EIT Food interview: Summary
- The sustainability narrative is declining in food tech
- However, many companies are still committed to sustainability goals
- Companies are reducing scope-3 emissions and investing in regenerative agriculture and sustainable sourcing
- Tariffs are driving food companies to localise sourcing
- Measurement tech, AI and robotics are driving food tech innovation
The food landscape is changing. As tariffs push companies to localise sourcing, the sustainability narrative becomes less prominent and companies begin to focus on fundamentals.
At the same time, food-tech is still innovating, embracing technology such as AI and robotics to address new problems as they emerge.
What does the future of sustainability look like in food?
Some investors have suggested that fundamentals, such as unit economics, are being prioritised over sustainability; that a good sustainability story alone is no longer enough for start-ups to secure funding.
A distinction needs to be made between interest in sustainability itself, and interest in the sustainability narrative, stressed Richard Zaltman, CEO of EIT Food, at Future Food-Tech London last month.
“The narrative absolutely is changing”, says Zaltman. “It’s turning more towards resilience and doing the right thing for business”.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that companies have softened on their actual sustainability targets.
“Some may have”, admits Zaltman, but others, both start-ups and corporates, are still as committed as ever.
Many companies are still investing in sustainable sourcing and regenerative agriculture, and decarbonising their value chain.
While companies are being “more cautious with their language”, this doesn’t mean they have abandoned actual sustainability initiatives.
“Companies are paying a lot of attention to their scope-3 emissions, they’re just doing it under a different label. Which is arguably more healthy; rather than having sustainability as an adjunct on the side, [it is] a core part of the way organisations are doing business.”
The impact of tariffs
Tariff barriers from the US have had a substantial impact on almost all areas of the global economy, and food is no exception.
“Tariffs are affecting everybody in Europe, and it’s principally the uncertainty that’s causing the problem”, said EIT’s Zaltman.
Tariffs are consistently inconsistent, changing all the time. This makes it extremely difficult for the global food chain to change quickly enough.
At the same time, companies are beginning to adjust, localising their sourcing to avoid trade barriers.
Companies are “battle-hardened” from the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic earlier in the decade, helping them deal with the challenges posed by tariffs.
The future of food tech
Despite this volatility, the food industry is still innovating. What are the areas Zaltman sees driving innovation in the future?
Measurement technology is becoming increasingly important in food tech, Zaltman explains. This could be to measure the performance of agriculture in-field, or the impact of a food once it’s on the shelf.
Meanwhile, as the availability of labour for handling food in agriculture declines, robotics is becoming more prominent.
Finally, the impact of AI is growing. The ability to use AI to understand food and its nutritional components, as well as to create proteins on demand, is having “a transformative impact” on the food system.
