New Food Finance Podcast

De: Gerard Wynn
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  • Resumen

  • On this podcast, we discuss how to reduce the environmental imapct of food production, through technology, science and policy, in interviews with thinkers, decision makers, entrepreneurs and farmers.

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    Gerard Wynn
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Episodios
  • Jerry Nelson - Can AI help write the next IPCC climate report?

    Jerry Nelson - Can AI help write the next IPCC climate report?
    Apr 30 2024
    I interviewed Jerry Nelson, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois. His research career has spanned climate change and food security, as well as agriculture policy, trade and development. He is one of the world’s greatest experts on the economics of food security in an era of climate change. What he has to say on this really matters. My three top takeaways from this week’s podcast were:
    1. A very interesting idea by Jerry for uniting two very topical issues – AI and climate change. Regarding the next IPCC report, due out by 2029, Jerry made an interesting connection between the recent news that the world’s biggest AI developers have run out of internet, to train their models, with the great difficulty that IPCC authors are having, to read and curate all the world’s thousands of journal articles on climate change. He suggested the world’s academic journals throw open their doors – at present many are behind paywalls – to give AI access to these articles. In other words, to allow the AI models to get back on track with their training, in return for helping draft the next IPCC report! AI doing good!?
    2. Second, regarding another of his expert areas, on the climate resilience of the food system, I asked Jerry whether he was hopeful for new, more resilient crop varieties. He said there were advances in developing more drought-tolerant crops. But the problem is heat. Cereals that evolved in the Mediterranean just don’t perform well, once temperatures exceed around 31C. And many regions where these crops are grown today will exceed 31C. We also chatted about the possible role of biochar to sequester carbon in the soil, something Jerry is researching just now.
    3. And finally, when I asked Jerry about his reaction to a recent, stunning streak of global warming, with 10-straight, monthly records, through March, he said he was “scared”, partly because the relevant experts say they don’t know where the warming is coming from, implying climate change could be worse than expected, and partly because of the potential, direct consequences, for example for sea level rise.


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    30 m
  • Can peptide-based bio-pesticides displace synthetic chemical pesticides?

    Can peptide-based bio-pesticides displace synthetic chemical pesticides?
    Sep 28 2023
    Here are my main learning notes from this podcast, an interview with Anna Rath, CEO of Vestaron, the peptide-based pesticide company:
    • Vestaron’s product focus is peptides, or short-chain proteins. Anna says that they have the same reliability and efficacy as chemical pesticides, but more precision targeting, and therefore safer use.
    • Vestaron’s products are based off naturally occurring toxins such as spider and scorpion venom. That poses a challenge for product manufacture. Spiders inject venom, but clearly injection is not an option for commercial products. So, Vestaron has developed oral products, which, when mixed with another substance, can reach the target nervous system through the stomach wall.
    • The pairing of its active ingredient with a “gut disruptor”, which is specific to different types of insects, enables its peptide to kill a target insect, while sparing non-target, beneficial insects, pollinators and wider wildlife. Neither the gut disruptor nor the active toxin is harmful to vertebrates, including people, Anna says.
    • Vestaron sees its competitors as chemical insecticides, because the company can compete with their high efficacy in insect kill. It sees most microbe-based biological controls as in a different category, with a lower efficacy, at least in the insecticide market.
    • In the U.S., Vestaron’s peptides are classed as an emerging technology, by the EPA, and as such can access an expedited regulatory path, but still have to prove their safety to the same standard as chemical pesticides.
    • Partly because of a potentially slimmer regulatory approval process, Anna says that Vestaron can develop a new product in six to seven years, spending around $20 million, compared with around $350 million and 11 to 14 years for a traditional chemical insecticide product.
    • The company’s first product is already approved for use in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, while the company is working towards entry into the EU market, which it expects by 2025 or 2026, if not sooner through expedited processes.
    • The company’s first product is a broad-spectrum insecticide, which kills moth and butterfly larvae by ingestion, as well as a contact product killing small, soft-bodied insects like aphids.
    • Anna draws parallels with a shift in the pharmaceutical industry, about 40 years ago, which she sees now coming to the agricultural chemical industry.
    • That shift is away from what Anna terms “small molecule discovery”, namely broad-spectrum chemicals that it turns out run into problems with wider side effects, in agriculture’s case on the environment, or in pharma’s case on human health. Over the past several decades, pharma has shifted to large-molecule, protein-based human health solutions, such as antibody and enzyme-based remedies, which are more specific in how they bind to target molecules, and so have fewer unwanted side effects.
    • Anna sees Vestaron as being able to disrupt the chemical pesticide market in the same way as Genentech or Amgen disrupted the pharmaceutical market, as the first company bringing protein-based solutions to the chemical pesticide industry.


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    31 m
  • Are viruses the next weapon against crop diseases?

    Are viruses the next weapon against crop diseases?
    Sep 12 2023
    Here are some of my main learning points from this podcast, with Guy Elitzur, CEO of EcoPhage, a company which is enlisting viruses to fight bacteria that cause diseases in crops:
    • Bacteriophages are bacteria-eating viruses. These viruses were discovered in the nineteenth century, but have only really been studied more intensively in the past couple of decades.
    • Guy’s company has licensed the same technology, from Israel’s Weizmann Institute, as licensed by the Nasdaq-listed BiomX, a pharmacological company looking to tackle bacterial diseases in humans. In that sense, this makes an interesting example where the agriculture sector is applying existing human remedies to crop diseases, in a push to reduce environmental impact.
    • Bacterial diseases in crops are across the board, including in row crops, and fruit and vegetables. Guy’s company is starting with control of bacterial diseases in tomatoes.
    • Regulation looms large behind the drivers for this company. To date, bacterial diseases in crops are mostly treated with antibiotics or copper-based chemical products. Regarding antibiotics, bacterial resistance is leading regulators to reduce or ban their use. Meanwhile, copper is toxic. So, farmers are under pressure to find something new.
    • Regulatory pressure to find safer solutions also confer practical commercial benefits. Chemicals manufacturers face a real burden to prove that their products are safe, which biocontrol developers can avoid through certain waivers. Guy says that his company can develop a new product in 12 to 18 months, versus 10 to 15 years for a chemical solution, partly for this reason, and partly because they are starting with a virus which already destroys bacteria, and so is halfway there, instead of designing from scratch a chemical to do this.
    • The company’s process starts with sourcing virus bacteriophages from the natural environment, and then screening these for potency. The company will combine good candidates in cocktails, to make them collectively tougher to crack, in terms of bacterial resistance.
    • Guy says that trials suggest his product, integrated into current farming practice, confers tens of percentage point benefits, in yield and other core attributes. He says that will also be 10-15% more expensive, a cost offset by the superior performance. He expects to start commercialising the product for tomatoes at the beginning of 2025.
    • He expects the competitive landscape to become more intense, from just a handful of bacteriophage companies in the agriculture space today.


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    25 m
Arte Comida y Vino Economía Política y Gobierno
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