S2G Ventures Research Reveals Structural Changes Shaping Today's Food System Revolution

CHICAGO, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report launched by S2G Ventures delves into pandemic economic history to learn and identify how these events have influenced financial markets, the economy, and innovation cycles and how it applies to the future of food and agriculture.

The Ingredients for a Food System Revolution Report is based on qualitative and quantitative analyses of eight pandemics from the Black Plague to Covid-19. It outlines consistent patterns across financial and economic recovery, innovation, and lasting changes to societal habits and norms.

The report identifies structural and cyclical changes across five key food and agriculture themes: the Decommodification of Protein, Channel Digitization, Food and Agriculture Digitization, Controlled Environment Agriculture, and the Convergence of Food and Health. S2G Ventures predicts these areas will be impacted through factors including policy changes, economics, consumer sentiment, investment, and scientific and technological advancement. Collectively, these themes and factors represent the ingredients for the future of the food system.

"Diving into pandemic economic history shows a pattern of innovation. In the older pandemics, we can point to societal and cultural shifts. Whereas in recent pandemics, we see financial and  V-shaped market recovery," said Dan Ripma, Senior Associate at S2G Ventures, "What we see today is that improvements in nutrients, taste, functionality and sustainability will lead to long-term structural changes in our food systems."

S2G Ventures expects the pandemic to accelerate trends that were already in motion and create lasting change in the following five areas as the world looks ahead to emerge from Covid-19.

Decommodification of Protein

Cost inflation and complex, global supply chains paired with labor intensive processing facilities have challenged animal-based producers. Innovation and consumer preference make the alternative protein industry more attractive by lowering product costs and improving taste, nutrition, and functionality. Investment in the sector is expanding to include traditional meat industry participants – with many corporates putting together a game plan to compete. Investment risk is also shifting from high-risk, single product opportunities to include lower-risk ingredient systems and production facilities. Further changes in consumer behavior will become more established and widespread by developing superior tastes, fats, proteins, and nutrition.

Channel Digitization

A forced transition to fewer in-person purchasing decisions amid the pandemic drove consumers to engage with companies through digital access points. Consumers responded by educating themselves on nutrition and food selection through available online resources. Authentic relationships between consumers and businesses developed and opened an opportunity to build these relationships at scale. Grocery retailers have also identified the importance of building digital relationships with consumers and look to vertically integrate and "own" more components of their product offerings from germplasm to supply chains. Grocers will also be looking to incentivize specific product-type purchases through differentiated inventory between their physical and digital presence.

Food & Agriculture Digitization

The pandemic exposed a fragile supply chain as complications rippled through the industry from farm to fork. With the lack of digital infrastructure illuminated, an opportunity emerged for public and private sector investments to build a more resilient food system. An influx of data supported by investment and entrepreneurship now unlocks an opportunity for connected data systems that are incentivized by policy and supported through rural broadband initiatives.

Connectivity in rural areas has the potential to drive economic development; digitally connected businesses earn 2x revenue per employee and are 3x more likely to create jobs. This will improve production, logistics, transparency, and consumer experiences, while also connecting farmers and underpinning the digital infrastructure for rural America.

Controlled Environment Agriculture ("CEA")

CEA is experiencing a period of rapid growth propelled by infrastructure development, biological advancements, decreasing unit economics and growing food nationalism. As the development of CEA infrastructure expands, the shortened proximity of grow facilities to large percentages of the population will enable compressed supply chains, reducing logistics costs, resource intensity, and food waste. Continued R&D around flavor and yield optimization will allow CEA companies to grow a broader selection of crop varieties while maintaining a profitable business and providing customers with high-quality, differentiated, and affordable products regardless of geography.

The Convergence of Food and Health

Covid-19 exacerbated the disconnect between food and health. Looking forward, it is predicted that food will play an increasingly important role in healthcare as advancement in science and technology opened channel access previously uninhabitable by food for several reasons. One key reason is that food's impact on specific human health conditions remains difficult to measure in terms of direct impact and cost savings. Many organizations, both private and public, are working to improve and solve this difficult barrier. An accelerated transition to telehealth is helping remedy this problem and unlocks opportunities for food to be treated as a healthcare tool.

"This crisis has created immense human and economic loss. But this research gives us renewed hope that we can build better systems for humans and the planet," said Sanjeev Krishnan, S2G Ventures Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer. "It's not going to be easy, but there's a huge opportunity and recognition among corporates, policy-makers, capital market actors, and most importantly, consumers that we need this food transition."

To read the full report, download at https://www.s2gventures.com/reports.

About S2G Ventures

S2G Ventures is a multi-stage venture fund investing across the food, agriculture, oceans and seafood markets. The fund's mission is to catalyze innovation to meet consumer demands for healthy and sustainable food systems. S2G has identified sectors across the food system that are ripe for change, and is building a multi-stage portfolio including seed, venture and growth stage investments. Core areas of interest for S2G are agriculture, oceans, ingredients, infrastructure and logistics, IT and hardware, food safety and technology, retail and restaurants, and consumer brands. For more information about S2G, visit s2gventures.com, tune-in to our podcast or connect with us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE S2G Ventures

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