Agriculture 2.0 – The First Sustainable Agriculture Conference

On September 17, 2009 at the New York Marriott Downtown in New York City, eight sustainable food growth companies will be pitching their businesses to investors attending NewSeed Advisor’s Agriculture 2.0 conference – reportedly the first sustainable agriculture investment conference.

The brainchild behind this inaugural event is Janine Yorio, who after 12 years working in finance has “committed to applying her insider knowledge to an industry with integrity, one that revolves around people and which contributes to the greater good of mankind and mother earth.”

For sustainable food entrepreneurs, while the opportunity for you to formally present at Agriculture 2.0 has passed, there are still plenty of reasons to attend if you can. For example, there will be much to learn from your peers at the eight companies highlighted below. You will also have the opportunity to meet with venture capitalists, private equity investors, high net worth individuals, government officials, entrepreneurs, academics and farmers – all focused on alternative agriculture.

Not a bad way to spend a day.

Visit www.newseedadvisors.com for more information and to register. You can also reach Janine on Twitter (@newseedadvisors).

Brief Profiles of Presenting Companies:

• Good Natured Family Farms (Kansas City, KS) – Good Natured Family Farms was started to give small family farms a market for their products by banding together to product quantities required to sell to local food retailers, without going through middlemen. The alliance now has more than 100 sustainable family farms distributing dairy, meat and fresh produce to Hen House Markets and Balls’ Price Choppers in Kansas City and the Mercantile in Lawrence, Kansas.
• Bio Soil (Hattiesburg, MS) – Bio Soil Enhancers has been working with bioremediation (using microorganisms to return the natural environment to its unaltered state) for more than 20 years. The company is leveraging its experience to increase crop and garden output and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides through organic means.
• HQ Sustainable Seafood (Hainan, China) – HQ is an integrated aquaculture and aquatic product processing company, with operations based in the environmentally pristine island province of Hainan, in China’s South Sea. Its mission is to increase profitability through the introduction of zero-toxin products while respecting the environment and communities in which it works.
• Sky Vegetables (Needham, MA) – Sky Vegetables is in the rooftop farming development business. Never heard of that? Imagine the rooftop of your favorite grocery store being home to a hydroponics greenhouse, wind turbine and/or solar panels, composting systems and rainwater harvesting. Next, imagine the food grown in the greenhouse traveling “downstairs” to be sold to consumers.
• Marrone Bio Innovations (Davis, CA) – Organic pesticide manufacturer that screens naturally occurring microorganisms to identify those with novel and effective pest management characteristics. They then use their “efficient process” (lab and field testing, fermentation process development, scale-up and formulation), to develop them into products in approximately three years and for approximately $3 million, compared to new chemical pesticides, which take at least $180 million and up to 10 years to discover and develop.
• Farm Power (Mount Vernon, WA) – Farm Power facilities utilize anaerobic manure digesters to harvest methane gas from manure, which is burned to create electricity for sale, while sending the processed manure back to farm partners as an organic fertilizer free of pathogens and odor. Capturing methane has the added benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by thousands of tons per year.
• Dakota Organic Prairie (Harvey, ND) – Dakota Prairie offers organic flours specifically developed to meet the needs of food manufacturers. Its product line includes white, whole wheat, rye, soft, gluten-free and spelt flours, along with cracked grains, whole grains and bran flakes, which provide “a home-baked taste and texture that is full-flavor, hearty and wholesome.” The company is passionate about quality and organics, and utilizes a state-of-the-art computerized European mill to ensure consistency.
• Vital Farmland (San Francisco, CA) – Farmland LP, a U.S. private equity fund, acquires conventional farmland and converts it into certified organic, sustainable farmland. Its investors benefit from the security of owning farmland while participating in the growth and profitability of the organic market.

Related Links:

• Follow me on Twitter: Jambutter
• Pro Food Core Principles and Competitive Advantages
• Every Kitchen Table is a proud supporter of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday

Pro Food Is…

What if I told you that America’s food system is broken? What would you say?

Would you defend it by pointing out the abundance of choices offered in today’s average supermarket, estimated to be over 45,000 items? Would you cite that per capita spending on food has dropped significantly over the last 50 years, freeing up incomes to improve quality of life? Would you talk about how American innovation is not only feeding our citizens, but is also feeding the world? Or would you quietly ask what a food system is?

