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Farm to Fork Can (Agri)Tech Help Reverse Climate Change Effects
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TechnologieTranscription
00:01Hello everyone, good morning. Welcome to our session. Today we're going to talk about how technology can push the transition
00:10of agriculture into less carbon intensive practices, because as we know, food systems account for about a third of global
00:22emissions, so there's a lot of work to do.
00:25And just before we begin, I believe we have a poll that we're going to run. We're just going to
00:32test the temperature in the room, see what you guys think about the potential of agritech to change agriculture.
00:41Yeah, there it is. So yeah, the question is, how confident are you that technology will help farmers to reduce
00:51their carbon footprints? And you can vote on that, and we can come back at the end and see, you
00:58know, oh.
00:58Oh, that's pretty big. All right, okay. It's getting more nuanced now. So I'll wait for the results to come
01:07in. I'm going to introduce the panel while I do this.
01:12So joining me today, we have Simon. He's co-founder and CEO of Agrina, a Danish company that mints, verifies,
01:20sells carbon credits generated by farmers who transition to more regenerative forms of farming.
01:26And we're going to talk a little bit about what that means.
01:29We have Charlotte. She is data solutions and ecosystem lead with Amini, a Kenyan company that aims to share satellite
01:36imagery and AI-powered crop monitoring with farmers.
01:41And we have Bernard. He's head of the Innovation Accelerator at the UN World Food Programme.
01:47He's also creator of an app called Share the Meal, where you can donate to pay for kids' meals, which
01:54is quite nice.
01:56Welcome, guys. Thanks for joining us.
02:00So, yeah, maybe we'll start quite easy.
02:05Agritech is a very broad, catch-all term.
02:08So I just want to ask the panel, you know, tell us briefly what you're excited about when we talk
02:15about Agritech.
02:16You know, make a case for the technology that you're really passionate about.
02:19And I'm going to start with Simon.
02:23Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me.
02:26I think it's no surprise that what I'm most excited about is actually not a technology,
02:31but kind of an umbrella of technologies called regenerative agriculture.
02:35The reason why I'm super excited about that is it's actually super simple.
02:40Agriculture holds, on the one hand, a problem, a third of global emissions,
02:44but also a huge potential to sequester carbon into the soil.
02:50Half of land on this planet is farmland,
02:52and therefore the idea of actually being able to actually remove and store carbon into degraded soil,
02:59I think it's a fantastic potential, and it is readily available.
03:03More specifically, the problem is that there are 600 million farmers on the planet,
03:08so we need behavioral change from a lot of farmers.
03:12And two is that farming is a super idiosyncratic process.
03:15Every single field is different.
03:17Different soil, different climatic zones, and so on.
03:19What I'm super interested in, because this is all about scaling,
03:24it's big-ass scaling, is AI-augmented satellite imagery analysis.
03:28So the idea of building AI models to really be able to discern what happens in every field
03:35in order to feed that back to the farmer, in order to optimize their sustainable production,
03:40but also to verify it in order to monetize it through different ecosystems.
03:45Okay, well, that tees Charlotte up perfectly, because you're doing this already with Amini.
03:51Tell us about this. How is it going?
03:53Thank you. So it's going well.
03:55Well, I think that, for me, what I'm really excited about is what is happening with farmers in Africa right
04:01now,
04:02because they face a lot of challenges in terms of, let's say, the impact of climate of the farms.
04:08And for so long, you know, farmers, they were able to wake up to have their own understanding about
04:14maybe tomorrow it's going to rain or not, but now it's not going to happen, right?
04:17Because you wake up today and there's so many things that change, right?
04:20So they need to have access to the right information and to think about what they do today
04:26and how they can also be more productive.
04:29And that's one of the ways, as Amini, we are helping them, because we collect data from the farms.
04:35I mean, crops data, soil data, any type of natural capital like forests,
04:41and to make sure that when we calibrate with satellite data, we're able to generate actionable insight.
04:48They use this insight to improve their productivity and to be more resilient in terms of climate,
04:53in terms of harvesting, you know, any kind of focus they are in.
04:59And I think it has been great so far.
05:01It has been great because you have seen our work being, you have seen our work in terms of collaboration,
05:07working with other people in the sleep space, close to farmers.
