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Waste Not, Want Not How to Rethink Our Food Systems
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00:00Hi, everyone. Welcome. Welcome to the panel today. I'm Samantha Gaden from EIT Food.
00:07EIT Food is the world's largest agri-food network, and we were set up by the European Commission six years
00:13ago to drive positive change from farm to fork.
00:16I'm really pleased to be your moderator today for this panel called Waste Not, Watt Not, Rethinking Our Food Systems.
00:23And to start it off, I wanted to begin with a few statistics.
00:28Did you know that there are $1 trillion of food wasted every year? Not $1 billion, $1 trillion of food.
00:38And that waste represents 30% of our agricultural land.
00:43So if you think about it, 30% of the land being used to produce food in the world, all
00:49of that food is then being not consumed, not wasted.
00:52And meanwhile, we have over 783 million people in the world who are undernourished, so a bit of a mismatch.
01:02There's also two key topics that I wanted to talk about today, or two vocabulary issues, because we hear them
01:08interchanged quite a bit.
01:10One being food loss, and the other being food wastage.
01:14So just for those of you who aren't really familiar with topics, food loss is what happens when food is
01:20lost between the farm and right up to the supermarket door.
01:23So anything that happens when there is a problem in the supply chain, a problem on the farm, any kind
01:29of disease, cold chain issues, logistics problems.
01:32And then food waste is what happens when food is lost between the retail store, so the supermarket, and the
01:39consumer's home.
01:40So that can be any kind of loss that occurs due to food expiring, food being damaged, food not being
01:47sold, and then on the consumer side, anything that we're throwing away within our own homes.
01:53Part of that is due to confusion around things like use-by dates.
01:57There's a lot of different technology that's used, so there's sell, sell-by, best-by, use-by, and consumers are
02:04confused about that.
02:05So instead of taking a risk, they prefer to throw the products out.
02:09And of course, the first step in tackling any kind of big issues like this is trying to do a
02:15state of affairs.
02:16What's the current state of play?
02:17And that's why the EU just released last year the very first report on food wastage.
02:24So measuring the different food member states, the different EU member states, and their food wastage.
02:30And it's also a really big part of the EU's farm-to-fork strategy as well.
02:35So they've set some pretty impressive targets.
02:39By 2030, they would like to reduce industrial food wastage by 20%, and they would also like to reduce food
02:47wastage at the retail consumer level by 40%.
02:52We're going to ask for a little bit of audience participation before we jump into our panel.
02:57So at this point, I'd like to ask each of you to take out your smartphone.
03:02You're going to see a QR code that will appear here on the screen in a second.
03:10Hopefully.
03:16No?
03:17No QR code?
03:20We'll do this there.
03:22Well, in that case, we might do a show of hands.
03:25Oh, here it goes.
03:27All right.
03:27So if you guys can all go ahead and scan.
03:30So for the first question, we are going to ask you to vote on the monetary worth of food waste
03:38in France last year.
03:40So is it...
03:42Oh, no.
03:42Sorry.
03:42That's the second question.
03:44What is the average amount of food waste generated per person in France?
03:47Is it 5 kilos, 20 kilos, 30 kilos, or 60 kilos?
03:57All right.
03:59We'll give a few more seconds for the votes to come in.
04:05Okay.
04:06It looks like we're split between 30 and 60.
04:11A few more seconds.
04:15And we can go to the fine line, sir.
04:17The actual answer is, it's actually 60 kilos.
04:2260 kilos is the amount of food wasted.
04:24So basically, the size of a small French person is being thrown away with food waste per year.
04:31And then the second question we'll have you guys vote on is the monetary value of food waste.
04:37So 500 million euros, 3 billion euros, 7 billion euros, or 16 billion euros.
04:47So if you want to go ahead, you might need to re-scan the QR code again.
05:04So we'll let the votes come in.
05:14So there we go.
05:21So we've got a lot of people voting in.
05:23About half the people think 7 billion euros, about a quarter, 3 billion euros, and 20%, 16 billion euros.
05:30And it is actually 16 billion euros of food is wasted just in France alone each year.
05:37So as you can see, there is a lot to be done, both in France and worldwide.
05:44And that's why I'm really pleased to be here today with these lovely panelists to join in the conversation about
05:52what we can do collectively and individually to impact food wastage.
05:56So I'm really pleased to have Julie from Too Good To Go, Robert from Clean, Mo from Lufa, and Krista
06:04from Food Labs.
