EIT Food

For Paris 2024, catering during the Olympic and Paralympic Games is a massive operational challenge. With 13 million meals and snacks to prepare, it will be the largest catering event in the world! 🌍🍽️ But with the climate emergency more pressing than ever, it’s also a significant environmental and social challenge. The Games organizers must ensure that everyone can eat well and responsibly. 🌱 "More plant-based, more local, more sustainable, and just as delicious: our ambition is to harness the creativity of French cuisine to drive the food transition," says Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024. With the world's food supply under great stress, how can we ensure that large-scale events adopt more sustainable food plans? 🌟 #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #SustainableFood #Paris2024 #Olympics

Mentoring farmers in regenerative farming methods is key to #RegenerativeFoodSystems. But it requires collaboration, funding, and expertise. So, how can we make this happen? By creating successful models which can be replicated across different regions in Europe. 🌟 This is the goal of Navarra 360º, the first landscape project in our Regenerative Innovation Portfolio run together with Foodvalley NL and Food Innovation Hub. In the course of three years, we’ll be investing €3 million to help farmers in northern Spain to implement regenerative agriculture in their crop rotation systems. 🌾🌍 We’re taking a holistic approach, looking at over 60 key indicators like soil quality, biodiversity, water use, carbon footprint, and social and economic factors. 🌱🌼💧📈 The opportunities are endless. José María Aierdi, Regional Minister for Rural Development and the Environment, called it “pioneering in Europe” and highlighted its potential to make green agriculture profitable and the keen interest from industry stakeholders. “When this project came about over a year ago, it was essential to convince the most pioneering companies in this field to work together, because together we can make more progress than individually", says Begoña Pérez Villarreal, Director for EIT Food South. There are more opportunities to co-finance these vital landscape programmes, and help make regenerative agriculture the norm. 🤝🌿👉 https://lnkd.in/dkgcFq-A How would you scale regenerative agriculture practices? #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #SustainableFood #RegenerativeAgriculture

Could treating beef like coal make a big dent in greenhouse gas emissions? 😲 Meat is an important part of many people’s diets and livelihoods, providing nutrition and income for millions worldwide. However, the global livestock industry accounts for approximately 14.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions and, in its current system, requires around a quarter of the earth’s total land surface to function (FAO). 🌾 Although progress has been made to reduce these impacts through interventions such as #RegenerativeAgriculture, meat production is projected to nearly double by 2050 (GFI). As the world's population grows and natural resources become scarcer, producing healthier and more #SustainableFood is crucial. #ProteinDiversification offers a promising solution to these challenges. 🍔🌱 How can we fast-track strong uptake in Europe? Could #CultivatedMeat be part of the solution? 🤔 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dexEhTmW #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #FoodSystems

One of the biggest buzzwords in Europe's food industry: #RegenerativeAgriculture 🌾👩🌾🌳 But what do consumers think of it all? Is regenerative agriculture a term consumers understand? Is it a factor they value or look for when making dietary decisions? 🤔 Discover the latest insights from our #ConsumerObservatory report ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/d7adipVB #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #SustainableFood #RegenerativeFoodSystems

💡 Is the EU steering our #FoodSystems in the right direction? 🤔 💡 Are we prioritising the link between food, health and climate change? 💡 Are we on track for a fair and resilient food system? The way we produce and consume food must change for Europe to meet its health and sustainability goals. 🌍 We need a radical overhaul of the entire #agrifood industry: from production and consumption to policy and legislation. 🧑🌾 🥣 📄 At our largest event yet, #NextBite24: Building the Future of Food Together, we'll tackle key issues like framework legislation, consumer behaviour and trust, #FoodSecurity, #FoodWaste, #ProteinDiversification, #RegenerativeAgriculture and #SoilHealth as we explore the EU's food systems and the tools needed for improvement. Get insights into upcoming innovations, trends, policies, and leaders in agrifood tech and join the movement for a future-fit food system 🗨️👉  https://lnkd.in/d2KACHMT #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #SustainableFood

With €1.4 billion turnover, the #agrifood sector is the largest manufacturing sector in the EU, providing over 44 million jobs (European Commission). 💼 Despite Europe showing strong levels of skills proficiency, with European countries occupying 19 of the world’s 25 highest-ranking countries (Coursera), skills development within the #FoodSystem still requires attention to meet the scale of societal challenges: the sector is characterised by fragmentation, small businesses, and traditionally low levels of investment in R&D (less than 0.5% of output by private sector entities) (European Commission). 🔍📉 A well-informed and highly skilled workforce is better equipped to address the challenges posed by climate change, resource scarcity, and the ever-evolving demands of a growing population and diet-related public health issues. 🌍🌿 How do we ensure all stakeholders have access to lifelong learning opportunities to help transform the food system? 🤔✨ Learn more: https://lnkd.in/d6tbjpe4 #WorldYouthSkillsDay #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #SkillUpForTheFuture #YouthSkillsDay

