Page 57 - Farm and Food Policy Strategies for 2040 Series

Predicting that the food industry’s future is “Flexitarian,” Fereday stressed the importance of
“Tyson’s game changing investment in Beyond Meat in October 2016.”

Investor Bill Joy, a principal and chief scientist

at Florida-based Water Street Capital, also sees a
bright future ahead for new meat alternatives. In
an October 2017 Washington Post Op-Ed, he
explained that “We funded the startup company
Beyond Meat in 2011 to make substitutes for

meat from plant sources ... Widespread
substitution would bring huge positive impacts
in land use and for forests and human health. We
can become much more sustainable by switching
to these and other innovative products.”

For the overall food sector, Accenture Strategy’s

annual Future of Food: New Realities for the
Industry report forecasts “more change in the

food industry in the next 10 years than in the last Nick Fereday, RaboResearch
50.” Accenture foresees “seismic changes in the

food production system” thanks to new

technology available at every stage in the supply chain.

At the consumer end, Accenture expects rapid-fire impacts from new AI (artificial-
intelligence) apps that will plan consumers’ increasingly health-focused menus, perhaps
following a doctor’s recommendations. Next, the apps will use new online ordering and

delivery services to automatically restock your refrigerator as needed.

At the farm level in the supply chain, the report
predicts new technology will create a “reinvented
food production system,” have “a tremendous
impact on how food is produced,” and “remove

uncertainty from growing food, managing the
inputs to maximize yield.” These advances,
Accenture concludes, are “essential because

productivity gains are projected to account for

80% of the crop output increase required to meet
an increased demand for food.”

Peter Lane is confident there will be significant Peter Lane, Association for Vertical Farming

output gains. He says that ever since growing up
on a small British farm and deciding “there must
be an easier way to make a living,” he’s been
“designing systems to make farming easier, and
more efficient.” Today he’s Vice Chair of

the Association for Vertical Farming (AVF) and

CEO of CEA Research & Development, focusing

on urban farming and Controlled Environment

Agriculture (CEA).

www.Agri-Pulse.com 55