In this issue:
- On trend with AI
- Brewing up a novel cash crop
- Great promise from small beginnings
- We have been looking at...
On trend with AI
Racing to be first to market with new products has led to some epic food fails - cinnamon flavoured fries and bacon flavoured soda are experiences best left to the imagination! With an estimated 95% of new product ideas failing at the development stage there are efficiency gains to be made for the new product development sector (NPD), Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already crunching the data and producing results.
Last month UK supermarket, Waitrose, launched a new Japanese meal range informed by algorithms able to pick out and build on the trending yuzu and ponzu flavours. Nestlé has used AI tools to rapidly analyse online publications and social media, launching Nescafé Dalgona coffee mixes and Nesvita plant probiotic supplements for a Chinese adult market.
The speed at which companies can now identify taste trends and bring a new product to market was highlighted by Kraft Heinz at the Generative AI Food Pioneers Summit in London last month. Previously relying on Nielsen research for insights, they have partnered with insight company Tastewise which feeds online content from the web and social media into a model that predicts trends and cuts down NPD failure rate. Globally, brands, including Calsberg, Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Danone are seeing a reported 73% increase in new product success rate in market.
In addition AI is being used across the supply chain and in-market to finesse campaigns. Heinz has self-reported an additional $30 million of sales from the application of artificial intelligence to its supply chain visibility functions. Tastewise’s chatbot, TasteGPT, launched earlier this year, answers questions such as: “what product ideas are the best fit for my Gen Z consumers?”, enabling nuanced in-country marketing of Kraft Heinz’ global brand.
Algorithms able to analyse huge amounts of consumer preference, market trend and nutritional information data can now support better flavour, ingredient and texture preference predictions. AI can optimise food product formulas allowing companies to create healthier options without compromising on taste. In addition individual preferences, dietary restrictions, and health conditions can be accommodated – a win for the consumer and company.
How can New Zealand’s food producers to take advantage of the power of AI to predict market demand, future food forms and flavours, and the creation of new products?
Brewing up a novel cash crop
A detailed study is underway to assess the suitability of Welsh hill farms for growing productive crops of tea, a response to Covid-19 supply chain disruption. Traditional growing sites are set to be heavily impacted by global warming.
While tea has been grown commercially in Wales since 2021 it is generally perceived to be a novel crop - and these trial plantings are definitely a hill country farming ‘first’.
A diversity of land types on the Powys sheep and beef farm are being assessed in the trial. Camellia sinensis tea bushes are being grown on different plots on sites selected through geospatial analysis, factors including climate, light intensity and soil characteristics were considered. Plant growth will be assessed and phenotypic traits such as height, width, stem diameter and leaf area recorded.
The farm owner is eyeing the opportunity to produce a high value product with a lower environmental footprint and to create local jobs. Niche, speciality teas are commanding high prices in a global tea market valued at around US$122.2 bn in 2022. The results of the trial will offer some base knowledge to hill country farmers looking for innovative, high value diversification options in the face of climate change.
With climate change now impacting regional growing environments and creating new microclimates, what new crops could become opportunities for New Zealand’s hill country farmers?
Great promise from small beginnings
Scientists have found a ‘climate change coping mechanism’ has evolved in tiny marine organisms that may be able to counter reduction in the productivity of land-based crops due to drought.
At the bottom of the food chain, algae are a critical foundational layer of the marine ecosystem, relied on by fish, penguins, whales and more. However insufficient iron up-welling from deep waters is believed to limit phytoplankton productivity in the Southern Ocean, the deficit is potentially compounded due to warming waters. Research published last week from an international research team led by Professor Thomas Mock of the UK’s University of East Anglia, discovered that ocean microalgae can, in fact, cope with nutrient starvation from lack of iron.
Algae produce food and remove CO2, relying on sunlight for photosynthesis. But some groups of microalgae have circumvented photosynthesis by using a light-driven proton pump to fuel growth. Their simple cellular machinery is the reason they can thrive in poor Southern Ocean conditions and it is therefore also likely they will be able to cope with global warming.
The researchers believe there is potential for the microbiological discovery to be applied to land-based crops which also require iron for growth – allowing crops to thrive in sub-optimal conditions created by climate change. In addition, they can be used in the synthesis of high value products, antibiotics, enzymes, antivirals and even biofuel, biomass production and carbon sequestration applications.
We have been looking at...
- Can we provide plants with advance warning of impending dangers?
- Eight staple crops endangered by climate change.
- How governments are using data innovation to fertilise the agriculture sector.
- Olive oil crisis: could GM crops pose a solution?
- Bamboo: the sustainable alternative to toilet paper production?
- One Good Thing launches ‘world’s first’ wrapper-free snack bars.
- Refillable plastic milk bottle launched..
- UK fast track legalisation of cultivated meat to aid food security progress
Published by Te Puna Whakaaronui. Not government policy.