Waikato Business News November/December 2016

WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS November/December 2016 33
Food megatrends to
tip farming on its head
As whole milk powder prices start to
surge again, farmers are being cautioned
not to let that distract them from some of
the biggest disruptions coming to farm
systems the world as ever seen.
By RICHARD RENNIE
KPMG’s head of agribusiness,
Ian Proudfoot told
delegates at this year’s
rural update agribusiness seminar
at Karapiro the world was
on the verge of a new “agrarian
revolution”.
It would result in some of
the practises undertaken for
generations being tipped on
their head within a few short
years.
“Don’t let the recent rise
cloud your judgement, we are
at the point where there is a
lot of hard work to be done to
deliver a country that remains
productive and valued into the
future.”
He broadly identified some
of the megatrends unseating
conventional commodity driven
production from agricultural
countries. They will demand a
new mindset not only in how
food is produced, but how it is
delivered.
Millennials, those born
between about 1982 and 2004,
are starting to have children
and are bringing a different
mindset on how food is delivered
and consumed.
“They want instant access
to everything. They are
hyper-connected and this
access applies to food also.
Even new start-ups like My
Food Bag may have increased
door-to-door access, but still
remain relatively inflexible.
This generation is seeking
instantaneous and flexible food
choices.”
He pointed to McDonalds’
“Create your taste” tailored
meal options which also have
the effect of up-pricing a standard
takeaway meal spend by
tens of dollars. He expected
supermarkets would be endangered
within 25 years, with
models like Amazon Fresh
meeting that millennial need
for instantaneous delivery.
“They can deliver what you
want to your front door in less
than an hour, quicker than you
could go and buy the things
yourself.”
“Crowdsourced” food
was becoming more common,
and at a premium. He
cited a Californian company
that would process lamb on
demand, at a value of about
$500 a lamb.
Door-to- door deliveries have grown to satisfy the demand for instant access to food.
Future tech envisaged by Trek
The future of “The
Internet of Things” looks
like Gene Roddenberry’s
Star Trek.
Roddenberry’s vision
of humankind served by
“Unchained Technology”
seemed a far-fetched idea only
possible in the far future when
he put it on screen in 1966.
But thanks to “The Internet of
Things”, a concept that by 2016
has been around for 34 years,
Roddenberry’s better technology-enabled
future is almost
here.
“The Internet of Things” is a
phrase defined by internet connectivity
of every day devices,
giving that hardware extra
functionality thanks to their
connection to the internet via
cable, wi-fi or a mobile phone
network.
In today’s world that means
more than the obvious personal
computers, tablet computers
and smartphones, although they
were the start.
The trusty old doorbell is a
good example of how internet
connectivity can help transform
a simple device. It becomes
much more usable than the simple
function it was originally
designed for in the days before
the internet changed all of our
lives.
In the old days, the doorbell
simply rang a chime when the
button was pressed to alert you
to the fact that someone was at
your door. If you were out there
was no way to know whether
someone had called at your
front door unless they left you
a message or rang you later.
But thanks to Australasian and
American firm Ring’s embracing
of “The Internet of Things”
enabled technology it’s now
possible to not miss a single
caller from anywhere in the
world.
By adding a webcam to the
doorbell and connecting it to
the internet it’s possible to see
who is at your door, and even
speak to them, when you are
away from home. Since most
burglars ring the bell, posing
as a door to door odd jobber if
you happened to answer, this
is a good way of identifying
a would-be burglar. You can
tell him or her you are in the
shower, or some such excuse,
but if they don’t fall for your
ruse you can send the police a
photograph of the person who
called at your home the day
it was ransacked and precious
items stolen. This would go a
long way towards apprehending
the culprit and recovering your
stolen stuff.
You can even extend the
range of the camera to cover
KPMG head of agribusiness
Ian Proudfoot.
Creating “fashionable”
foods opened up opportunities
as much as it created risk.
He pointed to Marlborough’s
Sauvignon Blanc industry, with
its tens of thousands of hectares
devoted to a single grape
type.
“While it is going very
well now internationally, just
imagine what happens should it
become the next Chardonnay?”
