Better Bioeconomy Weekly - Mar 6th 2023 🌏
Increasing the global market share of alternative proteins from 2% to 8% by 2030 could reduce emissions equivalent to decarbonizing 95% of the aviation industry.
WORD BUFFET 📖
Why food tech startups should partner with industry giants 🤝
Partnering with established food companies can provide startups with access to reliable supply chains, which can help secure high-quality ingredients and resources.
Collaborating with established food companies can help startups increase their distribution reach, reduce costs, build brand awareness and credibility, and gain access to industry expertise.
Partnering with established food companies can also offer startups higher potential for investment and mergers, providing necessary financial resources to drive growth and explore untapped markets.
IKEA is ditching dairy by 2030 🚮
IKEA plans to eliminate dairy products from its cafe menus by 2030 as part of its sustainability goals, which include becoming climate positive by 2030.
The company's new sustainability plan, "People and Planet Positive," aims to reduce carbon emissions and resource consumption, including through more plant-based food in its restaurants.
IKEA is actively working to improve animal welfare across its supply chain and aims to source all animal products from farms meeting higher welfare standards by 2025.
Why is the Netherlands trying to limit its number of livestock? 🇳🇱
Netherlands plans to buy out up to 3,000 farms and industrial polluters near protected nature reserves to balance environmental needs with intensive farming practices, including reducing local nitrogen compound emissions from farming by 30% by 2030.
Netherlands is leading the way in reducing farmed animals to achieve significant environmental benefits amidst the urgency to reduce livestock.
Animal agriculture contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. Transitioning to sustainable food systems and reducing livestock production is necessary to protect the climate and biodiversity.
How alternative protein companies can build market share and combat climate crisis 🌏
Increasing the global market share of alternative proteins from 2% to 8% by 2030 could reduce emissions equivalent to decarbonizing 95% of the aviation industry.
Alternative dairy has been more successful with mainstream consumers than alternative meat, with US retail sales growing by 12% in 2022.
Four immediate actions that companies can take to stimulate consumer demand for alternative proteins are identified and other concrete steps that alternative protein companies can take to build market share over the long term are also discussed.
Alternative protein is booming in Asia because it meets a genuine need 🌱
APAC-based alternative protein companies received $562 million in investments in 2022, a 43% increase from the previous year.
Investments from outside of North America represented the majority share (58%) of the worldwide total for the first time.
The regional alternative protein sector’s success is not inevitable, and sustained public and private funding mobilization is required to ramp up production to meet the growing demand for innovative foods in Asia.
Our current food system is unsustainable and dangerous ⛔️
Putin disrupted Ukraine's wheat supply, causing global food prices to rise by more than 60% in 2022. This has had a devastating impact on poor nations, pushing 20 million people into starvation in sub-Saharan Africa alone and sparking riots in Sri Lanka.
More than 40% of the food grown in America is wasted, and we use hundreds of millions of tons of corn and soybeans to make fuel for cars and trucks. We also have factory farms that are breeding grounds for pathogens and bacteria, and fertilizer runoff is causing environmental damage.
The world population is projected to grow to nearly 10 billion by the end of the century, and food productivity is already in decline due to rising temperatures and extreme weather.
Overcoming obstacles and seizing opportunities in China’s plant-based meat industry 🇨🇳
Companies interested in the Chinese market should be aware of challenges like consumer perception, R&D to achieve the right mouthfeel, unstable supply chains, and regulatory standards.
There are opportunities for traditional businesses and new entrants in the plant-based meat industry in China, such as plant-based meat snacks, effective product positioning and localization, and a broad range of distribution channels.
To succeed in the Chinese market, companies should create and launch products that hit all of the right notes, dive deep into target consumer segments, work on customized solutions to meet their demands, and invest in supply chain infrastructure and scalability.
SOCIAL FEAST 📱
The genius marketing campaign that targets gen z and capitalizes on nostalgia 🥛
Silk, a plant-based dairy subsidiary of Danone, released a viral marketing campaign for their new high-protein vegan milk.
The campaign features the children of stars from the original Got Milk campaign of the 90s, which was launched to curb the dwindling demand for milk at the time.
The new campaign is smart because it targets Gen Z consumers who are eco-conscious, diverse, and interested in plant-based products.
We are eating our way into extinction ☠️
The food system is responsible for more than 30% of global emissions and uses half of all habitable land and most of the freshwater.
94% of global mammal biomass is livestock. Over 80 billion land animals are farmed and slaughtered annually, with more land and tropical forest being cleared for cattle.
We must rethink our relationship with nature, rewild large swaths of the planet, transition to a regenerative plant-centric food system, and stop industrialized animal agriculture.
Read the full post below:
How pandemics and fragile supply chains drive demand for plant-based foods 🐥
The Avian Flu Pandemic in 2022 caused the killing of millions of birds and has had a significant impact on the global food supply system and egg prices.
The pressure on the current food supply system due to pandemics, inflation, and contamination drives the need for innovation to disrupt and improve the system.
Plant-based innovation is attractive to governments and investors as it eliminates the risk of pandemics and fragile supply chains.
EAR FOOD 🎵
What role does biotech play in an ethical food system? 🧬
New frontiers in biotechnology and fermentation are being used to reduce the environmental impact of our animal-based food system.
Cellular agriculture and biotech foods are being developed to create meat and dairy analogues, but ethical considerations are important.
The discussion covers topics such as open-access scientific research, operating models for these technologies and foods in the global south, the ethics of IP and corporate control of research, and who is investing in biotech foods.
Navigating the tough road to funding food automation startups 🤖
Food robotics startups face a particularly challenging journey to generate revenue due to the high cost of developing their technology.
Founders often have ambitious visions for their systems, which take years to perfect and require substantial funding.
One solution is to offer smaller, quicker-to-market products rather than focusing on large, complex systems.
An interview with Africa’s first cell-based meat start-up CEO 🇿🇦
Vegan communities sometimes take issue with the idea of cultured meat for various reasons, including potential harm to animals in the production process.
The target audience for promoting meat alternatives is people in the middle who are interested and excited about them, not those who are firmly committed to conventional animal agriculture.
Brett Thompson, CEO of Mzansi Meat, believes that a subset of the population will choose meat alternatives with no baggage attached if given the choice.
Protecting against biological threats in the bioeconomy ☣️
The ability to engineer biology is transforming various industries.
There is a potential risk associated with the technology being used for nefarious purposes.
Matt McKnight, the general manager of Biosecurity at Ginkgo Bioworks, was interviewed about the risks and measures being taken to safeguard against them.
Thanks for reading! Have an awesome week 🙌🏾
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