Dominique Cuppers

If it was any question that consumer food tastes were shifting, Beyond Meat’s IPO and Impossible Foods’ $300 million quick-to-follow private equity funding put an end to that debate. “ Alternative” and vegan are officially mainstream. Those two milestones were on the forefront of everyone’s minds—and frequent references in open discussion—at the F&A Next conference in Wageningen, the Netherlands last week, where hundreds of delegates gathered to discuss and debate the future of food and agriculture. There, however, Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods were just two among many examples of companies feeding evolving consumer appetites and global need for a healthier, more sustainable food system. Here are five other takeaways about how “alternative” food ideas, technologies and actors are shifting the mainstream as we know it.

The 4th edition of F&A, which zoomed in on the intersection of Innovation and Sustainability, attracted 572 representatives from corporations, banks, venture capitalists and other investors, and of course, food and agri startups.

AgFunder’s Louisa Burwood-Taylor on the future of agrifood tech Farm robotics and online restaurants are already a reality. But there’s much more to come in food and agtech innovation. What ideas are making it off the drawing board and onto our plates? AgFunder’s Louisa Burwood-Taylor sheds some light. Listen to this episode of Food Forward. […]

EIT Food is Europe’s leading agrifood innovation initiative, with the aim to create a sustainable and future-proof food sector. The initiative is made up of a consortium of key industry players, start-ups, research centres and universities from across Europe.  Together we are undertaking a global transformation of how food is produced and valued by society. […]

With a market share of 25%, one out of four products with taste solutions in the supermarket is made with ingredients and technology from Givaudan. Switzerland-based Givaudan produces flavours and fragrances for consumer products. The flavours are used as ingredients for food and beverages. With a market share of 25%, one out of four products […]

At last year’s F&A Next, Adam Anders, Managing Partner at Anterra Capital, talked to legendary entrepreneur and Principal at Future Shape, Tony Fadell about why the agricultural sector is increasingly capturing investors’ attention and why we need to unseat the giants of the agricultural industry to empower innovation to flourish. At last year’s F&A Next, […]

The use of antibiotics in livestock is under pressure. The issue of antibiotic resistance caused by misuse and over-use of antibiotics in livestock, is subject to scientific and regulatory discussion. Rob Kelly, President International Operations at animal health company Zoetis, as a result sees a clear shift in antibiotic use: “All around the world we […]

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The young farmers rising to tomorrow’s challenges Next generation farming  What happens to our food system if the next generation doesn’t take up farming? Iris Bouwers, Vice Chair of the European Council of Young Farmers, describes the challenges young farmers face and how the government, banks and consumers can help.  Next generation farming Listen to […]

A quick peek into the selection process of the pitching companies. Diversity was the keyword for the selection process. We looked for diversity in backgrounds of the team, geographic presence and themes. With the selection, we’re trying to give the audience a taste for a range of innovations happening across the food supply chain. The […]

  Description Sponsh Water Shortage: The Next Global ChallengeWater is our first necessity in life. And that is the reason water shortage is such a serious global challenge. Affected are every continent around the world and not just those regions that are traditionally dry. It already affects around 2.8 billion people around the world at […]

Gil Horsky finds his job fun and difficult at the same time. He is director of innovation at snack company Mondelez International, known for brands such as, Milka, Oreo, Côte d’Or and Lu. “It is always exciting to launch new products, to see the products we’ve invented years ago finally in the supermarket. But innovation […]

Microbiologist John van der Oost will be one of the speakers at the upcoming F&A Next event. John van der Oost is one of the pioneers concerning the new ground-breaking gene editing technology CRISPR-Cas. For his work on CRISPR-Cas he received the Advanced Grant of the European Research Council and the Spinoza Prize, which can […]

The Dutch province of Gelderland is a (financial) supporter of the F&A Next event that will take place in May on the Wageningen University campus. Wageningen is situated in the province of Gelderland and it is for a good reason that the province supports F&A Next. Gelderland has great ambitions in innovation of agri and […]

Cainthus develops technology based on visual recognition of cows. Aidan Connolly, CEO of the company, will be speaking at the upcoming F&A Next event, where startups, investors and corporates will meet each other. Not so long ago, Aidan Connolly worked as Chief Innovation Officer at animal nutrition company Alltech, always looking for innovative startups to […]