Welcome to the new edition of Global Signals, providing you with all the new and exciting updates in the world of AgriFoodTech.
For those of you who are new to our community, thanks for joining us! We hope you find this latest edition insightful and useful in thinking about your market and surroundings in new, unexpected ways.
Last week Melissa facilitated the first Global Signals workshop in Christchurch. We had a great turnout of future-focused innovators eager to learn about identifying and using signals. Our next workshop will be online, in February consisting of six 90-minute sessions. More details and registration is open here.
Have a safe and enjoyable Christmas break, and we’ll be back in January as we keep looking to the future to grow the present.
Kia pai te rā Melissa (Futurist) and Shane (Callaghan Innovation)
Fighting fungus with BlackBird AI
Gone are the days of staring down a microscope cell-by-cell to quantify sporulation, with the development of BlackBird. Robot BlackBird does much of the hard work accurately measuring the severity of infection with microscopic imaging. This helps researchers automate some of the most tedious and labour-heavy parts of the grape breeding process.
BlackBird is used in research on powdery mildew; a common fungal disease that costs California $239m per year to manage.
Could we identify disease-resistant grapevines using AI that’s similar to facial recognition software? What else could the technology identify?
The Government is supporting a genetics programme dedicated to creating the next generation of New Zealand cattle. These cows will be designed specifically for NZ landscapes and frameworks, with an aim to create more efficiency, with a lower environmental ‘hoof-print’.
The move has the ability to increase profit by $460m over the next 25 years, as well as decrease emissions by 10% per kilogram produced.
Is cross breeding more acceptable to consumers than vaccines, feed additives and chemicals sprayed onto pastures?
On the outskirts of Shanghai, there’s a fleet of unmanned vehicles busy harvesting rice on the first smart farm.
Piloted in 2020, these machines have the ability to sow, plough, harvest, transport, and conduct field management - all on their own.
There are high hopes this farm will improve profits, the quality of rice, and the amount of control farmers have over their crops. There’s also hope the technology attracts the younger generation to join the agricultural sector. The smart farm is still in its initial stages but watch this space.
Are farm workers of the future going to be coders rather than labourers?
Mosa Meat; the fascinating company growing beef in their labs, have made huge strides over the past 12 months. First, they managed to significantly reduce their costs then, most recently, they successfully developed animal-free media.
The business’ ambitions don’t stop there. The team is aiming to bring costs down even further in the years to come.
What will the significant drop in cost of substrates for lab-grown meat mean? Without the requirement for the substrates to be animal-based, is meat going to be vegan in the future?
Award-winning Hazel Technologies has developed a sachet that slows fruit ripening and continually treats for issues such as rots or fungus, keeping our fruit fresher for longer.
According to the release, the product has the ability to extend the shelf-life of fresh fruit and veg up to three times, granting benefits of more time to store, sell, ship and enjoy.
Benson Hill has been named Overall Foodtech Company of the Year winner in the global; Agtech Breakthrough awards for the second year running.
Benson Hill has developed the technology platform CropOS which uses a combination of AI and data analytics to improve the flavour, nutrition and yield of plants.
We look forward to seeing what’s next for these platform companies. This style of business model has exploded in recent years. Where will the next big platform company in Agriculture come from?
Israel-based startup, Arugga is building AI-powered robots to mimic bumblebee pollination. This could be used in countries where importing bumblebees isn’t allowed and pollination is done manually.
Research shows the performance of these powerful robots sits on par with the bees themselves. In some cases, it is viewed as better by up to 5%.
Would it be better to save the bees, or to replicate them with robots? Will we see more effort going into bee “husbandry” or bee replacements in the next few years?
New York-based vertical farm; Upward Farms uses complete end-to-end (seed to package) automation for its production and delivery of produce. It uses organic, vertical farming to create resilient microgreens that can stand the wash process and produce memorable flavours that pack a punch.
Early entrants into vertical farming went broke. Successful business models took advantage of solar power, efficient LEDs, cheap rent and subscription sales to restaurants. What can more ‘traditional’ lettuce farmers learn from these disruptors?
This thought-provoking and insightful Australian podcast deep dive into the potential hands-free future of farming. With autonomous ‘smart’ farm systems, processes and products continuing to rise globally, it comes as no surprise to see known brands, such as John Deere jump on board.
Kit Franklin joins this episode to discuss his take on the future of farming robots. Can we use automation to reduce the use of pesticides? What is a tractor anyway? Kit is a senior lecturer in agricultural engineering at Harper Adams University in the UK. In 2016 he set out to prove an entire crop cycle could be done autonomously.
Long-term vegetarian and environmental lawyer turned beef cattle rancher, Nicole Hanhn Niman, shares her manifesto for sustainable meat production. Sitting on both sides of the fence she argues beef is both good for our people and for the planet as building soil carbon enhances biodiversity and provides much-need nutrients.
If you’re an NZ beef producer or know of someone who’s in the industry - this is a must-read. Gain insight and understanding into the US customer base and get lost in discussions around the definition of regenerative farming.
This 2020 documentary is one both farmers and consumers can enjoy. Narrated by and featuring Woody Harrelson, this popular doco foreshadows the phenomenon that will be regenerative agriculture and is bound to make you fall in love with soil. Find it on Netflix.
We’d love to hear your feedback so we can continue to share relevant monthly reads with you.
And don’t forget to share with us any signals or interesting innovations you’ve come across so we can spread the word. We enjoy seeing NZ companies be creative, innovative and push the boundaries. It makes for insightful reading.
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