Sustainability and innovation in the agro-food sector

1. Sustainability and innovation in the agro-food sector Ulf Sonesson, Research manager SIK – the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology Göteborg PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013

2. An industrial research institute with the task of reinforcing client company competitiveness • Product development: sensory science, material science, aroma chemistry • Process and production technology • Product safety: shelf stable and safe food • Environment: LCA, Green lean production PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013

3. “Humanities safe operational space” Rockström et al. 2009. Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the operational space for humanity, Ecology and Society 14(2):32 PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013

4. Food production, globally, is an activity that: • Is the single most important activity for biodiversity (deforestation, general land use) • The activity that use most fixed nitrogen (~100 Mton as fertilisers out of a total ~150 Mton) • Cause 20-30% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG’s) • Is completely necessary and constitute a large part of “the good life” PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013

5. GHG emissions from different areas of final consumption (EU25) Source: Environmental Impact of Products (EIPRO), European Commission Joint Research Centre, available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ipp/pdf/eipro_report.pdf PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013

6. Greenhouse gas emissions for some food products (examples!) PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013

7. Very generalised picture of life cycle environmental impact e.g. refrigerators, cars, shampoo, houses ”Environmental impact” Food Industry Retail Household Post- consumption Raw material PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013

8. GHG emissions from a Chicken Meal Source: Davis, J. & Sonesson, U. 2008, Life Cycle Assessment of Integrated Food Chains – a Swedish case study of two chicken meals, , Int. J of LCA, 13 (7), 574-584 PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013

9. Observations in society(maybe biased to North Europe) • Increased awareness about climate change, and the importance of foods. • Global food security on the agenda again • Food is important for the “Grand Challenges” (Climate, Health) • Consumers, Media, Politics • Not only talk anymore • “Meat-free Mondays” in schools etc. • Public procurement active • “Whole animal restaurants” • Being vegetarian is no longer considered “weird” PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013

10. Foods are complex products: • ”Function” (Nutrition, pleasure, culture etc) • Production systems (large, complex , biological systems) • Consumers choices (”Attractiveness”, price, etc.) Product quality (safety, taste, priceetc) Foodthat supports health Sustainable Food innovation Sustainable, efficient and ethicalproduction PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013

11. There’s a tremendous need for food science together with other disciplines to develop sustainable foods. • Innovation is a key factor to make things happen • Sustainable innovation will be a key factor to market success Thank You for your attention! ulf.sonesson@sik.se PACMAn FINAL CONFERENCE – Bologna, 18th September 2013