05:11Because one of the key, I think, thing, challenge we should speak about is how people,
05:16farmers have access to that platform, you know, because sometimes we don't speak about this a lot.
05:20We just focus on the technology.
05:22But in terms of accessibility, as we have been able to ensure that we have key partnership with local partners,
05:28we work with cooperatives, or cooperatives with a group of farmers based in different regions in Africa.
05:33We ensure that the insight is easy for them to understand.
05:36It's not technical, it's just in different languages, because in Africa, we speak a lot of languages.
05:41So if today we are targeting farmers being in a remote area in Kenya, we need to understand Swahili, right?
05:48If it's in Ivory Coast, there's other languages, if it's in Gana tree.
05:51So we have to figure out how to collaborate with local partners and local people to work with them,
05:56to ensure that we deliver the right information to farmers.
05:59And it has been great so far.
06:01Thank you, Charlotte.
06:03Bernard, I'm going to come to you.
06:04With the accelerator, I'm sure you see a whole range of different innovations, ideas.
06:10You know, what really appeals to you?
06:13So, from our perspective, and this is where, as well, food program, we care about ending global hunger, right?
06:18So, like, this is where, as you're saying, like, climate change is also one of the biggest drivers of hunger,
06:25actually, right now.
06:26There's conflict, there's climate change, and economic shocks and inflation.
06:30Now, there's 309 million people who are marching towards preservation right now.
06:34So we do need to tackle climate change in the face of looking at, you know, how can we help
06:40people, right?
06:40Like, so it's a necessity for us even to do that.
06:43Now, I should say, from our portfolio as Accelerator, we're running 20 different social impact startup accelerators this year.
06:51Actually, three of our startups have received the Earthshot Prize by Prince William so far.
06:57AI is one of the levers, of course.
06:59So, like, looking at technology, great.
07:01But there's also other things, like, when you look at food systems, it's farm-to-fork.
07:05So it's everything from, and I'll give you the example.
07:07One of the startups we've been working with, they've actually, they use a, it's kind of a high-tech solution
07:15where they use pyrolysis.
07:16Like, they take this crop residue from the fields, and they actually create, like, organic fertilizers with it in a
07:22small machine you can bring to the farms.
07:24I mean, sounds really boring, but it's high-tech, and it's actually really cool if you look at it.
07:30The other one is looking at basic supply chain optimization.
07:33And I'll give you an example.
07:34As World Food Prom, we built a big data analytics tool to optimize supply chains.
07:38That has saved us $50 million that we have reinvested into more food for hungry people.
07:44And at the same time, we are also now optimizing for carbon emissions.
07:48On, like, where do we buy the food, how far do we transport it, and so on and so forth.
07:53Thank you very much, Bernard.
07:55Of course, I mean, we all know farming is, you know, it's a really difficult job.
08:00You know, it's getting harder with climate change.
08:04Margins are razor thin in this world.
08:06So, I mean, it's really, it must be a big step for a farmer to do something different.
08:13And I guess the question is, how do you, you know, how do they get over that, you know, how
08:19do they overcome the risk to try something new?
08:23Because, you know, they just have one year and one season to make their revenue in a year.
08:29So, things can't go wrong.
08:32They can't take too many risks.
08:33So, Simon, do you want to tell us a little bit about, you know, how, what's the process like for
08:40convincing farmers to, you know, do this regenerative approach?
08:45Yeah, absolutely.
08:46I think, you know, we're working with farmers across 19 countries in Europe, from UK to Ukraine.
08:53And I can tell you, farmers think alike across the world.
08:58You can only grow wheat that many ways.
09:01And the logic is the same.
09:03I would characterize it that most farmers are fundamentally environmentalists, both because they actually operate land, and to is they
09:11most often want to pass it on to the next generation.
09:14So, they're actually operating the long horizon.
09:16They want to take care of the long horizon.
09:18But as one farmer fantastically put it to me at one point and said, it's super difficult to be green
09:24if you're in the red.
09:25And I think that has just stuck with me.
09:28And I think it's such a nice picture of what we have to overcome.
09:31There are plenty of hurdles to make farmers adopt new technologies and regenerative technologies.
09:37But there's one master hurdle, which is financial stability.
