The Future of Food Webinar

On March 24th, 2023, we launched the first instalment of our ‘Future of Series’, kicking off the series with the Future of Food. The webinar brought together four distinguised speakers, Tony Hunter, Tim Foulds, Dan Ginger, and Paul Bevan, to discuss the critical issues facing the global food system.

The speakers provided valuable insights on various topics such as reimagining the global food system, food security, the shift from commodity to value-added agriculture, and alternative proteins. They discussed the challenges and opportunities facing the future of food and provided innovative solutions to build a more sustainable and resilient food system.

Tony Hunter, a renowned food futurist, shared his vision of the global food system in the next decade and highlighted the role of technology in driving change. He highlighted the critical challenge of feeding a growing population and the need to reimagine the global food system to ensure sustainability, healthiness, and equity.

According to Hunter, the world’s population will reach 10 billion by 2050, which means that we need to produce 50% more food than we do today. This is a significant challenge, considering that the current food system is facing several challenges, including climate change, water scarcity, and biodiversity loss.

Hunter believes that technology plays a critical role in the future of food. He highlighted the potential of various technologies, including alternative proteins, cellular agriculture, genomics, microbiome, and synthetic biology, to transform the food system. These technologies offer new opportunities to produce food sustainably, efficiently, and healthily.

Tim Foulds, Head of Research at Euromonitor, discussed the importance of food security and the challenges we face in ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food for all.

Tim highlighted the environmental and ecosystem impacts of food production, including soil degradation, deforestation, and water scarcity. He noted that 52% of agricultural land is currently degraded, which poses a significant threat to food security.

Despite significant increases in food production, Tim pointed out that food insecurity is on the rise, with around 2.3 billion people moderately or severely food insecure. He emphasised the urgent need for action to address this issue, including increasing yields, changing diets, reducing waste, using resources more efficiently, and freezing the agricultural footprint.

Tim highlighted the importance of adopting a more holistic approach to food systems and sustainability, which takes into account social, economic, and environmental factors. He highlighted the need for collaboration between governments, businesses, and consumers to drive change and create a more sustainable and equitable food systems.

Daniel Ginger, Associate Director at KPMG, provided insights into the transformation of agricultural commodities to value-added products. Dan shared practical insights and recommendations on how to add value to agrifood products. Dan emphasised the importance of understanding customer needs and preferences, as well as building strategic partnerships to create value for agrifood products. He also highlighted the need for value chain visibility to ensure that value is captured and shared with all stakeholders.

Finally, Paul Bevan, CEO of Magic Valley discussed the importance of alternative proteins in meeting the growing demand for food.

Paul explained how cellular agriculture works, which involves taking animal cells and growing them in a controlled environment to create real meat without the need for traditional animal agriculture. He emphasised the benefits of this technology, including its potential to create healthier, more environmentally sustainable, and ethically superior products.

Paul highlighted that Magic Valley’s cultivated lamb meat provides the real meat experience, with all the taste and texture of traditional lamb meat. At the same time, it is healthier and cheaper than traditional meat products, while also being more environmentally sustainable.

Paul emphasized that the development of new technologies such as cellular agriculture is critical to the future of food systems, as they offer a way to create sustainable and ethical food products that meet the needs of a growing global population.

Missed out on our webinar, you can watch the recording here: