The speed of technology change in alternative proteins for food is now attracting increasingly positive comments from high profile leaders across the agriculture and food export sectors. A national conference in Auckland in July is set to bring new information for sector leaders.
In this burgeoning field of food technology disruption price points are changing fast. These changes bring opportunities that just a few short years ago were being discounted by market commentators and traditionalists.
These new protein and meat-alternative developments also offer new market advantages to some consumers. The environmental perception of younger consumers with a greater social conscience about the impact of the food they buy and consume is growing.
To recognise this and quantify the accelerating rate of change, Innovatek’s technical conference team has organised a national conference on the changes. The robust conference theme is attracting key industry leaders, researchers, business development managers and any other key stakeholders in supply chains for traditional farm-based meats to export and domestic markets.
Entitled “ProteinTECH – Disruptive Innovations in Food Production”, the conference features a strong lineup of independent thinkers including people from leadership, market research and technical roles in this changing food technology sector.
“We’ve brought together a diverse group of skilled people from professional directors to angel investors and technical food technologists to market research specialists. The one thing they have in common is strong awareness and assessments of the attributes of these rapidly developing food production technologies,” says conference director John Stulen.
“Each of our speakers has plenty of practical experience with conventional agricultural production, so they are well-placed to recognise where the new meat and plant-based technologies can impact traditional markets ,” adds Stulen.
“Industry leaders and organisations like Beef and Lamb New Zealand are quickly discovering that these food technology changes will mean different things to different producers. Their recently-released major report on these accelerating food alternatives and technology changes shows they bring both opportunities and challenges.”
All rural leaders and industry professionals will find inspiration in our diverse and experienced lineup of speakers. Delivering on the conference theme of “Disruptive Innovations in Food Production” we have:
- Melissa Clark Reynolds, Professional Director & Independent Director Beef & Lamb New Zealand
- Paul McGill, Farming Innovation Manager, Landcorp, PAMU
- Rod Oram, Independent Journalist & Economic & Corporate Columnist
- Con Williams, Rural Economist, ANZ Bank
- Blake Holgate, Animal Proteins Analyst, Rabobank
- Nick Beeby, Market Development Manager, Beef and Lamb New Zealand
- Bill Murphy, Executive Director, Enterprise Angels
- plus more technical and research-based specialists
The Novotel Auckland Airport Hotel was obvious choice to allow quick and easy access to the conference.
