Future Food

Hello, it's me! You probably thought this podcast was dead and it kind of is, but I am back for a special episode and potentially a few more in the following months as part of a celebratory series of interviews for the 10-year anniversary of AgFunder as well as the $1bn Climate Corp acquisition by Monsanto, a deal that largely propelled the industry into being!

Hello Future Food listeners! Today I'm sharing a special preview of a new podcast I've been enjoying called What’s Your Problem? from Pushkin Industries.

What’s Your Problem? explains the problems really smart people are trying to solve right now, from creating a drone delivery service to building a car that can truly drive itself. Jacob Goldstein, former host of Planet Money, talks with innovators about the future they’re trying to build – and the problems they have to solve to get there.

In this episode, I speak to Demir Vangelov, who’s the CEO of Soylent, the company many of you might know for making meal replacements drinks for busy entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. But the now-profitable company has shifted its target consumer towards middle America.

Before your eyes start to roll, fertilizers are cool! We wouldn't be able to eat what we do without them.

AFN chief editor Louisa Burwood-Taylor talks to Sandhya Sriram, co-founder and CEO of Singaporean cell-cultured seafood startup Shiok Meats.

Welcome to the fifth edition of the very popular Future Food News Review, with foodtech, agtech and food systems' leading journalists. This week's headlines covered the spate of cyber hacking experienced by the food sector including meatpacker JBS, the rise of cashierless checkout technology and its social impact, a deeper look at plant-based meat and dairy alternatives and their impact on the environment, how New York delivery workers are rewriting the rules of gig work, how food delivery behemoths like DoorDash and Grubhub appeal to small restaurants, often to their detriment, Tesla's recent restaurant license, and the future for vertical farming in the wake of Bowery's $300m raise.

Welcome to the fourth edition of the highly popular Future Food News Review, with foodtech, agtech and food systems' leading journalists. This week's headlines covered Restaurant worker exploitation and fast food's recruitment struggle, Farmworker exploitation and the dangerous journey Mexican farmworkers take each day during Covid-19, How recipe website Epicurious and high-end New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park dropped meat, then an in-depth conversation about alternative proteins including questions for cultured meat companies and UPSIDE Food's Whole Foods investment and partnership. We also covered how and why regenerative agriculture needs a reckoning and the emergence of right-wing coffee companies.

There's certainly been a fair amount of hype about vertical farming over the years. And while there's still a long way to go before this ag sector becomes a true alternative to outdoor farming, it feels as if we're reaching an inflection point where sci-fi dreams are becoming reality. Bowery is a case in point.

The pressure is on to find new ways for farmers to protect their crops from pests, disease and weeds. Not only is the environmental impact of conventional farming practices increasingly in the spotlight with consumers and lawmakers demanding change, but the number of options are running out; there's only so many chemicals you can create for the task. Step up microbes.

This week, Swedish startup Stockeld Dreamery launched its first plant-based cheese product, the Stockeld Chunk. I spoke to cofounder and CEO Sorosh Tavakoli about the launch and did a taste test during the Zoom call.