WEBVTT - Global Warming Is Pushing Humanity Toward Hunger. Can It Be Stopped? 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:09.000 Hello, and welcome to another special edition of Stephanomics from 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:12.360 the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore. Today, we're going 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.200 to play you a wide ranging debate I had on 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.480 a pretty fundamental question, how do we feed the world 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.880 and also save the planet? The speakers were all able 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:25.800 to provide a different piece of the answer. You'll get 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.479 a better sense of that from my introduction to the session, 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:31.400 which we're going to play in a second. But just 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.280 so you know who you're listening to, I should say 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:38.760 the first speaker was Aloysius Atta, co founder and CEO 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:41.519 of farmer Line, company that works with hundreds of thousands 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:45.360 of farmers across Africa. And then next it was David mcclennan, 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:48.760 chairman and CEO of Cargill, one of the world's biggest 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:53.760 agricultural conglomerates. Then Walter Bowman, chairman and CEO of the 0:00:53.840 --> 0:01:00.160 German pharmaceutical giant Bayer, and finally Sarah Menka, CEO and 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:12.320 founder of the data intelligence company grow Intelligence. How do 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:17.440 we feed the world? The tools we have as a 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:21.640 planet for answering that question, like so much else we've 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:24.600 been discussing over the last few days, has had changed 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:29.840 radically in the last ten or twenty years. The technology, 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:36.800 the underlying technology, the data, the intricate global supply networks 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:41.440 have all changed. But we know that the climate, the 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.160 environment has also been changing before our eyes, and it's 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:50.160 changing almost by the day, making the challenge harder in 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:54.800 in many ways, we've already got crop yields affected, severely 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.160 affected by climate change, and some of the most vulnerable 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:01.640 economies in the United Nations predicts average crop yields could 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:06.400 fall by thirty if we don't change, even as the 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:13.440 demand for food by increases by So that's the long 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:19.359 term challenge. But as I've increasingly realized talking to our panelists, 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:23.080 there is a short term crisis in the agricultural supply 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:27.720 chain that has just unfolded in the last few months. 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.400 Is now raising real questions, particularly for for farmers on 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:34.760 the ground, not just for thirty percent rise in food 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:38.480 prices that we know about, but fertilizer prices going to 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.519 an all time hi how do we feed the world 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.600 in this changing environment. We've got all pieces of that 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:55.239 agricultural supply chain represented here, the science behind the resources 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:58.560 that farmers use. Someone who works closely with farmers, the 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:03.200 businesses that get the food the crops from farms around 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.639 the world, and now the data we have to try 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:13.120 and solve that question more intelligently. Eloss I mentioned at 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:18.560 the start this this crisis related to fertilizer prices that 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:20.760 I think some people at least in this room would 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.919 not be fully aware of. Just paints a picture of that. 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:26.880 What's the situation right now, what's the challenge that farmers 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:31.480 are facing today? Thanks thanks for the question, um so 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:37.040 our focuse my opinion on small skill farmers in places 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:41.000 like Africa. The reason is that they are often not 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:45.680 in the middle of most conversations and they struggle to 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.440 ask us high quality fertilizing seeds just to give contest. 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:53.760 Fertilizers like mp GE were invented like of our hundred 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:58.080 years ago. African farmers currently only able to apply about 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.560 wing kilograms pertector while their counterparts in the rest of 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:06.760 the world apply overwhelming twenty kilograms. So they struggle, but 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:09.600 at the same time they are tasked with this in 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:13.520 the most responsibility of feeding one tail of the world today. 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:18.080 If you look at the situation happening in Madagascar right now, 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:22.080 where for the first time in our modern history where 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:25.400 there is farming and there is a fear of food 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:28.159 insecurity for close to a million people. And this is 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:32.039 not caused by war, but it's caused entirely by climate change. 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.600 The time is now to come up with innovation and 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:41.000 services that actually ensures that small scale farmers in places 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.479 like Africa actually get high quality of tidence is on 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:46.760 time and the support that they need to grow more 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:50.719 food to feed the future. And Davian mclearend just thinking 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:55.640 about to say that the short term situation, how how 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.600 bad is it? I think the food and egg system 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:03.520 has proven to be very resilient, perhaps surprisingly resilient. I 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:07.560 think it underscores the importance and the benefits of an 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:12.240 interconnected food supply system. So we've been able to get 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:14.960 food from where it's produced to where it's needed, with 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:19.360 some exceptions that have been spot shortages. There's been disruptions. 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:23.360 But you talk Stephanie about the impact of climate change 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.760 and you think about reduced yields, there's also the components 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:32.840 of climate volatility, for example, increased hurricanes. So one disruptive 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.919 event that we were impacted by was the hurricane that 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:40.359 hit the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana early in the fall, 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:42.920 which we lost two of our facilities where we load 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:45.279 the grain that comes down the Mississippi River put it 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.080 onto barges or two ships to get it out, and 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:50.960 we were shut down for several weeks. We have one 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:54.800 facility that is still getting up and running. So, notwithstanding 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:59.680 the inevitable natural disasters coming from climate volatility, by and large, 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.960 the food supply chain has worked pretty well in the 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:07.119 last year or so with COVID, But nonetheless it's something 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.880 we cannot take for granted. Berna Berman, I've talked about 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.920 people at different stages of the fire chain. New fundamental 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.000 to the science, the products that farmers are putting into 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.880 their ground. How is how is that piece of the 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:27.279 challenge changed in recent years. There are three things that 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.360 are really important. Number one is that agriculture has become 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:35.400 more sustainable. Yeah, now more than ever if you look 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:37.680 at the massive impacts that climate change is going to 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.680 have on all of us, and that means that climate 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.800 that agriculture has to contribute its part to remove of 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:48.880 greenhouse gases. So we have to find these solutions. The 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:53.800 second one is um that we have to reduce the 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:57.400 footprint that is being used by agriculture while at the 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:01.760 same time increasing yields because as you mentioned, we need 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.080 to produce much more food in the next twenty thirty 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:08.280 years in order to feed to growing population. So increase 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:13.240 while at the same time, as a minimum, not increasing acreage, 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:19.080 but ideally bringing more intensification on existing acreage, while at 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:23.240 the same time freeing up acreage for reforestation and comments aquestration. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:28.000 And the last thing is that we have to find 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:33.480 much more resilience in agriculture systems, which means, um you know, 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:38.920 better varieties that can stand drought, your other properties that 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.960 will plan make plants more resilient, and with that create 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:47.720 your better and more predictable harvards all together. So the 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.760 two examples I would give, since you also touched on 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:55.680 on fertilizer, is that your fertilizer has been a real 0:07:55.800 --> 0:08:01.080 blessing to modern society because without the invention of nitrogen 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.520 fertilizer about hundred years ago, we wouldn't be able to 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.440 feed the people that we have on the planet today. 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.480 Having said that, after a hundred years, there may be 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.720 you know, the next big revolution coming that is informed 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.320 by biology on one side and bio technology and on 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.760 the other side by artificially intelligence. That's what people call 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.680 the bio revolution. And what we're working on specifically is 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:29.720 to find ways to teach plants to fixate nitrogen out 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.800 of the year rather than having it produced and then 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.480 put on the acre, which is a huge contributor to 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.760 global warming because that alone accounts for about four percent 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:44.680 of greenhouse gas production annually. The second piece that is 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:48.600 equally important is when it comes to resilience of plants. Um. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.079 You know, in the sixties there was you know, one 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.800 of the big then called green revolutions that was driven 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:59.000 by the inventions of sir normal bollock with a shorter 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:05.120 growing and more resilient wheat that tripled the yield in India. 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:09.600 Today we are working on something similar in corn. We 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:14.400 are a short statue of corn which is less susceptible 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:18.640 to lodging and which can be planted much more denser, yeah, 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:23.200 and can also yield Other agriculture practice is the next 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:25.800 big thing to come, and you know we've started that 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:30.480 with your some preproduction launches in um in Mexico and 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:32.320 we are scaling up over the next years to come. 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:36.319 So those are the answers that we're working on with 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:47.880 with our people, Saramanca. When we think about sort of 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.360 squaring the circle, where does where does data and where 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:53.959 does where does grave intelligence come in? Yeah, I mean 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:57.040 in some ways, I think the answer is capital. Right, 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.480 all of this is going to cost money, and that 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.679 money comes with risk, and you have to price the 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:07.480 risk associated with the capital that gets deployed. And uh, 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.240 you know, the example I gave you was I was 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.920 in my past life and an energy trader, and when 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.280 I first started trading oil and gas, if a producer 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:18.560 came and wanted to hedge oil two years forward, it 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.160 was very difficult for us to go out into the 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.560 market and sell that two years forward. By the time 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:27.280 I left to start grow, we could sell it ten 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.920 twenty years forward. That funded all sorts of innovations in 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.480 the energy market that made things like shale oil, shale 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:37.280 gas possible. Gas prices went down, coal got priced out 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.400 of the market, renewables became a possibility, so that there 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:44.600 was really long term changes that happened because capital flowed well. 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:47.520 Capital flows well when there is good information, and so 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:53.199 data becomes necessary infrastructure for driving transformation and change, because 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.160 this change is going to require lots and lots of 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.720 capital and lots of long term capital, and agriculture capital 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:02.280 today is too short term. I mean I think that 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.000 and and data is infrastructure, which is just view it 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.480 as a highway. Probably Bloomberg is the one company that 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:10.400 you don't have to give elected to about the importance 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:13.080 of data and the impact the power of data and 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:17.840 transparency in pricing, in in fueling a whole global company. 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:23.280 Let's lean anything else that the capital piece. I know, Alosius, 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.240 you're that's one of the things that you're focused on 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:29.719 trying to bring to farmers, So just explain that. But well, 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.400 so the lists of funding for most farmers, and you 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:37.120 know in place like Ghana is mostly banks. Banks required 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.920 farmas to bring some form of cola trying in order 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:44.000 to ask as capital. That alone is a limiting FATA 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:48.240 on how much money farmas can get. And farmasing need 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.360 money for front a few things they need money to 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:55.320 ask as deferiti, Lisa and seats um and without affordable capital, 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.440 without enough blended capital around, farmers alre often constrained on 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:01.680 the amount of fertilize that they can get to tell 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.480 the alliance grow more food and make more money. So 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.360 there's a massive opportunity, you know, to food a gap 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:09.920 and that's what farmer Line does. We digitized O by 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.200 million farmers and we finance farmers and we use alternative 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.560 data sources to give us information about the farmer and 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.480 that allows us to take risk in giving them money 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:22.520 to purchase fertililliance seeds. That allows us to purchase their 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:24.080 food cross at the end of the season so that 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:26.640 they can make more money. But were one company, we 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.280 can't do it all. So there's a need for governments. 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:34.400 There's a need for BEERFCE corporations to come together and 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:39.760 find new ways to make capital affordable for farmers so 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:42.000 they can be able to get all the tools that 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:44.360 they need in order to grow more food, you know, 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.400 to feed the future. But how much is so when 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:52.200 Berna Berman talks about the technological solutions of how do 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:54.360 you use you want to use less acred, you want 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.720 to reforest, you want to have the how much does 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.520 that figure in the day to day calculations of the 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:03.559 farmers that you work with, your your count down to 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:07.840 training you know, and and giving our information to farmers. Right, So, 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.960 the biggest challenge today is that the information that actually 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:17.040 exists is in it's in English, it's in its online, 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:21.079 it's not informers that farmers can easily understand. And if 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.360 you pass information down to a farmer and you don't 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.240 train them properly, um, if there's no proper training, there 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:28.600 can be in a change in behavior, and there's no 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:30.760 training in behavior, they will not be any adoption. So 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.720 the transition from both practices to climate smart practices actually 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:38.360 slows down. So there is massive room to figure out 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.560 a way to use digital tools to offer information to 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.079 farmers in the language and the format that they can 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.880 easily understand. GNA alone has fifty eight local languages, fifty 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.120 Nigeria has two hundred. So if you want to be 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.520 able to communicate, um, you know, you know how to 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.920 use SIS well, how to uh you know plants to 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.760 reduce the impacts of climates on the soil, and you 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:02.160 need to be able to meet it from a way 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:03.760 they are and look, our language is one of the 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.000 ways to go giving them information in the language I 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.360 understand and leriaging. They trust network that is around farm 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.840 is the agents in their community destination officers. Those are 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:15.240 still very relevant. David, I mean I think that the 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.440 problem is often that the resources will go to the 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:21.240 developed markets. You go where the money is. And actually 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.680 when it comes to something certainly we know the environmental 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.280 challenges is the greatest in the places where perhaps the 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:31.040 market opportunity has been smallest in the past or less obvious. 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.520 So how I mean, are we doing enough to help 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:38.560 farmers do this kind of innovation? Are we spending enough 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.040 time in capital where it's near the most answers know? 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:46.040 And particularly in Africa, I mean Ala Wishes a very 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:50.200 descriptive spokesperson of what can be done in Africa for example, 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:53.880 So years of guys in Zambia where we are, we 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.320 have we had a farmer training program at the time 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.640 and they apply their fertilizer with a bottle cap from 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:03.080 a soda bottle, and so you can, you can and 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:08.720 you can triple and quadruple yields by here's modern fertilizer technique. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.560 Here's when you should bring your crops to market, Here's 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:14.840 how you can store them effectively. Here's modern watering techniques, 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:19.040 building up burms so to prevent erosion. But the scalability 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:23.360 at a small scale, working with farmers, and so I've 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.240 listened to each one of the panelists, it all comes 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.840 back to the farmer, whether it's data or seed technology. 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:32.800 To Sarah's point about getting better data to help to 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:37.600 allowish is talking about training. That's where it begins. It's 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:41.200 not just yields, but it's also in terms of sustainability, 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.720 which is a topic I would imagine we'll start we'll 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:47.240 talk about in a few minutes. I feel like we're 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:52.320 talking about it now. Um. But then you mentioned the 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:56.200 revel green Revolution, and obviously there's been at stages in 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.960 the last thursy or forty years where that kind of 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.920 innovation has been called introversial. That's been questions about the 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:09.840 impact of it GMOs whether sort of latest round of that. UM. 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.120 I would say the debate has been reopened by the 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.720 urgency of some of the challenges that we're facing on 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:19.280 the climate front. Yeah. Yeah, that that that's an interesting one. Stephanie. 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:23.080 The first question is has that controversy been going on 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:25.680 for the right reasons or not? And if you die 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:30.360 back to when the controversy around GMO began, it was 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:34.760 actually a discussion that originated a green piece when it 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:37.240 came to the next big campaign, yea that you could 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:40.760 spook most people with, Yeah, and which better area to 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:45.000 do that. Then with food that's where had started. You said, hey, 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:47.520 we have to go after that or against that technology 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.600 because that's a frank and foods that's that's a fantastic 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.440 fundraising opportunity. And what they did with it. Yeah, and 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:56.840 depending on who you talked to today, they will also 0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:00.400 acknowledge it is that they prevented an awful lot of people, 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:02.680 you are, from having the benefits of that technology. In 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:06.080 particularly if you look at, for example, vitamin A and 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.880 rich rice golden rice that has been deregulated and improved 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.080 in a number of countries by now, that would have 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.240 prevented many, many many kids from you know, getting blind 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:19.720 because of that vitamin deficiency. So having said that, I 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:23.359 think there's an increasing acknowledgement of how important that technology 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:25.480 is for a number of reasons. Also when it comes 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:30.600 to so standable farming practices and obviously today both with 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:36.000 traditional gmore and then on the horizon new modern breeding technologies, 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.880 which means applying new technology such as crisper cass gene 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:45.080 editing for position breeding that is quote unquote nature identical 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:48.639 and not translandic. Uh. This is something that we see 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:54.240 with let's say renewed openness also when it comes to deregulation. 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:57.639 And before we entered the stage, I was talking to 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:00.320 a large use that we see that now happening in Frica, 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.919 which is interesting that Africa takes the lead here is 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:06.800 some of these approvals now in in Ghana and I 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.879 area were actually Europe is falling behind. We have it 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:14.200 in North America, we have been Latin America, and Europe 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:16.919 has been which has been a little bit agnostic to 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:19.239 some of these modern technologies for the wrong reasons. It's 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.440 falling behind. But there's hope that we'll catch up also 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:25.800 with new legislation that might be uh, you know, coming 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.840 over the next years. David on the just on the 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:31.520 g M A piece and if it's not everyone's popular 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:35.520 favorite subject, but when you think when you talk about 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:37.919 the long term picture is it does it have to 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.399 be part of the story for all of the discomfort 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:45.879 somehow it absolutely does. So, I mean, I'm about to 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.159 start my ninth year in this job. So when I 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:54.560 first started in this role, GMOs were the hot topic, 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:59.240 whether it be protesters and literature, and we could not 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:03.840 figure out why because ultimately GMOs I mean they got 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.159 branded frank and food, but Ultimately, they have been behind 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:10.600 since the ninth you know, early part of the of 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:16.520 the twentieth century, increased yields, increased access to food, increased 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:20.320 farmer livelihoods around the world, and they're a tool for sustainability. 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:24.200 But that the dialogue, the storyline got into the system, 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:28.200 which is they're bad for you. There you shouldn't consume them. 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.480 But things like um, you know what Warner talked about 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:35.160 cross breeding or you know, they're mangoes have been gmo 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.919 engineers since the nineteen sixties, but I think people became 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.800 fearful of them. To the follow up, Stephanie about soil health, 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:47.120 you're absolutely right, and this next iteration or I'll say, 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:52.600 the current iteration of sustainability in farming has to include 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:56.919 regenerative agriculture, whether it be no till, whether it be 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:00.439 crop rotation, but to improve soil health, and you soil 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:05.520 for carbon sequestration is becoming more so and will become 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:09.400 more so part of the solution to improve farmer livelihoods 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:15.919 and to improve the greenhouse gas footprint of farming. Sustainability 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:20.080 has been part of agriculture since agriculture ever started, right 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:24.240 like since the Neolithic revolution. Essentially and so I think 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:30.560 sustainability is is is a core part of the agricultural ecosystem, 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:33.800 and so it's not the data as an answer, but 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:38.520 that it is actually agriculture and people who understand agricultural markets, 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:42.879 I would argue, probably understand our earth, the environment, and 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.840 climate in ways that the average person in this world 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:51.520 don't understand because their reality. Every single day. There was 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:53.680 a there was a famous quote I had seen once 