The statistics on the ageing
global population are well
understood in terms of impact
upon labour forces.
But the linkage between
longevity and good health is
starting to fray as more people
carry significant illnesses
with them through longer lives,
thanks to advances in medicine.
Mr Proudfoot said 85 percent
of people over 60 manage
at least one chronic health
condition, and that management
was increasingly being
achieved through food consumption.
But those conditions also
needed to be accounted for
in packaging technology, for
example avoiding difficult to
open lids and packets for a
market experiencing the limitations
of arthritis.
“We are getting to the point
of customised food, and Nestle
is already achieving this with
its dog food brand Purina. It is
possible for you as the owner
other parts of your section with
smart motion detection.
Other examples of the
“Internet of Things” today
include burglar alarms that
ring your mobile phone when
they’re triggered, smart fridges
that text you when you need
more milk, activity trackers that
record your fitness regime and
its effects to the web, and RFID
sensors that track the location
of shipping containers.
In Waikato “The Internet
of Things” connects farmers
to their cows in real time via
Hamilton-based herd improvement
co-operative LIC's online
herd records database MINDA.
to enter on line the dog’s health
history and issues, and receive
a tailored dog food. If it can
be done for dogs, how long
will it be before we do it for
humans?”
As health systems groan
under the chronic disease onset
and an older population, more
governments are also acknowledging
the value of keeping
people healthy rather than curing
them in later life.
Taxes on sugar, salt and
fats were likely to impact upon
New Zealand significantly,
given NZ products did end up
in final items that may contain
higher levels of salt, fat and
sugar.
But with an ageing population
also came a nostalgic
streak with a market seeking
out products that reminded
them of the ‘good old days’,
accounting for growing
demand of products like craft
beer.
“As the global beer market
grows at 0.2 percent a year,
this market is growing at 13
percent.”
Globally there is now an
additional 1.3 million people
a week moving into cities, and
estimates are for average commuting
time to now account for
3-4 hours a day, with the first
and last meal of the day held on
the means of commuting, such
as the train.
“So the challenge is how
TECH TALK
> BY DAVID HALLETT
do we put value into the food
they eat in a way that it is convenient?”
He also cautioned on the
assumption made that as developing
nations became wealthier
they would migrate to more
westernised tastes.
“What we are seeing is the
diet in emerging markets is not
changing as greatly as thought.
In Japan for example, they will
pay a fortune now for a great
piece of steak, but the diet is
essentially the same as it was
50 years ago.”
In what he labelled the
“bok choy” effect, it is in fact
the diet of countries like ours
that is changing, incorporating
more of what those countries
had traditionally consumed.
“So we have to remember
that what we grow may not be
what people want to eat.”
In this rapidly changing
environment, New Zealand ran
the risk of falling behind.
With only 0.5 percent of the
global research and development
spend on food technology,
we risked only getting 0.5
percent of the good ideas.
At present NZ’s $37.5
billion of food exports when
on-sold and processed further
offshore were earning a quarter
of a trillion dollars.
“So at present we are only
recognising less the 15 percent
of the total value of what we
grow.”
David Hallett is a director of Hamilton software specialist Company-X,
design house E9 and chief nerd at Waikato Need a Nerd.
In tomorrow’s world
that means a proliferation of
such devices as envisaged by
Roddenberry and his production
team. The USS Enterprise’s
shipboard computer was connected
to practically every tool
used by the crew, the most versatile
of which was the tricorder.
The tricorder could record,
store and analyse data.
A working model of what
the Star Trek team envisaged
50 year ago is about to become
reality thanks to the Qualcomm
Tricorder XPRIZE competition.
The winning team will receive
US$10 million to develop a real
life working model of a medical
tricorder. For this imagine a
portable, wireless device in the
palm of your hand that monitors
and diagnoses your health
conditions for a remote doctor.
Qualcomm hopes it will lead to
a radical innovation in healthcare
that will give individuals
far greater choices in when,
where, and how they receive
medical care.
Such is the future of “The
Internet of Things”.
While the Qualcomm
Tricroder XPRIZE is a logical
outcome of “The Internet of
Things”, the final frontier is
literally the limit to what’s next
in this space.