09:41Because the distance to not being able to make a profit and then going out of business is just drastically
09:49limited.
09:50And therefore, personally, I don't think we need more technologies.
09:54I think we need more adoption.
09:56It's all about, let's not, I tend to focus when I'm a judge on all kind of shark tanks and
10:01so on.
10:02I would like 10% more technologies and 90% more adoptive drivers.
10:07Because there are plenty of technologies out there to actually make this happen.
10:11It's all about actually putting it in the hand and making it economically safe for farmers to use.
10:16And I think that really goes, this is where fintechs come into play as well.
10:21This is where it's about how can we generate new revenue streams for farmers to offset some of those costs
10:27and risks of adopting.
10:28How can we generate both governmental and corporate schemes towards it?
10:34How can we front load financing opportunities for farmers?
10:39So I think there's a whole wave of green fintechs to help unlock this.
10:46Either of you guys want to react to that or talk about challenges for farmers adopting new tech?
10:52I mean, I think one of the, like, coming in from, like, a smaller farmer's perspective in developing countries.
10:59I mean, what you're saying is true and even worse, right?
11:02So one of the innovations we've been working on is actually called SheCan,
11:08where we provide microloans with partners to female farmers and entrepreneurs.
11:13Now, you have to imagine the people that we typically serve are people who do not have assets,
11:20so they get regular credits.
11:21So essentially, they're so poor that they don't have enough assets that you actually get regular credits.
11:26Now, if you think about transitioning or investing in your farm,
11:29it might be even, like, buying seeds.
11:32Like, you know, you may lack enough funds to buy seeds properly, right?
11:36So these are the types of things where, you know, getting access to things are very relevant.
11:42Now, the second aspect, and, like, this is something that oftentimes is overlooked,
11:46is talking about climate change is about, you know, in Western Europe, in the U.S.,
11:51probably 30 to 40 percent of the food is lost, like, food waste.
11:55In developing countries, it's oftentimes post-harvest loss.
11:58So, like, again, it might be 40, 50 percent for smaller farmers.
12:01Now, that is insane if you think about this.
12:04We just learned before it's a third of greenhouse gases, right?
12:08And then half of that food is thrown, I mean, almost half of that food is essentially wasted.
12:13Now, that's a big lever if you think about, like, how can we save the planet?
12:17Is we need to tackle also those food losses.
12:20And, you know, none of the farmers want those food losses.
12:22It's just they don't have the technology to actually do that.
12:26Yeah.
12:26I think I can add one example I have.
12:29Back then, I was working on one project.
12:31And it was basically to support farmers by giving them loans in terms of fertilizer,
12:36not financially giving them loans of fertilizer.
12:38And I remember that the organization was bringing a new type of fertilizer,
12:43which was a bit different, or a different color compared to what they are used to.
12:47And the farmer was like, oh, we can use that.
12:49We are used for years for using that.
12:50Oh, black fertilizer is working for years.
12:52So, it was more like a behavioral, cultural understanding.
12:56They feel that, oh, it can work.
12:57So, why are they changing today?
12:59They have been using this for so long.
13:00It was working for them.
13:01Why?
13:02So, how are we able to work around that?
13:05We have to use the soil, analyze the soil, and show that, okay, that's what is the outcome
13:10when you apply this new fertilizer.
13:12And that's what the difference is.
13:14So, I think there is always a need to make sure that they have clarity, understanding.
13:18So, work closely with them, meet them, speak to them.
13:21And it's more like an education phase as well because they don't understand everything, right?
13:25They want to know what is happening.
13:27Just show them, or not in a technical way, but like proper, like a practical way.
13:31Okay, we apply this, let's wait for one week, two months, depending on the crops,
13:35and we see the outcome.
13:36Based on that, they see the value of planning a new fertilizer.
13:39So, your household will be in that way.
13:41Education, and, you know, we keep doing it like that, yeah.
13:45Thank you very much.
13:47We can talk a little bit about regulation, how regulation is helping agri-tech.
13:52Does anyone have any good examples?
13:55Would anyone like to see more regulation to maybe propel agri-tech a little bit further?
14:02Yeah, I can speak a bit about this because right now, we launched one feature.
14:08It's more like a product, but it's open source.