06:05And maybe before we jump in, I will let each of you give a quick one-sentence introduction into who
06:13you are and what you do.
06:15Julie, do you want to start us off?
06:17Happy to. Thank you.
06:19So I'm Julie. I come from Too Good To Go.
06:21Too Good To Go is a social impact company that helps food brands and food retailers get value from their
06:28surplus food and reduce their food waste.
06:31Robert.
06:32Thanks.
06:33I'm Robert from Clean.
06:35We are a company that enables farmers to transition towards regenerative agriculture at speed and at scale.
06:41And we work together with both farmers and the food companies who need to transition their supply chains.
06:47Wonderful. Mo?
06:48I'm Mo, CEO of Lufa Farms, and we grow food where people live.
06:53We use the rooftops of buildings, industrial buildings, and cities, and we grow vegetables on a year-round basis for
06:59local consumption.
07:00We're in Montreal right now, but we're looking to expand all over the world.
07:05Great. And Christophe?
07:06Yeah, at Food Lab, we're back entrepreneurs that want to reshape the food value chain.
07:11We're probably the most active seed investor in this space in Europe.
07:17So Christophe mentioned the value chain, and I think that's a really good point for us to start the conversation
07:22today.
07:23So we'll start at the very front of the chain with Mo.
07:26Mo, can you tell us a little bit more about what Lufa does and what inspired you to found the
07:31startup?
07:32Sure. So we started in 2010.
07:36I am actually originally Lebanese and come from a village in Lebanon where all of our food was local,
07:41mostly because we didn't have good logistical systems and reliable electricity.
07:46We just consumed what was grown around us.
07:48And I moved to Canada when I was 13, and I was shocked to see how plentiful food was.
07:55You could find everything in the grocery stores, but food had no taste,
07:59and you didn't know where food was coming from.
08:01And at the time, there was a lot of technology and hydroponics that was popping up all around the world.
08:07So at some point, I wanted to see if there was a way to combine all the technology into a
08:12more modern farm
08:13and locate the farm right in the heart of the city on rooftops and develop a new food model.
08:18So in 2011, we built the world's first commercial rooftop greenhouse.
08:23We were growing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce on a year-round basis on top of an industrial building.
08:29And we started selling our food directly to consumers by building a basket program.
08:34We started out with about 200 consumers on our first week, getting a basket with whatever vegetables we were growing.
08:40And over the last 10 years, we've built six other farms.
08:43We've grown to about 30,000 consumers.
08:46We've added products in our marketplace that come from other farms.
08:50So it became an online farmer's market centered around rooftop agriculture.
08:54And we're feeding today about 3% of the city of Montreal.
08:58Our goal is to grow this to about 10% and to start replicating the model in multiple locations.
09:04So really growing food where people live.
09:06That's really cool.
09:07I guess, you know, they say for writers that you should write about what you know.
09:10And I think you did the same for a startup.
09:12You created a startup with, you know, your own personal experience.
09:15So it's cool.
09:15So I look forward to hearing more about it later.
09:19Maybe next we can move to Robert from KLEAM.
09:23There's been a lot of talk about regen ag lately and our food systems and what it can do to
09:27really help with the transition.
09:29Robert, maybe you can share a bit more about what KLEAM is doing to really create a positive impact.
09:34Yes, so we all know that conventional agriculture has contributed significantly due to the depletion of our soils.
09:43And one of the most potent solutions to regenerate our soils is regenerative agriculture.
09:48Unfortunately, farmers lack financial support and often also the adequate agricultural know-how to transition.
09:56And that's what we provide with KLEAM.
09:59We have built a digital platform that enables farmers to start the transition, access agronomist-level know-how and quantify
10:08the ecosystem services they generate.
10:11For example, the tons of CO2 removed or reduced, but also biodiversity impacts.
10:16And our business model, we work with food companies who have all set very ambitious targets to transition their supply
10:25chains towards regenerative agriculture,
10:26which they actually need to do in order to safeguard the profitability of their supply chains.
10:32So I've set aside often billions of euros to achieving this, Nestle for example, and they have set also very
10:39ambitious targets.
10:40For example, Nestle wants to transition 50% of their supply chain towards regen ag by 2030, or a McCain
10:48100%.
10:49And we enable those food companies to achieve that, and we participate with a cut in the price they pay
10:56per tonne of CO2.
