In this episode I speak to Jack Bobo, founder of Futurity, a consultancy firm for startups and established food brands to consider the future of food and what it means to them. "I'm very optimistic and excited about what the world will look like in 2050 but I think it is helpful though to think about where we've come from in order to think about where we're going." Tune in to hear why Jack think CBD is not hot and the problem with fad diets and why the sugar tax on sodas - fizzy drinks to my Bri...
Nov 06, 2019•20 min•Ep. 7
In this episode of Future Food , I speak to Klaus Kunz , head of Sustainability and Business Stewardship at German agro-pharma giant Bayer on the sidelines of the Seed & Chips Innovation Summit in Milan. We talk on many topics including smallholder farmers, concerning data regarding biodiversity but one can’t get through a conversation with Bayer without addressing its pesticides. The company has come under serious fire for its glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup, which is made by its now-su...
Sep 23, 2019•27 min•Ep. 6
Sofia Elizondo started her career as a management consultant in New York and after attending Stanford business school, discovered the world of food tech. She cofounded Brightseed in Silicon Valley to unlock the potential for plants to positively impact our health. In this episode, we discuss the vast untapped potential of the natural world for our nutrition; just 15 of the 50,000 edible plants on the earth provide 90% of our calories! So Sofia founded Brightseed to unearth the bioactive compound...
Jul 29, 2019•29 min•Ep. 5
In this episode of Future Food , I speak to Jennifer Betka , the chief marketing officer of Indigo Agriculture , the Boston-based agtech startup that's one of the highest valued in the industry today. Jennifer is an expert marketer with a career spanning many different industries outside of agriculture, most recently at StubHub the event ticketing business, so it's really interesting to hear about her transition into this industry. Jennifer does a great job explaining the work of Indigo that has...
Jul 04, 2019•43 min•Ep. 4
The UK is the most active ecosystem for foodtech and agtech startups in Europe and Nadia El Hadery has played a role in it from London since 2013. Nadia is founder and CEO of YFood, an event and media company focused on the industry. London FoodTech Week is next week - find out more about the event, Nadia's vision for the future of food -- including drones and personalized food delivery -- her love of avocados, and some of the challenges startups have faced in the UK and beyond.
May 14, 2019•30 min•Ep. 3
There's perhaps no deal more representative of the changes taking place in the food system, and the meeting of technology and food, than Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017. Walter Robb, the former co-CEO of Whole Foods, was a key player through the transaction and for many years at Whole Foods before it. A proponent of whole and natural foods, Walter is increasingly exposed to new food technologies through his work as executive-in-residence at agrifood tech investment firm S2G Ventures,...
May 01, 2019•47 min•Ep. 2
For entrepreneurs and investors in the agtech startup space, David Friedberg is a major celebrity. When he sold his weather data startup The Climate Corporation to Monsanto for $1 billion in 2013 - achieving that elusive "unicorn" status - he put the category on the map. Ever since, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have flocked to apply the latest in technology to the food and agriculture industries in an effort to cure it of its many woes, including climate change, obesity and the dominanc...
Feb 28, 2019•57 min•Ep. 1
In this podcast, Louisa talks to Nick Fereday, a consumer foods analyst at Rabobank, about how the large food and agriculture companies are reacting to new innovation and working with startups. They also talk about the acquisition of Whole Foods by Amazon, and consumer trends around natural, simple food as well as alternative meat products.
Aug 06, 2018•35 min•Ep. 5
Women still make the majority of food decisions in the home -- around 65% according to some estimates. While this has fallen from over 95% 20 years ago, women are still underrepresented in leading roles at food companies globally. I this week’s podcast, Louisa discusses the impact of this underrepresentation and how tech innovation is adapting to consumer demands with Beth Robertson-Martin, sourcing lead for organic, natural and non-GMO ingredients at General Mills, Kellee James, founder of Merc...
Jul 30, 2018•40 min•Ep. 4
Blue River Technology is a Silicon Valley startup bringing robotics to the farm. In August 2017, Blue River was acquired by John Deere, the world’s largest tractor company, for $305 million. This was extremely exciting news for the agtech industry as exits for the venture capital firms backing the sector have been relatively few and far between. In this episode, Louisa speaks to Jorge Heraud, founder and CEO of the company about the startup's journey to success.
Jul 16, 2018•35 min•Ep. 3
In this episode, Louisa speaks to Sam Kass, venture partner at Acre Venture Partners, the food system venture capital firm. Kass has had a varied career working as a chef in the White House, as well as a nutritional policy advisor, and launched the Let's Move campaign with Michelle Obama. Here he speaks about investing in food technology and the importance of access to nutritional food.
Jul 02, 2018•35 min•Ep. 2
After a few years in stealth mode, vertical farming group Plenty hit the public domain with a bang, raising a record-breaking $200m from Japanese banking group SoftBank over the summer. Louisa talks to CEO Matt Barnard to hear more about the company's growth and future plans.
Jun 18, 2018•27 min•Ep. 1