14:10It's for EOGI analytics, and EOGI is basically regulation around deforestation for Europe, European countries.
14:18So, the idea basically is to ensure that companies based in Europe that source raw material from Africa,
14:23there is a list of material.
14:25We have cocoa, for instance, and coffee.
14:27They have to ensure that where they source from the land, the source is from non-deforested land.
14:32And they need to have that transparency, you know, on the supply chain.
14:37And what we notice is, like, it's quite interesting because there is a good impact and a negative impact.
14:44The good impact is the fact that now farmers have to have more good practices, sustainability,
14:50think about how they use regenerative agriculture to make sure that they have good practices.
14:56but at the end of the day, it's quite hard as well for African farmers because in Africa, we are
15:01smaller as farmers.
15:02The farm is really small, and they are spread in different places in Africa, in different regions.
15:08And sometimes, they're not even tech-savvy.
15:10They don't know what is happening, don't understand that regulation.
15:13They have no idea what is happening.
15:15So, I think there is a gap between the people who are producing, the farmers,
15:18and the people who are making the regulation of the rules.
15:21So, now, in terms of having that EUG compliance, it's quite a cost, high cost for farmers.
15:29And the big question was, like, who is paying for that?
15:31Is the organization, the company, or is who?
15:34And some companies have to, they have to pay because sometimes, if you take cocoa,
15:39a lot of cocoa are sourced from Africa, right?
15:42But there is other stuff, I mean, they can change the supply.
15:45So, there is a big challenge for farmers to lose, I mean, that's where they are getting revenue
15:50and they're getting some money.
15:51So, now, us, what we do, I mean, we're like, okay, let's try to solve that issue.
15:55We have that capability, that technical capability.
15:58We build that feature.
15:58It's open source.
15:59It's going to be used by anyone, organization, companies, and even cooperative as well
16:04to check the EUG compliance about the farms.
16:07Yeah.
16:09So, I'd love to talk about regulation.
16:12I think it's a very fine balance.
16:15I'll take the unpopular opinion here.
16:17I think in my home country of Denmark, we're now introducing a carbon tax on farmers for
16:23the exact reason that a lot of Denmark's carbon emissions stem from agricultural production.
16:29So, I think it's up until now been kind of off base to apply carbon taxes and similar
16:38on farmers, but it's happening now.
16:40I'm quite sure it's going to be a model that we're going to see across Europe in the next
16:43five years.
16:46That's, I think it makes a lot of political sense, but I think it kind of oversees the
16:50margin problem.
16:51It's just more stick.
16:52And I'm personally, I have a little bit difficulty seeing how it fits together with the implications
16:58we see from both climate impact and other factors.
17:03One.
17:04Two is, I think a lot of regulation happened.
17:07We've seen CRCF in the EU recently.
17:10We've seen a carbon regulation.
17:14We even have a carbon farming directive in the EU.
17:18Similar things happen in the US.
17:20So, I think there's a lot of quasi-regulation to support stronger markets in order to create
17:26new revenue streams for farmers, which I think is good.
17:29My unpopular opinion is, I think there's a huge risk that whether we're talking supply chain
17:34initiatives and others, these are great ag-tech opportunities to help support the corporate
17:41ecosystem around agriculture.
17:44But my fear is that in four out of five cases, nothing is ever coming back to the actual farmer
17:50who's doing the heavy lifting.
17:52So, I think the big pitfall here is that it creates a lot of opportunities for technology
17:58companies, yes.
18:00But what ratio comes back to the farmer, I think is the big question.
18:04I mean, maybe I can bridge the unpopular with the popular opinion.
18:08But, like, I think there's actually different use cases for regulation.
18:13Like, think about, again, food waste.
18:16Right now, in most countries, it's actually illegal, for instance, to donate food that
18:20you have prepared to people because you are liable.
18:23So, like, nobody does it, right?
18:24So, like, that's, talking about food waste, the regulation is broken right now because
18:29we're throwing away foods based on the regulations we have in Western Europe, in the US, in a lot
18:34of other countries.
18:35Then, I mean, and to your point, then, I mean, let's look just a little bit broader,
18:39right?
18:39Like, and I'll give you the example, I mentioned the startup before, like, that uses the small
18:43machine for the farm residue, tucker char, right?
