Welcome to Global Signals, your monthly update of new and interesting 'signals' in the world of AgriFoodTech. This month we’ve got a little bit of everything - from robot wolves, through to genetically engineered cattle.
Global Signals inform the future of food, agriculture and technology developments. Signals are small, specific, or localised innovations that have the potential to grow. While they aren't predictions of the future, they may identify trends before they unfold.
Global Signal Workshops
We still have room in our Global Signals Workshop in Auckland on 9 June for AgriFoodTech companies that want to be competitive on the world stage.
BTW, if you like these, and think someone else might too, please forward it on. They can subscribe to Global Signals here.
Kia pai te rā,
Melissa (Futurist) and Shane (Callaghan Innovation) April 2022
Avian flu: neither chickens or workers are safe
After detecting a single avian flu case, Rembrandt - one of the world's largest egg factories - culled 5.3 million hens. Nearly a month was spent clearing dead poultry and burying them in pits. Many condemned the inhumane killing of the hens.
To make a bad thing worse, about 250 factory workers were also laid off following the cull. Rembrandt was criticised heavily for its treatment of its employees. Past employees raised questions about the grounds for the mass layoff due to the avian flu case, despite not requiring masks or other health measures to protect workers from COVID-19.
Avian flu has now been reported in a number of humans - could it be the next human pandemic? In the UK all free-range eggs have been relabeled as barn raised. This is due to the fact that hens have not been able to free-range outdoors since November because of avian flu. Are we really in the ‘pandemic century’?
NotCo is a business creating plant-based products with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). Their AI generates recipes for various plant-based products which NotCo tests and critiques.
NotCo moved to integrate newer technology to combat how much the plant-based food industry relies on people-intensive research.
The company has experienced unprecedented growth and development speeds. NotCo is now partnering with Kraft Heinz - one of the largest food and beverage businesses in the world.
Food technology companies are always looking for new and interesting flavours to captivate their markets. Can AI technology speed up this exploration? Wasabi flavoured popcorn anyone?
AppHarvest is an agritech business with a giant, high-tech indoor farm that’s making waves in rural Kentucky.
AppHarvest chose Kentucky to set up shop thanks to its rainfall and conditions, which lines up with the business’s climate-friendly stance on water. However, AppHarvest’s site is powered mainly by coal. The business says it will switch to renewable energy over time.
Indoor agriculture is here to stay. It makes sense to be able to control climate conditions and grow large amounts of food inside. As climate change contributes to unstable weather, the desire for indoor agriculture will only grow. Is there an opportunity for AgriFoodTech businesses to design sustainable indoor growing systems?
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first genome-edited cattle breed. The new PRLR-SLICK cattle breed is better adapted to hot climates due to their slick, short hair.
Precision breeders, Aceeligen, used CRISPR for this intentional genetic alteration (IGA). Because the short hair trait naturally occurs in some cattle, the cows are not considered genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
The FDA has approved similar alterations in pigs, salmon, goats and chickens.
Breeding for specific traits will enable us to accelerate the growth of crops better suited to some climates, soils, water availability and more. The same is true for breeding animals. Will consumers be comfortable with the use of CRISPR gene-editing technology to speed up animal breeding? Or will it be seen as too close to transgenic GMOs, which attract controversy and push back?
The Better Meat Co. is set to debut its new premium foie gras - made entirely from mycoprotein.
Foie gras is a premium food product made from goose liver. It’s widely criticised due to its inhumane production methods, which involve force-feeding geese and keeping them in tiny cages. Plenty of places worldwide have - or are considering - banning foie gras for these reasons.
That being said, foie gras is also renowned as quite delicious by those who eat it.
Rhiza is a protein obtained from mushroom mycelia. Combined with flavouring and additives, Rhiza can create an analogue (substitute plant-based product) for foie gras, which can be used as a mousse or pâté.
Plant-based and precision fermented analogues for popular foods are on the rise - across beef, bacon, tuna, eel and now duck liver. Could this result in a premium cost for the real thing? That’s my pick.
When scarecrows just aren’t scary enough, you need a terrifying, robotic wolf.
A new robotic wolf, the Super Monster Wolf, has been patrolling Japanese farms, protecting crops from deer and boars. The Super Monster Wolf can defend a 1km radius by playing sounds of wolf howls, gunshots and human voices when something gets close.
Wolves were systematically eradicated from the wild in Japan back in the early 1800s. As with many wild species population culls, the wolf eradication efforts lead to increases in deer and boar populations. These pests make short work of chestnut and rice crops - leading to loss and wastage.
While releasing wolves into NZ’s national parks to reduce the number of Tahr and deer would never happen, what other predators might we make robotic in order to deter animals we don’t want eating our crops? Robotic moa perhaps?
BioHarvest is an agritech business that has created a new way to grow cannabis using bioreactors. The highly-efficient process is similar to that required to grow cell-based or lab-grown meat.
This technology has potential implications for growing medical-grade cannabis in space. This bioreactor-grown cannabis could have benefits from its microgravity environment and be produced in larger quantities than on Earth. This technology also has further potential for growing nutrients on long-haul journeys.
Although, recreational cannabis use in space is considered a long way off.
Given that NZ has invested in, and built, a successful space programme - should we be striving to be world leaders in AstroBotany? Couple NZ’s world-class soil scientists with our leading horticulture skills, and it could make for a very viable and profitable industry that supports food production in space.
Smallhold is a mushroom growing business, known for growing a variety of speciality mushrooms in their Texas-based warehouse farms. Smallhold’s mushrooms include sought-after varieties such as blue oyster and lion’s mane.
The fungi are grown in environmentally-controlled, UV-tinted incubation tanks. From there, they are harvested and collected by local restaurants and supermarkets for consumption and sale.
Demand for Smallhold’s mushrooms has increased significantly. Their major suppliers, such as Whole Foods, are pushing for the company to expand. Already, in 2021 Smallhold increased its production by over 500%.
I believe vertical and urban farming is going to be everywhere in 10 years. How geared up are we in NZ for urban horticulture at scale?
Kim Stanley Robinson, Little, Brown Book Group, 2020
Where this book is salutary, it’s also darkly funny. The Ministry for the Future is backed up by solid science throughout, mostly oceanic and atmospheric - often through the device of experts speaking.
It’s an ambitious book about global heating, but also a speculative piece of fiction on the future of our own civilisation. Robinson seeks to explore the future that is almost upon us, perhaps with the hope that we may avoid it.
Sounds grim, but it isn’t. Well written, engaging and often funny - Barack Obama named it one of his favourite books of 2020.
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.