10:58And we have so far onboarded over 3,000 farmers with over 600,000 hectares under management,
11:04and we work with many of the largest food companies and retailers in the world.
11:09Ah, 600,000 hectares.
11:11Ah, that's really impressive.
11:13Maybe Christophe will come to you next.
11:16You guys are investing from earth to earth, or from production to waste, as you say.
11:22I'd be really interested in hearing your perspective on how you're approaching this topic as a VC,
11:28because, you know, supply chains are really, really complex.
11:31And how do you go about deciding where you should best put your time, your resources, and your energy to
11:37use?
11:39First of all, the question of the why.
11:41I mean, the food industry is the second largest industry in the world, only after real estate.
11:47It's also the least digitalized industry in the world.
11:52And if you think about it, there's nothing more crucial to human flourishing than food.
11:58We're talking about food security.
12:01I mean, without food security, government fall.
12:03We're talking about the global value chain, which has shown with the war in Ukraine how fragile it can be.
12:12We're talking about nutrition, which has a huge correlation to human health.
12:19And finally, we're talking about climate.
12:22I mean, the food industry contribution to greenhouse gas is about 30%.
12:28And if there is any space where we can have an impact relatively quickly, it is in the food value
12:36chain,
12:36which projects such as Klim are too good to go.
12:39So it's one of the most exciting space to invest in.
12:43You know, we've been doing it for eight years.
12:45We are third front now.
12:47We've backed 80 companies in this space.
12:50And we keep finding great opportunities.
12:53I mean, this is an industry that has been over-industrialized after the Second World War,
12:58with a lot of dysfunctionalities and a need for new solutions.
13:03That's great. So true.
13:06Maybe, Julie, I guess we...
13:09I'm always really impressed by Too Good To Go.
13:11And I guess we can't really call you a startup anymore.
13:14You guys have over 1,200 employees, nearly 100 million users.
13:19And I think you're really an example of one of our European success stories.
13:25One of the things that I've been thinking about is, you know,
13:27I've heard that you guys save four meals per second.
13:31And so I'm wondering if that's actually true.
13:34And I'm also wondering what other kinds of impact metrics that you guys are looking at measuring.
13:39because I think there may be other startups in the audience who are impact startups.
13:43And I really admire how you guys have really built that into your DNA from the beginning.
13:49So, yeah, the short answer is yes.
13:51We do save four meals every second somewhere in the world.
13:55And we do that thanks to the 95 million registered users that go onto our platform.
14:02And thanks to the roughly 160,000 partners that provide food to the platform on a daily basis.
14:08We're in 17 markets right now, and also later this year, we'll be expanding to Asia with Australia.
14:14So we're very excited about that.
14:16And that's, of course, all great big numbers.
14:19But there's an even more baffling number I think we should be talking about,
14:22which is the roughly 80,000 meals that are going to waste every second.
14:27And so as a company, we're on a mission to inspire and empower everyone to fight food waste together.
14:33And so we're not satisfied with four meals every second.
14:36We need to get to those 80,000 meals.
14:38And that requires a real commitment to innovation.
14:41It requires that we use some of the new technologies that we have in our hands
14:45to solve the challenges of food waste that exist across the value chain.
14:50And that's what's led us to deliver what we call the Too Good to Go platform.
14:53Here we use AI to help grocery retailers manage expiration dates in the store
14:59and also to discount their products to a level that we expect they'll be sold before they become surplus.
15:05So we know that a lot of the waste in retail happens because of, like you were saying,
15:10problems with expiration dates, concerns with freshness of the food.
15:13And a lot of that could be solved with better planning, with more data,
15:16more intelligence behind how we operate this kind of very still manual food ecosystem that we're operating in.
15:23So I'm sure many of you, like me, worked in a supermarket when you were younger
15:26and, you know, spent hours going through the store and looking for all that food that's about to expire
15:31and then figuring out what to do with that food.
15:33Well, with Too Good to Go platform, we use AI to first help find the food in the store
15:38and then also figure out what to actually do with it to make sure that it's sold or it's consumed
15:42before it goes to waste.
15:44So, yes, we do save four meals every second, but there's a lot more that needs to be done still.
15:49Oh, that's really cool that you guys are developing tools then
15:51that the supermarkets can actually use to continue creating more and more impact.
15:55So, well done.
15:57Maybe Mo, coming back to you, one of the things that I'm curious about
16:01when I think about the types of vertical farms is who's the customer?
