Business First Digital, March 2017 Business First Digital Magazine, March 2017 | Page 54

TECH 2020

Could an insect burger be your dinner of the future

The global population surge will greatly impact how we eat , says Emily McDaid in this article produced by TechWatch from Connect at Catalyst Inc

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n the next 30 years , the world will need to produce as much food as it ’ s done in the past 500 years . That astounding increase in food must be drawn from the same amount of land ( assuming the colonisation of another sustainable planet is more than 30 years away ).
I got this statistic from one of Northern Ireland ’ s leading experts on food , Stephane Durand , director of the Agri­Food Quest Competence Centre .
Stephane was one of the recipients of a £ 5m Collaborative Research Fund grant from Invest NI with QUB , Ulster University and AFBI as its main research partners , and with collaboration from the agri­food industry . QUB is also a winner of a European grant for collaborative research and education , totaling 400m Euros over seven years , focusing on the future of agri­food in Europe .
Stephane told me : “ The story is : there ’ s a huge opportunity for small companies to innovate in the way food is delivered , produced , and consumed by us . One factor we rate is the input / output ratio of food , particularly in creating protein .
“ For example , to produce 1 kilogram of beef , we input 12 – 16kgs of feed . It ’ s an inefficient way to feed people . Chicken is far closer to a 1:1 relationship ( at about 2kgs of feed per kilo of protein produced ), but insect and algae food products have the promise to obtain close to the 1:1 ratio we need .”
So our future lies in eating insects ? Do they contain the nutrition we need ?
“ You ’ re asking if they contain the essential fatty acids , minerals and vitamins that our bodies cannot produce themselves . That is a question that needs to be answered ,” he said . “ Animal proteins will continue to have a key role to play in feeding nations , but more work is needed to produce these proteins more sustainably . Again this opens great opportunities for producers .”
The question of Brexit ’ s ramifications on agriculture aside , the coming disruptions are :
52 www . businessfirstonline . co . uk the desire to eat good quality local food , and food flowing directly from producers to consumers .
“ Also , younger generations are eating out more . They avoid buying food in one large glut , not in “ big shops .” These are the hallmarks of the “ Farm to Fork ” revolution .
“ It will force a total rethink of the current model , whereby one per cent of food producers take 50 per cent of the sales in the industry in Europe ,” said Stephane .
Clearly , at present , the food production industry is unbalanced in the favor of large corporates . Technology innovations may be our best hope to rebalance the equation .
Stephane noted the rise of Food Assembly , a website that links consumers directly with food producers . This model is widely popular in France , and we have a Food Assembly in Omagh .
Farmers and food manufacturers can put their products online , to be chosen and bought directly by consumers , and then bring their products to an “ assembly ” central meeting point to distribute the food .
Reportedly , producers only owe a 16.7 per cent service cost to use this channel . This cost would be 50 per cent or more with supermarkets , taking into account the cost of transportation and stock holding .
QUOTABLEQUOTE
The story is : there ’ s a huge opportunity for small companies to innovate in the way food is delivered , produced , and consumed by us . One factor we rate is the input / output ratio of food , particularly in creating protein . Stephane Durand
But is Northern Ireland land being used to farm a good range of crops ?
I challenged Stephane that the huge majority of Northern Irish land is used to raise one crop alone – grass – to feed livestock . If we are going to transform and truly embrace a “ Farm to Fork ” model , Northern Ireland needs to start growing more crops edible to humans .
“ There are many factors shifting , thanks to world politics ,” Stephane said . “ Changing diets is one thing . Consider that there are more than twice the number of overweight / obese people in the world ( two billion ) than starving / malnourished people ( 795 million ). In other words , a redistribution of global food is absolutely critical . We need to change how we eat .”
And then there ’ s Brexit . Stephane noted that in Northern Ireland , 80 per cent of the food produced is sold outside our borders . He explains : “ This means we are very exposed to Brexit . Take just one food product : at least 25 per cent of the milk produced in Northern Ireland is transported in the Republic of Ireland , so if our border is subject to tariffs on par with the WTO , our dairy industry would need to think about new markets .”
I asked , is it all doom and gloom ?
“ Not at all ­ there ’ s an enormous opportunity for gains in Northern Ireland . But we need a business plan and a strategy . Northern Ireland is very easy to invest in .”
In which technology areas do you see the most potential ?
“ A young innovation in personalized nutrition could do very well . If someone could innovate a version of ‘ your DNA shows you should eat this way ,’ that is interesting .
“ Using technology to test food to make sure it ’ s not fraudulent and it contains what it claims , is also a massive area of potential ,” said Stephane .
For more articles on Agri­Food innovation : www . connect . catalyst­inc . org / techwatch