18:47In most countries, it's illegal to burn the fields, you know, the crop residue.
18:52Farmers still do it.
18:53Why?
18:53Because it's too much work.
18:56There is no benefit.
18:57And, like, you know, and they don't care then or they don't have time.
19:00And so, like, that's what the startup, in this case, actually tackles.
19:03So, they tackle, there's a regulation that's in place, but it's not being followed, right?
19:07And so, how do you actually tackle it?
19:08In that case, it's the machine that, you know, the farmers can take the crop residue and get
19:12organic fertilizer or burning material out of the machine, which is, like, you know, to
19:16your point, like, I think there's opportunities for not only having regulation, but also startups
19:22and, you know, business models that tackle and solve the problems that are coming from
19:25that.
19:27I want to chat a little bit as well about, you know, the investor appetite for agrotech,
19:33which, you know, seems to have dropped a little bit.
19:35It was, you know, it had, well, every tech sector had a very good 2020, 2021.
19:43But, yeah, funding for agrotech seems to have fallen quite a bit.
19:48You know, what are investors telling you?
19:50Do you think investors are going to stay interested in this sector?
19:55Now, yes, but it's basically because climate is a hot topic right now, not just for trend,
20:01but we, for instance, in Africa, we have a lot of worst-case scenarios of fraud and drugs,
20:08so I think it's a global conversation, because everywhere, we see the impact of climate in
20:13our communities.
20:14So, I think for now, the link is, like, when you speak about climate change, it's also
20:19affect agriculture, so it's kind of linking to that space as well.
20:24Investor, when they speak to you, they want to see how you have, you're using technology,
20:30AI, to solve or to mitigate that climate change, but at the same time, what is your impact on
20:35the communities?
20:36So, now, I think that for her so far, it has been great in terms of how we're able to
20:40work
20:42and, you know, even link our impact as well, because we're able to raise in two runs, two
20:48millions at the beginning of the company, and last, in December, I think we raised four
20:53millions again, because we noticed that people were looking at this kind of solution.
20:58We don't have a lot of solution built from the African market, and I think that, also,
21:03why we stand, because the main gap of the African market is, like, accessibility of data,
21:08right, because as we don't just focus on building some mail models, no, that's not our key of
21:15storage, we have a data platform, a data company, and a custom company, so we ensure that environmental
21:22data is accessible from the African market, from different parties, it means that tomorrow,
21:26if we have an agritic company here, we want to target farmers in Africa, or maybe in Ghana,
21:31or in Africa in general, they can come to us, we are looking for data, we want to build product,
21:36we can supply them with data, so we are, what we do, basically, is to make that data available
21:41for different parties, to make sure that we have more solution for climate, as well for
21:46farmers, so now people are coming to us, and they want to collaborate, and that's the collaboration
21:51as well, I think, investor, they see as a value, because you're not just between one company,
21:55you're building an ecosystem that supports different companies, yeah.
21:59Thank you. Simon, you raised a lot of money, but what's your sense of, you know, where VCs are at,
22:05where it's agritech right now?
22:07Yeah, look, I'm an old banker, I, again, I'll stick to my unpopular opinion, I think,
22:16I think it's very good that we're returning to a new normal, where money is not free, I think
22:22a lot of bad things have been built with free money, so I think it's actually super helpful
22:28for ecosystem to have a hurdle to hit, in order to get money, I think that's the right thing
22:33for all the parties involved, and I think this is a new normal we're looking at, there's plenty
22:39of money out there, there's plenty of activity, I think one thing to consider is that agtech
22:45is most often also climate tech, and climate tech is the category that's been raised, that's by far
22:51the most dry powder out there, so I think it's actually one of the most promising categories.
22:57I do think there are, and it comes back to the critical point of adoption is, the problem is
23:05that the primary use of the pharma has a very low willingness and ability to pay, and typically
23:11very long sales cycle, so it's kind of contrary to two most important KPIs in scaling models
23:17within venture capital, and therefore I think in order to be investable within the agtech space,
23:23I think people need to overcome those two main barriers, but if you overcome those two things,
23:29then you're looking at gigantic markets, resonates with climate financing, and there's plenty
23:38of dry powder.