There's a gender gap in deeptech: only 15% of Europe's startups in this sector are founded or co-founded by women, with just 7% by all-women teams. Those who do enter entrepreneurship often raise less VC funding than their male counterparts. (EIT - European Institute of Innovation and Technology) Women entrepreneurs bring unique and invaluable perspectives, enriching the landscape of entrepreneurial endeavors and fostering a more diverse and inclusive business world. 👩💼🌟 From a lack of entrepreneurship education for young girls to investor attitudes towards different leadership styles, there’s significant work to be done to bridge the #GenderGap. In the current landscape, initiatives like EWA - Empowering Women in Agrifood have emerged as indispensable pillars in championing women's entrepreneurship, particularly in sectors traditionally dominated by men such as agriculture and foodtech. 💡 This 6-month entrepreneurial programme offers training, mentoring, business coaching, and networking opportunities for women entrepreneurs in the agrifood sector. How can we empower women innovators in #agrifood? 🚀 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dY5R5RGJ #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #FoodSystems #WomenInTech #WomenInSTEM #STEM #GenderEquality

Sustainability and health issues related to meat production and consumption are at the heart of the problems with the current #FoodSystem. A rapid shift will be essential to address pressing issues such as agricultural emissions, nutrition, and #FoodSecurity. 🌱🌐 While traditional livestock farming poses significant environmental challenges, regenerative farming methods offer a promising alternative to meat production while promoting a more sustainable food system. 🌍🍽️ To achieve this vision, we need to enable dialogue across all stakeholders to identify gaps, barriers, and opportunities for positive actions and policies to drive a #RegenerativeAgricultureRevolution. 🤝💡 What will the future of meat production look like❓ Where do you think it will be in 10 years from now❓ Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dYSrfUfG #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #SustainableFood

Almond, oat, and soy milk have a smaller greenhouse gas footprint than cow’s milk. Yet, there are caveats. 🐄🥛🌱 Almonds require much water to grow, posing challenges in areas with #WaterScarcity. Soy milk tends to be fairly low-impact, as long as the soy is sourced sustainably. When #farmers and processors team up within the plant-based value chain, it ensures that switching to #PlantBased alternatives doesn't mean sacrificing valuable products from the farm. 🌱 Take, for example: 👏 Lantmännen, a Swedish farming cooperative and Northern Europe’s agri-leader, which invested SEK 1 billion in a pea protein production hub in 2022. 👏 Valio, a Finnish company founded by 3,700 farmers in 1905, channels all payments to farmers through dairy cooperatives while also manufacturing plant-based alternatives to milk, dairy, and cheese. 👏 AXEREAL, a prominent French cereal cooperative, successfully converted over 200 farms to regenerative practices with support from the EIT Food alumni startup Soil Capital. In 2023, Axereal partnered with Intact, investing €55 million to establish a supply chain covering 65,000 ha of regenerative agriculture legume crops like yellow peas and Faba beans, combined with an innovative processing plant. What innovations do you see making waves in sustainable #DairyAlternatives? 💡 #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #PlantBased #ClimateChange #GHGemissions #FoodFacts #FoodInfo #SustainableFood #DairyFree #ClimateSolutions

Nature and biodiversity are essential to humanity, providing resources we need to survive, including our food. 🥕 Yet, nature is experiencing a serious and continued decline, with agricultural activities, land abandonment, and urbanisation being the main culprits. (EEA) The recent withdrawal of EU nature restoration laws is a setback, but it doesn't mean the end of nature restoration efforts. It's time for other stakeholders to step up. 💪 “As a society, it is clear that we must make fundamental changes to safeguard the health and resilience of Europe’s nature”, says our CEO Richard Zaltzman. We have an innovation opportunity within the #FoodSystem, and outstanding entrepreneurs are already making strides to restore nature, such as SeedForward GmbH, Ficosterra, and NoPalm Ingredients from our #RisingFoodStars community. We all have a role in ensuring our food production respects and protects our environment. From pioneering farmers to global companies investing in #SustainableFoodSystems, we can drive the necessary changes. Policy will catch up, but the #Innovation starts now. 🚀💚 👉 https://lnkd.in/dzXN8ktu #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #RegenerativeAgriculture #RegenerateToAccelerate