16:07Is it the distribution centers that you're building on?
16:09Is it the retailers, for example?
16:12You know, you mentioned you have the marketplace, so obviously the consumer as well,
16:15but have you managed to build a business model that's, you know, sustainable and integrating?
16:20For us, when we first started, we quickly realized that half of the problem with what we're eating
16:25is the fact that farms are really far away from where consumers live.
16:28But then the other problem is the fact that food, especially fresh food,
16:32was never well built to be transported and shipped and reshipped.
16:37So by the time a consumer finally gets a head of lettuce or a tomato,
16:41it's often at the end of its life and just about to expire.
16:45So for us, it was super important to go directly to consumers.
16:48So very early on, we were also quite naive.
16:50We didn't know how hard it was to build a B2C business at the same time as learning to farm.
16:54But we knew that we had to develop a B2C operation and to have that relationship with the consumer.
17:00So we were really inspired by the organic farmers' baskets model.
17:05You know, that model existed.
17:07People loved it, but it didn't give flexibility.
17:09So we took that model, created an online platform, an e-commerce platform,
17:13and we invited other food makers to join the platform.
17:16And today we have about 2,000 products on the platform.
17:20About 15% of all of our sales are things we grow,
17:22and the rest are things that come from other farmers and food makers.
17:26And indeed, we go straight to the consumer.
17:28And I think that's really the best.
17:29And from a freshness perspective,
17:31consumers have till midnight to place an order on our website.
17:34And we will build our credit cards at midnight
17:36and start picking and harvesting the food between midnight and 5, 6 a.m. in the morning.
17:40And by 6 a.m. in the morning, we're assembling all the orders and delivering them the same day.
17:44On a year-round basis.
17:46So in the middle of winter, in a snowstorm in Montreal, you can get food as if you...
17:50And how are you delivering in the middle of a snowstorm in winter in Montreal?
17:54We deliver... We actually have a fleet of 100 vehicles.
17:5750 are electric, for sure, for regional, and 50 that's still gas-powered.
18:02But it works relatively well.
18:03Every vehicle will deliver about 50 to 60 orders.
18:07And, you know, back to foodways,
18:09when you're able to grow food right in the heart of the city,
18:11you're picking only what was sold.
18:14Whatever is not sold stays on the vine.
18:17So you're able to bring food to consumer that's still at day one.
18:21And, you know, a head of lettuce will stay in the fridge for up to a week...
18:24Sorry, up to a month before it goes bad.
18:26So that's a great way, we feel, to address the food waste right at the source.
18:31Oh, that's really interesting.
18:32The freshness aspect of what you'll be able to provide for consumers.
18:36That's wonderful.
18:36That's a must, yeah.
18:39Robert, when thinking about RegenEgg,
18:42you know, we talk about it a lot, obviously, at EIT Food,
18:45and we try to do what we can to help support the farmers in the transition.
18:48But you mentioned, for example, companies like Nestle.
18:52How are you convincing them to actually help finance?
18:56Because so much pressure is on the farmers,
18:58but we do need help in financing their transition.
19:01And I'm curious about the conversations that you have
19:03with your current clients and your prospective clients.
19:07Well, many of the larger food companies have, of course,
19:10understood that soil is one of their most precious resources.
19:15In fact, 95% of all food produced on the planet comes from soils.
19:21The problem is that our soils globally have lost a lot of their fertility.
19:26So, a good proxy or measure for fertility is soil organic carbon.
19:32To give you an idea of how much of global soil fertility has been lost,
19:36we have lost by now 50% of all soil organic carbon.
19:41And the trend continues.
19:43Each year, conventional agricultural practices continue to waste soil
19:49in terms of runoff, erosion, or the depletion of soil organic carbon.
19:53And this can only go on for so long
19:56before it really has a dramatic impact on profitability
20:00for both the farmer and the food company alike.
20:04For example, as soil organic carbon depletes,
20:08your harvests become ever more volatile.
20:11So, you have increasing amount of crop loss.
20:14And as soil organic carbon depletes,
20:17you're much more susceptible to climate change-induced crop loss.
20:21Not only due to droughts,
20:23but also due to unpredictable weather events.
20:27And all this requires you to use more and more input,
20:30such as fertilizer, to compensate.
20:33And fertilizer prices are increasing,
20:35sometimes even quadrupling in a year.