23:39Grace, Bernards, what about the projects coming out of the accelerator, are they finding funding
23:45investors?
23:45So, I think the same what you're saying is true for agtech in particular, but also in
23:51developing countries where agtech generally is under-invested compared to other sectors,
23:55and in developing countries it's even more challenging.
23:59Now, I have to say, in our case also, thank you France, thank you Germany, the US, Luxembourg,
24:05Austria, different governments.
24:06We also get support from corporates, you know, it would be like Google, but also like essentially
24:12foundations like the Gates Foundation.
24:14One of the reasons, and like this is something that I think not to underestimate is like, what's
24:20the reason that we're running 20 social impact accelerator programs this year?
24:24It's because it's an untapped market, it's like there's so many opportunities, and like
24:28if you want to start a social impact startup accelerator, or you want to invest, I think there's plenty
24:34of opportunities that are currently untapped, like look at all the potential, and I think
24:38it's a great example of the two founders you have, like the startups that you have here
24:41on stage, right, where, you know, looking at them, it's like these opportunities are
24:47out there, and they don't get the support they need, and they could actually not only, you
24:51know, make you a lot of money, but they could also transform the planet and actually tackle
24:54climate change, and I think that's something, you know, that is still overlooked, and we should
24:58actually try to, you know, get more people into this, right, like you can join, maybe do
25:04something with your company, individually, like I think there's a lot of opportunity
25:08out there. Thank you Bernard, I'm looking at the clock, we're under 10 minutes to go, so
25:14I'm just going to look out in the audience to see if anyone has a burning question for
25:18anyone on the panel that they want to ask. We have mics going around, do you want to tell
25:23us who you are first? Hi, I'm Ankur, I am a product advisor and work with some
25:30migraine companies like Yara, and I would be very keen to understand what are the key
25:36use cases that you see most emerging in today's market, and specifically if there
25:42is any use cases in the domain of farm nutrition. Could you repeat the last bit
25:51there? I'm looking at the key use cases that are emerging most recently, and
25:56specifically if there is any use case in the domain of farm nutrition.
26:01Farm nutrition, I mean, maybe if I, you know, I think there's an interesting case where sometimes
26:07you need to have ingenious founders, and you need to understand really the problems, like
26:13this is what we actually foster people to do. Now, I'll give you one example that we built
26:17internally, we built an app that's kind of, it's called School Meal Planner Plus, it's a tool
26:21that the cooks in the school actually are using, and they optimize essentially nutritious value,
26:27the recipes, and also like where the food is coming from. And by doing that and giving
26:32that power to the person that prepares the meals, we were able to get a 15 percent cost reduction
26:38in meals, an increase of nutritious value, and also we're able to increase procurement from
26:43smaller farmers by 60 to 70 percent in some cases. Now, and I'll just give this example as an,
26:49it's an AI power tool that gives the power to the person that's actually deciding, and that hasn't,
26:54wouldn't have been possible years ago. And I, just as an inspiration for, it's maybe a non-linear
27:00thinking example of like these types of opportunities out there, I think we just need to find them.
27:06Great, thank you very much. Anyone else want to ask questions? We've got a hand here, and that gentleman there,
27:13let's see.
27:15Thank you. Abir speaking. My question is for you, Bernard. I'm glad that you brought up
27:21the topic of nutritious value. I've been learning that the micronutrients that we have today in our food
27:31are less than what they used to be. For example, in an orange, we have 10 times less vitamins than
27:3910 years ago. Are there any innovations in this field? Thank you.
27:46Very interesting. I'm, I'm, I'm, there definitely are. Now, the long answer would be too long, but like,
27:53the short version of it is like, there's plenty of opportunities how you can tackle it. The question is
27:57always a question of money and like return on investment if you want. Now, one of the actually
28:02smartest return on investment ways is food fortification, right? Where you actually take
28:06staple foods, you enrich it with vitamins and minerals. Now, this is cheap, cheap, cheap. It's,
28:12it's so cheap. And it actually solves one of the major issues in like for, I don't know, a billion
28:18people that suffer from malnutrition, right? Like they don't have enough vitamins and minerals. Now,
28:23there's, of course, farming practices, other things, new breeds, seeds that are also being worked on. But I
28:28think it is a very interesting, it's indeed a challenging question. Thank you for that.