While perhaps it’s not “broken,” America’s industrial food system, which dominates food sales, has developed side effects that are accelerating in severity, especially diet-related health (e.g., obesity, diabetes, asthma, allergies) and environmental (e.g., chemical toxins, soil degradation, carbon emissions) issues that can no longer be ignored.

The food industry’s insatiable drive toward cheaper, more convenient products has also disrupted the simple pleasures of cooking, eating and/or sharing meals with family and friends, turning food into an accessory, a lofty drop from once being an intimate part of our daily lives.

The good news is there is an increasingly vocal ground swell of advocates and experts working to reverse the downsides of industrial food, with the high-profile personalities becoming lightning rods for the powerful, entrenched corporate interests being challenged, which commonly label them as “elitist” or “anti-ag.” Such claims, both untrue and unfair, are designed to minimize any impact these knowledgeable voices have on public opinion and consumer spending. Look no further than industrial food’s aggressive reactions to the Food, Inc. documentary to see it in action.

One thing is clear, we can no longer allow industry to control the dialog, but fighting fire with fire, especially the use of fear to influence consumer behavior, doesn’t sit well, and would probably be less effective than other approaches. To that end I’ve attempted to define the concept of “Pro Food” based on a set of core principles that get at the heart of why I and others are dedicated to driving these principles into mainstream culture through communications and alternative food systems.

PRO FOOD IS…

• Inclusive – Everybody is part of Pro Food, since everyone can gain from its success.
• Pro Farm – Fresh, healthy, and sustainable food starts with the farmers who grow it. Without their dedication, stewardship of the land and tireless labor it is difficult to envision Pro Food getting out of the gate.
• Pro Consumer – Today’s conventional food system has invested billions of dollars in constructing a food infrastructure designed to do one thing: sell as much food as possible, as quickly and cheaply as possible. This strategy has been good for bottom lines, bad for waistlines and even worse for personal healthcare costs. Pro Food envisions bringing farm and plate together in innovative retail experiences that go beyond convenience to embrace flavor, taste, seasonal rhythms, community and health.
• Pro Cooking – Where would we be without cooking? Unfortunately for the last few generations, cooking has been left by the wayside in exchange for cheap, convenient substitutes as people became increasingly squeezed for time and energy. In many ways, Pro Food is based in the home kitchen, the best place to ensure we eat sustainably every day.
• Pro Eating – The only thing possibly more important than cooking is eating. And while Pro Food places an emphasis on awakening America’s home kitchens, it also recognizes that many institutions (schools, hospitals, corporate cafeterias) and restaurants are doing their part in bringing the same healthy, flavorful and sustainable food on to every plate they serve.
• Community-Oriented – Pro Food recognizes the simple pleasure of bringing people together around food. Information is shared, bonds are strengthened and friendships are made. It also appreciates the economic benefits it can bring to regional food economies. Sustainable food can be imported (in the absence of local options), but increasing demand being met through local channels, there will be incentive for farms and processors to participate, as well as for existing providers to transition to sustainable production. Keeping money circulating longer within regional economies is key to Pro Food efforts.
• Entrepreneurial – Building a meaningful Pro Food presence in a food system dominated by massive conventional players with deeply entrenched interests (and reach) will take a lot of hard work, innovation and old fashioned luck. Fortunately we can leverage America’s entrepreneurial spirit in systematically building the ever-broader foundation needed to move Pro Food forward.

What Pro Food ultimately becomes is up to those who recognize and embrace its ideal of healthy, sustainable food systems and make it their own. For it is up to all of us, from farmers to eaters, and everyone else who cares about the food they eat, to carry Pro Food forward and make its vision, its values a reality.

In some very interesting ways, Pro Food draws parallels with the early years of the Internet, when it was still isolated from the mainstream in government and university labs. People, especially entrepreneurs, were starting to eye the Internet as something that could revolutionize communications and collaboration, that could democratize things long centralized. At first, they had no idea what was going to stick, but began applying time, energy and money in search of winning formulas.

This is where I see Pro Food today, which makes it financially exciting for those with solutions to the problems we face. I look forward to joining them and others on this exciting journey.

Every Kitchen Table is a proud supporter of Fight Back Fridays.

Rob Smart is a food entrepreneur focusing on sustainable food, regional food systems and consumer retail experiences. He blogs on alternative food systems on Huffington Post, Civil Eats and Every Kitchen Table blogs, and micro-blogs on Twitter as Jambutter.