20:37So, even if you don't care about the environment at all,
20:40if you just look at the economics of it,
20:43you need to change this trend.
20:45And Regenag is the most powerful mechanism
20:48we have to reverse this trend.
20:49So, this is what we say to food companies
20:53who have not understood this yet.
20:55But, to be frank,
20:56most food companies have understood this relationship.
20:59That's why they have committed to these massive goals.
21:03It's not in order to just be climate-friendly
21:06or to address regulatory demand or consumer demand.
21:09It's really because they understand the impact on their P&L.
21:12The problem is that the conversion towards Regenag is really hard.
21:17You cannot just throw money at the problem
21:20and tell farmers to use a cover crop.
21:22You need to actually enable them,
21:24support them with adequate economist know-how,
21:28with the tools to adopt those methods.
21:30And we basically enable food companies to achieve that
21:35at speed and scale with our digital platform.
21:37And they're happy to, basically, through us,
21:41start and then optimize the conversion of their supply chains.
21:44Some of the food companies we work with
21:46even have committed 100% of their supply chain
21:49to the conversion already.
21:52100%, wow.
21:53And over what time period do you think it would take?
21:55So, the conversion will take,
21:59depending on how you count it.
22:01So, as I said earlier,
22:03we have lost 50% of soil organic carbon.
22:06That happened over the course of the last 100 years.
22:08And typically, you can destroy soil organic carbon
22:11quicker than you can rebuild it.
22:13So, the regeneration to the saturation level
22:15will take generations.
22:17But you can already see remarkable results
22:21in soil fertility improvement
22:23and reduction in fertilizer usage after five years.
22:26Our contracts with the food company are ongoing, recurring.
22:30And so, we consider this as long-term engagements with them.
22:35Where, for example, if you're doing really well,
22:37you can see a reduction in fertilizer usage of 50%
22:40after maybe seven years already.
22:43That's incredible.
22:44So, you can really see, I think, a shift in the mentalities
22:48over the past year or two of these big food companies
22:50of actually now understanding that Regen Ag
22:52is vital for their continued success of their supply chains.
22:57Christophe, as you just mentioned,
22:58we work in one of the biggest industries in the world
23:00but the least digitized.
23:02Where are you seeing the biggest opportunities
23:05for startups to come in today
23:07and really make disruptive changes?
23:10So, we have a big thesis, for instance,
23:14around fermentation farming.
23:16So, the idea of fermentation farming
23:19is that you will produce protein, food,
23:24next to the consumer
23:26that will be healthy, sustainable, and inexpensive.
23:31So, typically, what you do is you use sidestream food waste,
23:36for instance, from the beer industry
23:38and then inoculate that, for instance, with mycelium
23:41and then you end up with a product
23:44that is as tasty as meat,
23:48has a similar amount of protein,
23:51in some regard even healthier,
23:53and is very inexpensive.
23:55That can be a solution
23:56that can be applied to a developing country
24:00as well as our country.
24:02So, this is a type of idea
24:05sometimes stemming from research in biology,
24:08in this case, more in natural science,
24:11that we love to find and back very often
24:15directly from university.
24:17So, in food waste,
24:19we just backed a company
24:20out of University of Cambridge
24:22that is helping restaurants
24:25cope with waste
24:27that cannot be consumed anymore,
24:29food waste,
24:31and ferment it,
24:33transform it on site
24:35with a machine
24:35to turn it into something
24:38that can be used for fuel.
24:40So, this is really the type of radical thinking
24:43where we believe fundamentally
24:46that entrepreneurs
24:47are the ones to take on these challenges
24:49and our motto,
24:51we want to buy a company
24:52that are financially successful
24:56and the more success,
24:58the more financial success,
24:59the bigger the impact.
25:01You know,
25:02these three companies
25:03are a good example for that.
25:05So, and the amount of new opportunities
25:10are really there for the taking.
25:13That's super interesting
25:14to think about
25:15because I, you know,
25:16travel a lot.
25:16Every time I'm in a hotel,
25:17you think about your hotel buffets
25:18and all the food
25:19that is leftover wasted afterwards
25:21and I've always wondered,
25:22you know,
25:22I felt it was a missing space
25:24of a startup
25:24to really try to tackle
25:25what to do with that leftover food
25:26because there's a lot of startups
25:27who are looking at
25:29helping kitchens measure the dishes,
25:31which ones are more popular,
25:33being helping analyzing,
25:34but not actually doing something
25:35with the actual leftover product.
