Last week one of FT Alphaville's Further Reading posts linked to a comparison of UK vs US supermarkets and of the dozen or so links that day supermarkets had the most comments, hands down.
The link also reminded me of this article though not directly. It was through the miracle of asking around,
"Does anyone remember a story about food in 2169?"
"You mean Soylent Green?"
(no, and I'll be keeping an eye on you for being so quick with that answer)
Eventually it was tracked down, so without further ado, From AgFunderNews, June 7, 2019
As part of its 150th birthday celebrations this year, the British supermarket giant J Sainsbury has released its Future of Food Report, which chews over what our food systems will be like in 2025, then in 2050 — and finally, with an act of somewhat extraordinary ruminating — in 2169.
Some of it reads like a biblical prophecy by 2169, with visions of deserts both on earth and in outer space turning into rich farmland replete with biodiversity and zero food waste. Other glimpses of that distant epoch are a little more jarring, like the matter-of-fact mentions of microchips in the mind, and intravenous drips providing our essential sustenance.
Before exploring those scenarios further and marvelling at how wise those soothsayers at Sainsbury’s are, a brief caveat is needed: the report was predominantly authored externally, leaving the impression that Sainsbury’s cannot quite read its own tea leaves. Four of its co-authors are directors and consultants from a futurology firm called Department 22 — Clare Brass, Dejan Mitrovic, Thomas Leech and Gina Lovett. Another two external contributors are Dr Penny Russell, who dwells mostly on the history rather than the future of food, and James Wong, a TV presenter. The only two Sainsbury’s in-house staffers listed as co-authors are Claire Hughes, Head of Quality and Innovation, who was tapped for that role just last year, and Alexa Masterton-Jones, the Trends and Innovation manager for Sainsbury’s Brand.
Why did Sainsbury’s opt for mostly external crystal ball gazers? Perhaps because near-term headaches are keeping Sainsbury’s very much rooted in the present.
The UK’s third largest supermarket chain is suffering from an anaemic share price and a sense of impasse after its botched merger with ASDA, a rival supermarket chain. To its discredit, Sainsbury’s has also been a relative latecomer to supporting startup innovation, only positioning itself as an incubator of note this time last year. Its Future Brands Initiative is now playing catchup; Milena Lazarevska, who serves as the firm’s relatively new Head of Future Brands Origination and Investing, certainly has her work cut out.
That said, back to the future.
A Foretaste of Food in 2025
A skim through the 2025 section offers no alarms and no surprises to any intermittent peruser of AFN’s newsletter (subscribe to that right here, right now.) Expect hydroponically-grown plants growing in front of you on supermarket shelves. Expect more apps for ordering and delivering food. Expect more ways to access not only its nutritional breakdown, but also its environmental footprint. Expect insects. Expect mushroom-based products. Expect “algae milk.” Expect “seaweed caviar.”
Startups providing good clues to food and farm tech norms in half a decade’s time? The report’s list is limited and shows slapdash homework of global best practices. There’s InFarm, the German hydroponics company; there’s Seed Pantry, which encourages living room-grown vegetables; there’s Algae Food and Fuel, which produces seaweed; there’s the Swiss environmental footprinting calculator app Eaternity; there’s Crops for the Future, the world’s first research centre dedicated to underutilised crops; and the Dutch startup De Krekerij, which makes a signature cricket burger (the bug, not the sport.)
Printing Protein in 2050
It is now 2050 in Cornwall, still presumably part of the UK, but that is not specified. The opening snapshot scenario here is intriguing. For better or worse, here is a vision of a world within 30 years where protein can be printed locally and food production can be tracked in real time globally. All manner of food can be harvested to specific ripeness requirements. A local Cornish printed protein business is described in the scenario as having really taken off “after the decline of abattoirs in the UK in the 2040s. Alongside cultured meat, she offers jellyfish, seaweed and algae, sometimes fresh, but mostly dried and prepared on site and sold as pastas, flakes and powders.”
“At one end of the property is a farm, cultivating plants that will provide the growth serum in which cells are developed. At the other, giant meat-growing vats lead to a small conveyor belt where the meat is “assembled” with 3D printing technology. The artisan factory has a number of its own robots and the only humans involved in the process walk between the belts performing quality control.”
How did that feel to read? Technophobes could be bristling with skepticism. Die hard tech zealots may object that surely this could just as easily be referring to 2040 or even 2030.
Jellyfish InvasionsThere’ll also be invasions of jellyfish. Something to fear? Not at all. Jellyfish can be low on calories; high in vitamin B12, magnesium and iron. Already in the 2010s, a group of Danish researchers under Mathias P. Clausen had managed to turn these jellyfish into french fries....
....MUCH MORE
