2 min
“I think that governments, consumers and also suppliers have become increasingly much more aware of safe food and security. And so for highly perishable products. There is an accelerated interest in the immediate attraction of very very fresh locally produced foods, particularly salad products,” says Dr. David Hughes.
David Hughes is Emeritus Professor of Food Marketing at Imperial College London, and Visiting Professor at the Royal Agricultural University, U.K. He has lived and worked in Europe, North America, the Caribbean, Africa and South East Asia and has extensive experience as an international advisory board member with food companies and financial service organizations on three continents. He does not only talk, but walks his talks doing real business. For 20 years, he was a Non-Executive Director of Berry Gardens Ltd – a U.K. farmer-owned berry fruit business. With an American business partner, Hughes established, grew and sold a branded fresh produce business which served supermarkets in the USA. Around the globe, he works with supply chain companies in food and beverage – including farm input, growers, manufacturers and ingredient companies, retailers and food service firms – to assist them in management training, strategy and decision-making.
Asked how he thinks the Covid-19-crisis will impact demand for fresh foods, he says we now understand we ought to eat more healthily, even if we didn’t do so during lockdown - many of us ate more salty and sugary snacks and confectionery.
However, coming out of lockdown, people clearly pay more attention to healthy food, as we realize bad eating habits impact our health and make us more vulnerable to the new corona virus.
So do governments.
Pre-covid, governments were already taking steps in applying taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages. Post-lockdown, even governments in liberal societies will step in. They now fully realise the cost burden of citizens being unhealthy. Their newly acquired attitude accelerates what was already going on. But now they will even more surely go for salt and sugar taxes, “apply heavy duty regulation” and, as Hughes says, “skull and bones Front of Pack labelling”.
Urban horticulture
Fresh foods will become ever more popular as they are considered healthy foods. Sales and consumption of highly perishable fresh foods such as salads depend on an peri-urban area. Hughes brings back to mind Johann Heinrich von Thünen's model of the ideal agriculture. Von Thünen was a nineteenth century economist on agricultural land use, who demonstrated that horticulture has its logical and efficient place just around cities and not far away from its consumers.
Especially in countries like the US and city states like Singapore, where agriculture is located in a radius of 1.000 kilometers from where urbanites live, Von Thünen is back in a 21rst century edition: hydroponics and vertical farming. And, says Hughes, there’s big Californian money developing and promoting it. Is vertical farming going to feed the world? Nope. It’ll nourish high end consumers.
Further on in the conversation, Hughes comments on how Ocado - the British online-only grocer - is using hydroponics next to its regional distribution centers, to enhance its image competing with brick and mortar grocers who use it to add theater to their shops.
Do you think urban vertical farming is going to feed cities? Watch the video and let us know in the comments.
Asked how he thinks the Covid-19-crisis will impact demand for fresh foods, he says we now understand we ought to eat more healthily, even if we didn’t do so during lockdown - many of us ate more salty and sugary snacks and confectionery.
However, coming out of lockdown, people clearly pay more attention to healthy food, as we realize bad eating habits impact our health and make us more vulnerable to the new corona virus.
So do governments.
Pre-covid, governments were already taking steps in applying taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages. Post-lockdown, even governments in liberal societies will step in. They now fully realise the cost burden of citizens being unhealthy. Their newly acquired attitude accelerates what was already going on. But now they will even more surely go for salt and sugar taxes, “apply heavy duty regulation” and, as Hughes says, “skull and bones Front of Pack labelling”.
Urban horticulture
Fresh foods will become ever more popular as they are considered healthy foods. Sales and consumption of highly perishable fresh foods such as salads depend on an peri-urban area. Hughes brings back to mind Johann Heinrich von Thünen's model of the ideal agriculture. Von Thünen was a nineteenth century economist on agricultural land use, who demonstrated that horticulture has its logical and efficient place just around cities and not far away from its consumers.
Especially in countries like the US and city states like Singapore, where agriculture is located in a radius of 1.000 kilometers from where urbanites live, Von Thünen is back in a 21rst century edition: hydroponics and vertical farming. And, says Hughes, there’s big Californian money developing and promoting it. Is vertical farming going to feed the world? Nope. It’ll nourish high end consumers.
Further on in the conversation, Hughes comments on how Ocado - the British online-only grocer - is using hydroponics next to its regional distribution centers, to enhance its image competing with brick and mortar grocers who use it to add theater to their shops.
Do you think urban vertical farming is going to feed cities? Watch the video and let us know in the comments.
What is vertical farming?
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As always very insightful Dr. David Hughes. Provides such a nice context to the mega trends in "Healthy/better Food" and "High-tech(protected) Farming."
I had two points/questions related to the above themes you have explained so clearly:
1) Working with a couple of interesting nutrition focused entrepreneur i have realised that the agriculture inputs sector (seeds specifically) could make significant contribution to "Healthy Food Mandate" from the chain actors perspective (especially for fresh and cereal foods). What would you say?
2) Climate Change seem to become an interesting business case for "High-tech(protected) Farming." Both the pioneering countries in this space (Dutch and Israel) referred by you have mainstreamed this sort of agriculture for climate reasons. Looking at the climate events and impending threats combined with growing entrepreneurial & investor interest around the world possibly this form of agriculture would contribute significantly to future food. What would you say?
David thank you for you clear vision. As you mentioned on one hand we see more regulation to reduce the negative impact on health and on the other hand more entrepreneurial solutions. Also what you mentioned is the interest of investors with very deep pockets from outside the agri business. My experience in international horticulture projects with this type of investors is, they lack experience and knowledge how to run our agribusiness. Its important to train the management how to operate a horti facility but also the marketing part. We see a lot of investments fail. Investments should be linked to hardware, software and humanware. It makes also clear we have a unique type and rather complex of business.