25:37So, that's really interesting.
25:40Julie,
25:41another thing I think
25:42is really incredible
25:43about Too Good To Go
25:44is the fact that
25:45you guys have really had
25:46to focus on educating
25:48two very different segments
25:49to ensure your success.
25:51So, one,
25:52you've had to work
25:52with the retailers,
25:53the supermarkets,
25:54in order to convince them
25:55about putting together
25:55the goodie bags.
25:56Then you've also had
25:57to do the outreach
25:58to the consumers
25:59to educate them
26:00on food wastage
26:01and to let them know
26:02that, yeah,
26:05that these products exist.
26:07So, I'd be curious
26:08if you have any insights
26:09to share
26:10on how you guys,
26:12your marketing strategy,
26:13basically,
26:13how you went about
26:14targeting both these
26:15B2B and B2C audiences.
26:19Sure.
26:19I'm happy to share
26:20a bit of insights
26:21into the machine room
26:22if that is Too Good To Go.
26:24I think it's fair to say
26:25when you're building a company
26:26or you're pioneering
26:27a new business model,
26:28there isn't necessarily
26:29a playbook.
26:30So, I'm not going to say
26:31this is the magic recipe
26:32for everybody,
26:33but there's a set of things
26:34that I think looking back
26:35have been certainly
26:36instrumental to our success.
26:39and one of them
26:39is that our founders
26:40very early on realized
26:42they had a win-win-win
26:43business model
26:44in their hands.
26:45So, we believe it's a win
26:46for the planet,
26:47it's a win for people,
26:49but it's also a win
26:49for profit.
26:51So, we take value
26:52that was literally
26:53being thrown in the trash
26:54in the shape of food
26:55and we extract that value
26:57and we distribute it
26:57to the partners
26:58we work with,
26:58to the consumers
26:59for the good
27:00in the environment.
27:02and the second thing
27:03that I think
27:04kind of defines
27:04our company
27:05is that we're always
27:06looking for
27:07how we can use technology
27:08to solve the food waste
27:10problem in new ways.
27:11So, looking for
27:12new solutions
27:13to the problem
27:14and also for new problems
27:15to solve across
27:16the value chain
27:16and one of the things
27:18that we also saw
27:19was there's a lot
27:19of food waste
27:20happening with
27:21the big food brands
27:22in warehouses
27:24because products
27:24are going out
27:25of production
27:27because they're
27:27changing color,
27:28they're changing brand,
27:29they're changing logo,
27:30they might be expiring
27:31in a month
27:32and nobody will buy it
27:33but it's still
27:33perfectly good food
27:35and so we develop
27:36the Too Good To Go
27:37parcels
27:38where we buy
27:38that inventory,
27:40we repackage it
27:40into attractive parcels
27:42for consumers
27:43and we ship it
27:44directly to their
27:45front door.
27:45So, you can get
27:46your Friday night
27:48Mexican food package
27:49or your baby food package
27:51or your drinks package
27:52delivered to your door
27:53with a combination
27:53of attractive surplus food
27:55from different brands.
27:57So, that's an example
27:58of us,
27:58we're always trying
27:59to figure out
27:59how can we use
28:00our technology
28:00and this 90 million
28:02registered user base
28:04to solve the food waste issue
28:05and then I think
28:06the last thing is
28:07anyone here
28:08building a marketplace
28:09especially with
28:10physical goods
28:10will realize
28:11that while we might
28:12have a very global
28:13problem on our hands
28:15and we feel
28:15as a company
28:16that we have
28:17a quite global solution
28:18it's an extremely
28:20local problem
28:21that we need to solve.
28:22So, execution
28:23is always extremely local
28:24so kind of monitoring
28:25day by day,
28:27week by week,
28:27month by month
28:28how the marketplace
28:29develops
28:30has been instrumental
28:31for us
28:31and I think
28:32we're here to talk
28:33about AI as well
28:34and if you think
28:35about where AI
28:36is very, very suitable
28:38it's typically
28:38for problems
28:39with large amounts
28:40of data
28:40that need real-time processing
28:42you need to recognize patterns
28:43you want to automate processes
28:45and food waste
28:46happening in retail
28:47fits the bill perfectly
28:49so we have a lot of food
28:51with a lot of associated
28:52data points
28:52be that imagery
28:53pricing
28:54consumption patterns
28:56seasonality, etc.