28:34Uh, if I may build on that, just to give a very concrete example of, I think, uh, also bridging
28:40to
28:40the, the other question. A very concrete, I don't know anything about orange, but I know a lot about
28:44barley. And there you have the exact same problem. And actually, it's two, it's two, uh, root causes.
28:50One is actually the development of seeds and, uh, in itself. The other is actually the lack of, um,
28:57quality soil. So it's the soil health. So actually, what we're seeing now is all the way, a good example
29:02here is one of the dominating European breweries. They've not taken the decision from 27. We've only
29:09sourced regenerative, reproduced barley. The problem is that if you know anything about the supply chain
29:14for barley, there's a hundred of middlemen in between. So how do you actually take that all the
29:19way back to the farmer? And I think these are some of the interesting opportunities where large
29:24corporates actually are starting to take action, both climate action, but also actually trying to
29:29understand the commodity dimension of the farm inputs that they're using and pushing that backwards
29:36through the supply chain to do that. Also to bridge the question here, you need technology. And I think
29:41there are plenty of opportunities in that space. Thanks for the question. I, I'm going to stay on time
29:47here. We have just over three minutes to go. So time to go through the panel one last time. If
29:54you want
29:54to make your final best case for agritech, or if you want to mention something we haven't talked about
30:00already, or you want to highlight a challenge still, um, for the sector, please do so. We can start with,
30:08uh, Bernard.
30:11If, if I can just, if, if all of you here, if, if you leave this room, I think the
30:15one wish that I have
30:17is just that you, you leave this room with a message of hope and optimism that we can do something.
30:22Um, and I, I think whether it's, I don't know, maybe you're an investor, maybe you can invest, maybe in
30:28your
30:28company, you can source stuff more like sustainably or like with better quality standards. Uh, maybe you
30:35want to get engaged or, I don't know, donate to share the meal or whatever your best, uh, most favorite
30:39charities. But I think this is where if you can actually be a part of taking action right now, you
30:46know, maybe if all of you look at this room, if all of you take action, do one thing today,
30:50I think we can get
30:51closer to what we need to do. Well, I think, uh, for me, agriculture is the most interesting space
30:57to be in for, if nothing else, one simple reason net zero in every other sector is don't mess it
31:03up
31:04more than we've done already. Farming as the only sector actually has the opportunity to turn back
31:09the climate clock and it's actually possible. And it comes back to adaptation. I mean, over the last
31:14three years, we have actually helped. We've done nothing on our own, but we have enabled farmers
31:19transition and area the size of Slovenia. And I think we're just getting started. So if we roll
31:25that forward both, and I think I very much agree, it's all about partnerships and common collaboration.
31:32I think we sit with an immense opportunity to both build big businesses and build impact that we can
31:38literally see from the moon. So I do agree with both of you. I think what I can hear is
31:43more like a
31:44perspective on the African market. I think that, uh, we all know that farmer feeds the world. So I think
31:49agriculture play a key role in our economy. So I think what we should think about, like when we
31:55went to support farmers in Africa, is thinking about maybe, uh, precision agriculture, uh, a lot of
32:02policy model is something that we can build is simple. It required, it required like simple resources to
32:07build and to support our farmers to be more productive. And then I think later, we can figure out how
32:11to
32:12build a different type of solution or quite high volume. But for Africans, I think we are blessed.
32:17We are blessed to have like a rich line. It's just like our family needs more support. And we are
32:22doing
32:22this. We have people now, they're growing, they're working, they're working close to them, that speak
32:26to them. And we know what they feel, you know, the pain, and we are supporting them the way we
32:30can.
32:30So if you want to partner, be free to shout to us as well. Very nice. Thank you guys. Um,
32:37we can run the poll
32:38again, maybe if, um, I'm, I'm speaking to the VivaTech people here. If we want to vote again on the
32:47question
32:47we did at the start, just to, just to gauge how, you know, it's really a test of how charming
32:53and
32:54influential these guys were on stage, uh, if they, if they won you over. So I think, yeah, the majority
33:01are pretty confident. So I think you did your job well, I guess. Well done guys. Thanks everyone
33:08for joining us and, uh, join me in thanking the panel. Thanks guys.
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