Top Stories on the FFF Investment Radar- NotCo deep dive, Big China & Asia, and hidden footprint of indoor farming
By David Stevenson on Monday 14 March 2022
Future Food Finance cherry-picks the stories we think should be on the radar of investors.
Sales of plant milk in the United States totaled $2.5 billion at the end of 2020, accounting for 15 percent of all retail sales of milk, and 35 percent of the larger market for plant-based foods. By the end of 2026, Ms. Olson said, sales of dairy alternatives are projected to make up 30 percent of all milk sales. Much of that growth, Ms. Purcell said, will come from small-batch producers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/dining/plant-based-milk.html?mc_cid=f66c8a950f&mc_eid=c50da91d11
Their database was comprised of chemical and biological attributes that made food what it is and the attributes that impacted the human perception of taste, texture, smell, and color. The goal, said Muchnick, was to create a large enough database of information to use their AI (which would eventually be called Guiseppe) to create a whole line of new plant-based food products.
For years, Lundgren and the team at Ecdysis have been studying and documenting the impact of regenerative practices—everything from reduced tilling to compost applications, cover crops, and prescribed grazing. Now, they’re embarking on a national, 10-year study they’re calling the 1,000 Farms Initiative.
Highlights include a 60 percent increase in funding into the sector on a global level, with fermentation and cultivated projects claiming more funding than ever before. Overall, alt protein companies raised $5 billion worldwide, with $312 million invested in APAC.
https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/apac-alt-protein-funding-2021/?mc_cid=f66c8a950f&mc_eid=c50da91d11
Studies have shown that changes to the number, placing, or prevalence of vegetarian options on a menu, the relative price of vegetarian options and the “access” (order and distance) to vegetarian options in the retail physical environment can all increase consumption of plant-based foods and decrease meat consumption. Studies simply educating people about the negative health and environmental/climate outcomes of meat consumption have been found to have very little impact. (5.12.6 / p943)
The Company will subscribe for 364,710 Series A Preferred Stock (the "Subscription") using cash from the Company's own resources. Following this investment, Agronomics will own a 4.11% equity stake in GALY. GALY is a leading plant cell culture company with disruptive technology for growing cotton from cells in a laboratory facility rather than utilising traditional soil-based methods. It is headquartered in Boston, US, with research also in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
In his speech, Xi said that China must adopt “a ‘Greater Food’ approach” to nutrition, to ensure a secure supply of of all staple food groups, according to Xinhua. “While protecting the ecology and environment, we should shift our focus from farmland only,” he told delegates. “Apart from traditional crops, livestock, and poultry resources, we should exploit biological resources. By developing biological science, biotechnology, and bio-industries, we can obtain calories and protein from plants, animals, and microorganisms.”
You can not rush agriculture, not only because of the weather but also because client relationships are built on long-term trust. This also means the sector wouldn’t have the typical exponential growth investors and internet giants are used to. The market is a big opportunity but will require players to be in it for the long haul.
Using geospatial and mathematical modeling, the research team compared vertical farms, greenhouses and open-field farming in nine city areas, Reykjavik, Stockholm, Boston, Tokyo, Santiago, Johannesburg, Phoenix, Singapore and the UAE, all with differing land availability, climatic conditions and population density. The results confirmed that location was the determining factor when comparing the overall land needed to grow the six vegetables. In colder climates, greenhouses and vertical farms could reduce the net land footprint when compared with open-field farming (combined land use per capita). In warmer climates, open-field farming had a lower overall land footprint than vertical farms.
Impossible Foods has sued fellow FoodTech player Motif FoodWorks for patent infringement, in one of the highest-profile intellectual property (IP) disputes to date in the burgeoning alt-protein space. In its complaint filed yesterday with the US District Court of Delaware, Impossible Foods alleges that Motif — which was spun out of Massachusetts-based bio-engineering company Ginkgo Bioworks in 2019 — has infringed “at least” one of its patents relating to the use of heme to mimic certain characteristics of animal-derived meat in plant-based substitutes.
https://agfundernews.com/heme-patent-impossible-foods-sues-motif-foodworks?goal=0_8e101ace96-882e8019a5-99735377
The cattle by Recombinetics are the third genetically altered animals given the green light for human consumption in the U.S., after salmon and pigs. Many other foods already are made with genetically modified ingredients from crops like soybeans and corn. The cattle reviewed by the FDA had genes altered with a technology called CRISPR to have short, slick coats that let them more easily withstand hot weather. Cattle that aren’t stressed by heat might pack on weight more easily, making for more efficient meat production.
JBS-owned Vivera has revealed a new vegan salmon analogue that the company says mimics the flavour, fattiness and flaky texture of real salmon in response to a ‘lack of plant-based fish alternatives’ currently in circulation in the Netherlands. Sold in a pack of two, for €3.49, the Dutch brand claims that this makes it more cost-effective than conventional fish.
Kroger is expected to release a competitively-priced line of meat substitutes, powered by Impossible analogues. The goal is to put plant-based meats on the menu for price-conscious shoppers as well as less budget-restricted households.
The new Katsu Vegan Royale comes with a meat-free Royale chicken patty, katsu sauce, pickled slaw, cri https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/food/burger-king-plant-based-katsu-uk/spy onion, and the brand’s signature vegan mayonnaise.
https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/food/burger-king-plant-based-katsu-uk/
With new funding in place, Finless will now seek to progress cultivated bluefin tuna in an 11,000 square-foot pilot production plant, ready for regulatory approval and consumer release. To date, Finless has secured close to $48 million in funding since its inception in 2017.
Lypid’s long-term plans centre around the production of 10 tonnes of fat per year, in line with the alt-protein sector’s growth.
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Paul Cuatrecasas