28:57and we take that data
28:58and we use it
28:59in order to make sure
29:00the food gets consumed
29:01and not wasted.
29:02That's really cool
29:03about the food parcels
29:04are they available in France?
29:06Can you share which markets
29:07consumers can
29:08supply?
29:09We have it available
29:11across several markets
29:13we're expanding even more
29:14and in the first year
29:14we've already shipped
29:15more than a million parcels
29:16so I think we saw it
29:18work quite quickly
29:19and now we're scaling
29:20very quickly as well.
29:21Incredible.
29:23Maybe I'll open up
29:24a few questions
29:25to the panel as a whole
29:27I'd be really curious
29:29to hear what each of you
29:30are most excited about
29:32in the coming months.
29:34Maybe Christophe
29:35how about
29:35we'll start with you.
29:38I'm always excited
29:39it's part of the
29:40business I do
29:42because I'm excited
29:43about a new kind
29:44of ideas
29:45that we come across.
29:47You know
29:47I guess
29:48one thing
29:49we're spending
29:49a lot of time on now
29:51is actually agriculture
29:53and how do we develop
29:55climate resistant crops.
29:58I mean
29:58this is a monster truck
29:59coming at us
30:00and there will be
30:02a need for innovation
30:04in order to
30:05create both seeds
30:07pesticide
30:08methodologies
30:09that would enable us
30:11to grow enough food
30:12in an environment
30:15where climate
30:16is actually becoming
30:17less predictable
30:18and potentially
30:20changing.
30:22How about you Mo?
30:25Likewise
30:26I'm always very excited
30:27but I think
30:29what excites me the most
30:30we've had really
30:30very challenging
30:31last three years.
30:32I mean during COVID
30:34we saw our demand
30:35double overnight
30:36we couldn't keep up
30:38but then you know
30:39a few weeks later
30:40we were back on top
30:41and it showed
30:42that a local food system
30:43actually works well.
30:45We never ran out of food
30:46because all the food
30:46was grown in the greenhouses
30:47and grown locally
30:48so that really emboldened us
30:50and the last year
30:52we saw
30:53economic downturn
30:54and a lot of people
30:55are worried about
30:56their spending
30:57and pulling back
30:59on organic
30:59local
31:00and responsible foods
31:01so we saw
31:02a huge drop
31:03in our sales
31:03well actually
31:04a flattening
31:05of our sales
31:06and a huge drop
31:06in our profitability
31:07almost overnight.
31:09That was towards
31:10the end of 2022
31:10and all through 2023
31:13but we persevered
31:14we became more efficient
31:15we continued
31:17running the company
31:17and we ended the year
31:18at a 20% growth
31:20back to profitability
31:22and what it really
31:23taught me is that
31:24local food systems
31:25are here to stay.
31:26I think developing
31:26new technology
31:27takes time.
31:28We're a 13 year old company
31:30we lost money
31:30for the first nine years
31:31so it takes time
31:33to get your model
31:34to be breakeven
31:35and profitable
31:37but we're finally
31:37at the point now
31:38where we've got
31:38the confidence
31:39that we're ready
31:39to start replicating
31:40the model
31:41so we're acquiring
31:43a plot of land
31:43in the US
31:44where we plan
31:44on building
31:46a huge building
31:47that will have
31:48our distribution center
31:49an indoor farm
31:51and a massive
31:51rooftop greenhouse
31:52which will be
31:53our first out of many
31:54so that's what's
31:55occupying me right now
31:56and I find it
31:57really exciting.
31:58Really cool.
32:00Robert, how about you?
32:01What's exciting you
32:02these days?
