Perennial wheat at The Land InstituteRecently I had the privilege of moderating a panel in the Social Enterprise track at TiECON East called “Feeding 9 Billion People: Challenges and Opportunities in Sustainable Solutions”, sponsored by Babson College. The audience consisted of technologists and entrepreneurs, and the panel featured four great sustainable food experts:

We began with brief introductions from each panelist, during which some very interesting ideas and statistics were already emerging. For example, did you know that agriculture accounts for 25% of the carbon dioxide emissions and fully 75% of methane emissions (a greenhouse gas 20 times worse than CO2)? Or that 92% of farms in the US are classified as small farms, and these hold 73% of all agricultural assets?

Despite the entrenched nature of some areas of agribusiness, the panelists considered this a great business area to enter. To my first question of What are the big entrepreneurial opportunities in sustainable agriculture?, they proposed these 10 opportunities:

  1. tracking and traceability of “field to fork”, particularly in the EU, which is beginning to require adherance to traceability standards (JB);
  2. purchasing at-risk (especially urban) farmland, and dedicating it as a public trust, like forestland (DM);
  3. a Kiva.org microfinance model for American farmers (DM);
  4. new CSA (Community-Supported Agriculuture) associations, since most CSAs are oversubscribed and have waiting lists (DM);
  5. providing services to increase the efficiencies of existing CSAs (DM);
  6. novel farming solutions as we bump into the limits of yield, culture, and space for agriculture (CR);
  7. using recent advances in microbiology to promote new sustainable agricultural solutions (CR);
  8. ways to train the next generation (the average age of farmers in the US is 54-56 years old) (DS);
  9. sourcing local food in supermarkets (2-3% of food is sold directly to people) (DS);
  10. urban food production via greenhouses and/or rooftops (DS).

Want to grab one of these ideas and run with it? You might then be interested in my next question: How can an entrepreneur obtain financing for an idea in the sustainable food space? All agreed that funding was a challenge in this space. Farm credit bureaus are designed to support existing farms, not new opportunities. Often, agricultural plays don’t qualify for VC funding or foundation grants. Many suggested the funding itself as an area of great opportunity!

So given the above solutions, Is there a “killer app” technology that could be applied to the problem of sustainable food? I suggested the use of perennial crops, such as The Land Institute‘s wheatgrass, the result of a cross between a perennial prairie grass and annual crop wheat (if you’re ever near Salina, Kansas, you must visit the Land as I was lucky enough to a couple months ago!). Others tossed out ideas as diverse as mobile phone technology in the developing world (JB), a greater understanding of soil chemistries (DM) (“we know more about the stars than we do about soil”), and a very strong emphasis on supply chain logistics (JB, DS).

My curiousity satisfied, I turned to the wisdom of the audience. They asked great questions like:

  • How do we deal with the consumption side of the problem of feeding 9 billion people? (logistics, and information)
  • How do we recover from low productivity when pesticides aren’t used? (a novel idea: provide insurance to farmers during the three years it takes during the changeover to organic, as the soil rebuilds and before yields come back up)
  • How do we combat the growing competing uses for existing farmland? (connect the current generation of farmers with a new generation to facilitate the huge impeding land transfer)

Clearly I’m collapsing much fascinating and productive dialogue, but you’ll get the idea: there’s an amazing amount of good business and business for good that can be accomplished by creative entrepreneurs in the sustainable food space. I think Janice summed it up best: “Entrepreneurs are the way to [sustainable] development!”

Thanks to all four panelists for a great conversation, and to Vithal Deshpande of TiE Boston for introducing me and the panel. So, what do you think? Do you have a comment or an idea for one of my panelists? Leave a comment, and I will pass your note along.

Asheen Phansey is the Founder and President of Quaking Aspen, LLC and an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College.