In this issue:
- Number 8 wire thinking
- Growth potential for NZ nuts
- Fermentation capacity bubbling along
- We have been looking at...
Number 8 Wire Thinking
New Zealand’s agri-tech innovators continue to think outside the box to support our producers to work smarter. Whilst much local agri-tech is still in development we are starting to see the commercialisation and implementation of some great homegrown ideas.
The Food Fibre and Agritech Challenge, an 8-week pre-accelerator - or ideas stage development programme - has announced its top twenty ventures including:
- a business-to-business platform to decarbonise the agri-food industry;
- a cloud-based screening tool for the discovery of novel health functionality in food;
- a vibrating palletiser to support robotic stacking machines; and,
- a farm level solution to dairy cow nitrate leaching.
The New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards recently announced the five 2023 finalists in the Agritech Solution category:
- Fruitometry’s Digital Crop Estimation technology for counting kiwifruit in orchard canopies;
- Halter’s solar-powered smart cow collars and app;
- Hectre’s mobile fruit sizing app, Spectre;
- Levno’s monitoring systems for agriculture, horticulture, industrial and infrastructure uses; and,
- Smart Machine’s autonomous, multi-functional vineyard tractor, OXIN.
New Zealand agritech companies are capturing significant investment. Halter recently closed a NZ$85 million funding round led by US Venture Capital firm Bessemer Ventures. New Zealand’s first commercial farm, Greengrower, also secured funding recently, with an NZ$3.5 million government boost to expand its operations in Hamilton.
Agri-tech solutions can enable farmers to increase efficiency and sustainability as well as improve crop yields. How can on-farm uptake be enabled?
Growth potential for NZ nuts
Work is underway to understand growth opportunities for New Zealand’s edible nut industry. Varieties of chestnut, walnut, macadamia, hazelnut, pinenut, pecan, coconut, cashew, almond and pistachio have found a footing in our temperate climate. Macadamia have been grown commercially since 1970; with small volumes of coconut, pistachio and cashew exported. Recently raw groundnuts, or peanuts, have been added to our export list as a fledgling Northland industry establishes.
Experts believe climate change could bring tree nut farming expansion opportunities for NZ. Joint Plant&Food Research and AgFirst research has recently identified almonds as a potentially viable crop for the Hawke’s Bay region. The assessment included economic analysis, land use and climate suitability modelling, and consumer research. It found New Zealand-grown almonds could have a smaller carbon footprint of 0.59 (unirrigated) to 1.83 (irrigated) CO2 equivalent per kg compared to overseas production of 1.6-1.9 kg CO2 equivalent per kg.
Work to consider including nuts in the Billion Trees programme found the current industry to be very small - around 2.5% of the horticulture industry - but saw economic opportunities for small land owners alongside population health benefits from increased availability of these nutrient dense foods.
Increased export volume is on the cards for the southern hemisphere’s only pine nut producer, Marlborough’s Pinoli Premium Pine Nuts. Named supreme champion at the 2023 Outstanding New Zealand Food Producer Awards in April, Pinoli’s operation has grown from its first harvest in 2008 to a plantation of 550,000 Mediterranean stone pine trees over 540 hectares. Production is expected to double in 2025 and increase substantially as further trees mature by 2030.
Could increased domestic edible nut production drive a corresponding uplift in domestic consumption as well as a niche export market?
Fermentation capacity bubbling along
Globally, fermentation capacity is continuing to constrain the alternative food production industry. Demand for bio-based product, bioprocessing advances and the development of novel strains for the production of high value compounds are driving industry growth; however, development is tempered by limited access to raw materials regulatory barriers and production costs.
Earlier this year Synonym Bio identified that demand for fermentation facilities continues to outstrip capacity and is creating an innovation backlog. Their report The State of Global Fermentation Capacity audits global microbial fermentation capacity and found a dearth of bioreactors larger than 20,000 litres, considering these to be on the small side to achieve mass market food production. The report identified that with new-build commercial scale fermentation facilities costing hundreds of millions of dollars industry growth would remain inhibited.
According to a recent report by Future Market Insights the global microbial fermentation technology market, estimated at US$32m in 2023, is anticipated to surpass US$57m over the next decade. Large-scale investment is beginning, US-based Liberation Labs has secured US$30 million in equipment financing to build its first commercial biomanufacturing facility, with a fermentation capacity of 600,000L. The plant will be the first purpose-built commercial-scale precision fermentation plant in the US and anticipates production start-up by the end of next year.
In New Zealand Fermentation for Future Food Systems, a 2022 AgResearch White Paper, concluded that New Zealand should invest in future fermentation to “remain a competitive international food producing nation”. Opportunities included: adding new value to the circular bioeconomy, strain discovery and manufacturing high value ingredients. New Zealand researchers developing the national Food and Beverage Industry Transformation Plan identified fermentation as an opportunity for NZ and that technology was developing at pace.
Should New Zealand crunch the numbers on investment in large scale fermentation capacity – or is a niche ingredient strategy more viable?
We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you think, email us at: tepunawhakaaronui@mpi.govt.nz
We have been looking at...
- South Korea’s emerging health and wellness market offers a new opportunity for New Zealand deer velvet,
- Carbon capture is key to US President Biden’s new power-plant rule - is carbon capture and sequestration technology ready?
- Rapeseed oil byproduct can be a valuable protein source, work to remove unwanted glucosinolate compounds shows promise.
- Researchers at Tufts University have developed immortalised bovine muscle stem cells for cellular agriculture, potentially tackling scaling challenges for cellular meat production.
- A geothermal drilling rig concept developed at the University of Oklahoma could dramatically change how the world sources its energy.
- New Zealand’s NewFish partners with Socius Ingredients to develop algae proteins for USA sports and active nutrition market (valued at US$25bn in 2023).
- The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation is preparing anticipatory actions as the La Niña weather pattern, which has been suppressing global temperatures, comes to an end.
See more at www.tpw.org.nz.
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Published by Te Puna Whakaaronui. Not government policy.