business – Inc.

Halo Top has found itself at the center of a deep philosophical divide: the ice cream purists versus those hungry for a cheap calorie thrill.

4. Weed Startups Want Social Drinkers to Change the Way They Get Buzzed – Bloomberg

Startups are competing with alcohol companies by offering consumers alternative ways to catch a buzz. The industry is expected to balloon to $50b by 2026 from $6b in 2016.

5. Food Lobby Group’s Rolls Further Contract as Hershey and Cargill Depart – Politico

The companies are the latest food giants to part with the GMA as it struggles to navigate deep divisions within its membership on how to respond to rapidly changing consumer preferences.

6. Once-Hungry Investors Pass on Meal Kit Startups – Wall Street Journal

While the sector is expected to grow to $6b+ in 2021, supermarket chains have an advantage over startups by selling in-store and at cheaper prices. Investors are looking towards perishable grocery delivery services, meat replacement companies and startups combating food waste.

7. Robomart Is the Latest Startup to Try and Unseat the Local Convenience Store – TechCrunch

The startup aims to license its white-labeled service to wholesalers and big box retailers. It would include the vehicle, a wireless charging device as well as a fleet management and on-demand ordering system.

8. Inocucor Brings in Pontifax to Close $38.5M Series B – AgFunder

Inocucor manufactures biological stimulants for soil and plant optimizers. Strategic acquisitions will be a significant part of its growth strategies, along with expanded distribution across Canada and crop development in the Latin America and Western Europe.

9. Ford Prepares for Food Delivery in Era When Diners Talk to Cars – Bloomberg

Ford will team up with Postmates on a pilot program that explores how self-driving tech could change the delivery experience. It plans to eventually remove the driver from on-demand distribution.

10. Here’s an Autonomous Pizza-Oven-on-Wheels No One Asked For – Eater

Pizza Hut is partnering with Toyota on a driverless concept vehicle that could one day cook and deliver pizza. Test models of the “e-Palette” vehicle could hit the streets by 2020.

11. What to Know About FoodMaven, a New Food Waste Startup Backed by the Grocery Industry’s Top Players – GrubStreet

The Colorado-based startup anounced its $8.6m Series A funding from a handful of backers, most notably Walmart’s billionaire heirs the Waltons. It has brought aboard 700 Colorado business in just 18 months and expects to do $10m in sales this year.

12. Drop Kitchen Nabs $8M in Funding as Kitchen Tech Investment Heats Up – The Spoon

The Series A round was led by Alsop Louie Partners, bringing total investment to $12m. Funds will be used to continue developing its KitchenOS platform and support its partnerships with appliance manufacturers.

13. Noma Has Lost Everything. Can It Come Back Even Stronger? – Bloomberg

Rene Redzepi gave up Noma’s many achievements, including its title of World’s Best Restaurant and two Michelin stars, in search of new ideas and new approach to food at its new location, which will open February 15th.

14. Whole Foods Places New Limits on Suppliers Upsetting Some Small Vendors – The Washington Post

Whole Foods is now requiring suppliers pay for a program that manages demos and shelf management, changes that are intended to save on costs and centralize operations as Amazon pushes to reduce prices at the chain’s 473 stores.

15. Sprouts Signs on with Instacart as US Grocers Experiment with Delivery – CNBC

The retailer will expand its delivery service through Instacart, beginning in select areas in Arizona.

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 Siggi’s Acquisition, Sonoma Brand’s Raises $60M, Weed Startups Look to Disrupt Booze Industry + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.