Federated Farmers chief executive Graeme Smith tapped into his experiences as head of technology start-up company Soda at the MobileTech conference in Rotorua to look ahead at what processors and farmers face as global food production technology picks up pace.
Much of what he outlined focused on the reduced environmental footprint new technology brought to the primary sector.
“One of these areas is indoor agriculture. The United States built 30 new major glass house sites last year, and Holland now has 11,000 hectares in glass houses. Japan is now the largest indoor producer of lettuces, picking 10,000 every day.”
Advances in LED lighting were part of the technology that meant production was using less energy and generating less waste, he said.
Taiwan was leading the way developing “bio factories” using multiple energy sources to produce bio-plastics. The process was now technically viable and over time the commercial viability would also develop.
As global populations aged, crops grown for health and wellness would become more prevalent in arable portfolios. He pointed to Tasmania’s poppy industry, averaging $100 million a year in crop value off its 20,000ha area.
Beyond 2025 Smith did not doubt there would be more crops grown that were water and/or salt-resistant and may incorporate bio-sensors and robotic technology for monitoring and harvesting.
Synthetic biology was a huge growth area with other countries investing significantly on research and development, including synthesised beef and milk products.
“Holland produced the first synthetic burger in 2013 at a cost of $325,000 a kilogram. Today that is down to $12/kg.”
The challenge was for labs to scale up output, but over the next 10-20 years that was inevitable.
Also known as in-vitro meat or “shemeat” (sheets of meat), the product was formulated from cattle stem cells grown in strips and combined into a patty.
Cooked at a press conference, critics declared it to have intense flavour, with good consistency and distinct enough to not be confused with soya type substitutes.
Motivation for such development was driven by environmental concerns over pastoral agriculture and growing consumer awareness of animal welfare.
In 2008 the animal activist group PETA offered US$1 million to the first company to bring lab-grown chicken meat to consumers.
Smith said he could see the global food market breaking into more and more complex consumer sectors, something not all NZ food companies fully comprehended.
He saw a “base protein” market supply developing, while there were also distinct higher-end protein sources NZ could compete within if it understood those consumer sectors better.
A bulk protein source in development was Taiwanese investment in insects for food.
The research has in part been led by the high feed conversion efficiency of insects. Crickets only require 2kg of feed for 1kg of body weight gain, compared to 3kg for pigs and about 10kg for cattle. They also offer a dense source of protein, fat, fibre and minerals.
As traditional farm models conglomerated and expanded, indoor “micro farms” were also becoming popular in densely populated cities.
“For NZ’s naturally farmed grass-based systems the questions need to be asked, about what are the threats and the opportunities these changes and technologies will bring with them?”
