Farmers, governments and industry organisations alike have been facing increasing pressure to decarbonise, worldwide. This has led to spiking interest in the role soil plays as a carbon sink.
However, not all soil is created equal. Different soils store carbon at different rates, making it difficult to understand soil carbon sequestration.
Toyota Ventures is tackling this issue with their investment in Yard Stick - a low cost, in situ, Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) sensor. Data from Yard Stick’s sensor is expected to help farmers understand which farming methods contribute to greater soil carbon sequestration.
As demand for carbon sequestration technologies grow, Yard Stick’s measurement capability represents a new opportunity to realise decarbonisation targets.
Will this low cost sensing give farmers an easily measured metric confirming their sustainability efforts? Will this change what is being farmed now that we can easily measure the soil impact?
While plant-based foods and alternative meat products find their place in mainstream cuisine, some manufacturers are seeking to land these products on the plates of high-end, fine dining establishments.
Wamame has noticed that fine dining has been an untapped market for the plant-based sector and is now selling alternative caviar, tobiko and wagyu beef products, along with a 30 per cent increase in product sales.
Experts from the Nanyan Technological University say that the repositioning of plant-based foods as premium products may be the boost needed for consumers to be willing to pay more for them.
Will the presence of meat alternatives on fine dining menus be enough to see these products survive the trough of disillusionment?
Scientists in Serbia have been rolling out ‘liquid trees’, tanks of water and micro-algae that are designed to capture CO2 from city air.
The tanks use the same process that trees and plants do to harvest energy from sunlight using chlorophyll, to turn CO2 into oxygen - photosynthesis. The tanks can effectively replace two 10-year old trees, and are between 10 to 50 times faster at removing CO2 from the air.
We like trees, but could this tank full of algae help clean up the planet?
Plastic packaging is washing up on shores around the world. An unlikely solution may be washing up on the shores right along with it.
Seaweed-derived packaging has emerged as a possible alternative to the incumbent plastic packaging, with 15 to 20 examples of seaweed packaging being tested this year alone. The tests are underway in Norway, India and the UK, with greentech startups and university spin-outs leading the way.
If seaweed tests prove successful, what is the next hurdle in the way of adopting bioplastic alternatives more broadly?
Scientists at Plant & Food Research are exploring the production of fruit from lab-grown plant cells, bypassing the need for traditional trees or vines.
Experiments are already underway with blueberries and some stone and pome fruit including, apples, cherries, and feijoas, aiming to create nutritious, appealing, lab-grown alternatives.
This technology falls under cellular horticulture which seeks to make food production more resource-efficient and environmentally friendly. The research could also improve traditional horticultural practices and contribute to urban food supply solutions.
The aim isn’t to replicate an existing food (or create the next tofu-bacon) but create an entirely new product with unique, desirable qualities.
Plant & Food see a future in the unknown, but will consumers see it the same way?
Humanity resides in a 144-floor underground silo, a refuge following an event that made the surface world deadly. Amidst this backdrop, Howey’s novel delves into the tensions of a confined community and the cost of curiosity.
We try to avoid dystopian imagined futures in our recommendations; however, Hugh Howey’s Wool series is a worthy exception. Howey shares some thought-provoking angles on the utilisation of limited resources and what can happen to humanity if we find ourselves with a scorched earth. I was fascinated to read how difficult it would be to recreate the high levels of technology sophistication we have achieved and think you will be too.
We’d love to hear your feedback so we can continue to share relevant monthly reads with you.
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.
.gif?upscale=true&width=160&upscale=true&name=981-consultation-flat%20(1).gif)