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:57.840 that said eating is an agricultural act. And it was 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.040 a T shirt actually at a coffee shop, and I 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.119 I bought it. Then I went and I got my 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:04.000 team to make a new version of that t shirt, 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:08.800 which was living as an agricultural act. Because if you 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.680 ask people the question what's your first interaction with agriculture 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:15.760 when you wake up in the morning, most people say 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:19.159 my cup of coffee. They forget about the sheet of 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:22.000 cotton they slept in, They forget about the fact that 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.359 the soaps they used have oils, they forget about the 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:28.520 mint in their toothpaste. It is so a core part 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:31.440 of our life and every part of the way we live, 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.359 and we don't understand it. And I think I really 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:38.160 believe that sort of the contribution that the agricultural industry 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:41.439 as a whole can have two dialogues around sustainability and 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.800 to driving change in sort of the world is large, 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:49.320 and I think we're only just beginning. Feeding the world 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:51.200 is partly, but the more you get into this debate 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:55.119 is partly about not throwing food away. We're throwing away 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.159 a third of our food. I mean, David, isn't that 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.359 a How does a as a business like you would 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:07.480 address that issue? Yeah, it's I mean food waste exists 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:11.160 at all parts of the chain, and so if anybody 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:14.959 who is American or has dying in American food service 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:20.119 knows the portions are obscene um and rarely get fully 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:24.600 consumed or they shouldn't be consumed for for health purposes. 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:30.719 But I think it's what we're focusing on is waste 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:33.800 on the front end of the supply chain. So I 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:40.160 think when you focus on improving farmer education, modernizing farming techniques, 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:45.080 the use of GMOs to better utilize the resources that 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:50.159 go into production of food, to production of everything. To 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:55.040 Sarah's good point, that's where I think waste can be eliminated, 0:22:55.080 --> 0:22:57.360 and it's not as visible. People don't see the front 0:22:57.480 --> 0:23:00.119 end of the supply chain. They see how a to 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:02.600 waste they you know, as I said, in food service 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:05.840 and restaurants, or it might be in food has gone bad. 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:09.000 But I think there's various parts, and it might be 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:10.919 in the middle part of the supply chain where it 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:13.520 gets shipped or processed. But there's a lot of parts 0:23:13.600 --> 0:23:18.119 of the egg and food supply chain where waste contributes 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:21.040 to inefficiency and high costs. But I think what the 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:24.679 consumer sees is just one part of it. From Cargio standpoint, 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:27.600 we're focusing where we're gonna have a bigger impact, which 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:30.120 is on the front end, where where and when it's 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:39.439 being produced. It couldn't help noticing that Elon Musk had 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:43.679 a bit of money to spend on solving the problem 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:48.800 of global hunger. I think it was six billion, six billion, 0:23:49.119 --> 0:23:51.399 So always says, how should he spend his six billion? 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:54.360 What was your plan for him? I'm sure you sent 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:57.920 it to him. You tweeted, well, you know, I wish, 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:03.399 I wish i'd threaten him. Um, I'm sure you tweet back. Yeah, Like, 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:09.280 if I gets six villain, I would invest in infrastructure, 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:14.920 right like because fundamentally, like our invest in moving farmers, 0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:19.520 small skill farmers from takers to a place where they 0:24:19.520 --> 0:24:22.720 have more options and choices. You and I we can 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:25.560 go on Amazon, Google and or whatever we want. Farmers 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:28.560 are often takets of services. We have one guy in 0:24:28.600 --> 0:24:31.439 the village that specialized and that's it. There will be 0:24:31.480 --> 0:24:34.399 some eight projects that comes and that's good work. That 0:24:34.400 --> 0:24:36.080 would last for three or four years and then they'll 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:39.159 go away. Right Like, what has to happen is that 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:41.120 they need to have more options and choices where people 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:44.040 compete on quality and price. UM. So I will build 0:24:44.040 --> 0:24:47.680 infrastructure that will give them more services on the farm, 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:50.240 and that will give the more services in life too, 0:24:50.359 --> 0:24:53.560 because farmers are humans and they um In order to 0:24:53.800 --> 0:24:55.760 for them to keep growing food, to take care of us, 0:24:55.760 --> 0:24:57.280 they need to be healthy. They need to be well 0:24:57.320 --> 0:25:00.040 in life. So that's what I will invest money on. 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:02.960 And if you're build infrastructure, if they have good roads, 0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:05.760 they have good storage facilities, they would be able to 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:09.080