32:03Well, of course
32:04we just recently
32:06had the first
32:07close of our
32:07Series A
32:08and can now invest
32:08in growth
32:09and converting
32:10more farmers
32:10that's one thing
32:11but in general
32:11I'm most excited
32:12about the fact
32:13that Region Ag
32:14went from a niche topic
32:16back even in 2019
32:18as late as 2019
32:19to a topic
32:20which receives
32:21much more attention
32:22right now
32:23and this will result
32:24in, for example
32:25many more projects
32:27on a research level
32:28to investigate
32:29the impact
32:30of new
32:31novel
32:31regenerative
32:32methodologies
32:33on farm economics
32:34which will find
32:35their use
32:36into the common
32:36practices of farmers
32:38and in the long term
32:39I'm very excited
32:41about many more
32:42farmers converting
32:43their farms
32:44and building up
32:45much higher
32:46nutrient availability
32:47in their soils
32:48hence higher
32:49nutrient density
32:50in the food
32:51and at some point
32:51we will see
32:52regenerative products
32:53in the supermarket
32:54which due to
32:55the higher
32:55nutrient level
32:57density
32:57will be much
32:58healthier
32:59much tastier
33:00and I think
33:01that's something
33:02that especially
33:03the consumers
33:03will be very
33:04excited about
33:05We'll have to
33:06figure out
33:06how to label
33:07them
33:08so that it
33:09fits in with
33:09the EcoStore
33:10and NutriScore
33:11and all these
33:11other scores
33:12and the labels
33:12but definitely
33:13excited to see
33:14regenerative products
33:15on the shelves
33:15How about you
33:16Julie?
33:17Well I'm very
33:18excited to see
33:19that we now
33:19have AI technology
33:22available in our
33:23hands
33:23that we can use
33:24to solve
33:24some of the
33:25biggest problems
33:25we face
33:26as humanity
33:27and food waste
33:27is one of those
33:29and so I think
33:30first of all
33:30the brands
33:31as you were
33:31speaking to
33:32and the retailers
33:32are now really
33:33starting to embrace
33:34technology
33:35to solve this
33:35problem
33:35and they're
33:36taking it
33:36seriously
33:37but there's
33:38still so much
33:38more that we
33:39need to do
33:39and I can't
33:40say that enough
33:41we have these
33:4180,000 meals
33:42going to waste
33:43every second
33:43but we have
33:44the technology
33:45in our hands
33:45to help solve it
33:46and I think
33:47the coming months
33:48not even years
33:49but just months
33:50will actually show us
33:51that we can do
33:52things very differently
33:52and so we're
33:53very excited
33:54to be part
33:54of that journey
33:55I'd be curious
33:56if a show of hands
33:57in the audience
33:58if anybody
33:58has actually used
33:59AI or
34:00chat GPT
34:01to create recipes
34:03to try and prevent
34:04food wastage
34:05let me see
34:06actually quite a few
34:07people
34:08I'm surprised
34:08well done all of you
34:09good job
34:10yeah
34:11I think that brings us
34:13to the end
34:14of our time together
34:15I want to say
34:16thank you to Vivitech
34:17for giving a voice
34:19to such an important topic
34:21I think as we've seen
34:22here today
34:22there's a lot to be done
34:24but also a lot
34:25of great people
34:25who are working
34:26to try to resolve
34:28the food waste challenge
34:29and there's also
34:30something that we can
34:31do as citizens
34:31and for me
34:32that starts with voting
34:34I think many of you
34:36in the audience
34:36are Europeans
34:38hopefully you know
34:38that the European elections
34:40are coming up here
34:41in a few weeks
34:42and I know
34:43it's not the easiest
34:44the elections happen
34:45on a Sunday
34:45the weather is starting
34:47to get nice now
34:47it's a lot easier
34:48to spend time
34:49with your family
34:49or to be in a terrace
34:51if you're located
34:52here in Paris
34:54but it's really important
34:5620% of French laws
34:58are actually based
34:59on EU mandates
35:00and when it comes
35:00to topics like agriculture
35:02one out of two
35:03French laws
35:04are actually driven
35:05by the EU
35:06so these choices
35:08and voting or not voting
35:09can really make
35:10a significant impact
35:11I think it's easy
35:12to say
35:13well I'm just one person
35:13what can my vote do
35:14but for me as American
35:16you know
35:16we've seen what happened
35:17in the US
35:17with the elections
35:18every vote does count
35:19and an election cycle
35:21can really lead
35:22to a lot of good
35:22or bad things
35:24so I would really
35:24encourage you
35:27to vote on June 9th
35:28the MPs that will be coming
35:29will be making
35:30a lot of decisions
35:30regarding budgets
35:31regarding the laws
35:32that are going to be
35:33impacting all of us
35:34so please do try
35:35to find the time
35:36and with that
35:37I'll say thank you
35:38to the panelists
35:38thank you all
35:39for your insights today
35:40thank you to the audience
35:41for being here
35:42I wish you a great
35:43rest of the show
35:44and bon appetit
35:45for those who haven't
35:47had time for lunch yet
35:47thank you
35:48thank you
35:49Merci.
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