What does the Future of Food hold for 2050?
The change in consumer habits, lifestyle choices and the constant pursuit of innovation takes place in a global environment that is plagued by geopolitical tensions, global pandemics and climate crises. The key is to try to predict how these conditions will affect food production, supply and inflation. We wonder whether food will be used to oppress geopolitical opponents? Despite all of this, it is vital to understand how to better identify and pursue new opportunities.
The future of food is therefore uncertain and a pool of experts, hosted by the Stellenbosch Business School, at the Institute for Future Research, tried to describe the potential scenarios, alternative realities and movements that could shape the future of the production of food and drink.
The objectives of the progressives in this sector are to identify the opportunities of Mergers & Acquisitions, which will likely improve the well-being of all humanity, probably arriving at a mix of scenarios, as claimed by Professor André Roux, of the Institute for Future Research, at the Stellenbosch Business School, based in South Africa. With increasing markets and global demand, resources are put to the test, with humans exerting a lot of pressure on supply chains, agricultural production and water.
An in-depth analysis of the major uncertainties, has highlighted the presence of certain forces with greater impact powers: the so-called “known uncertainties.” In 2050 it is likely that we will witness growing conflicts, potentially fueled by various factors that could lead to the degradation of food security.
In Italy, about 13 billion euros of food per year are thrown away as garbage. We must change this dreadful habit, reducing waste to a minimum and acting to moving to a circular economy. Also, taking into consideration environmental events, legal and regulatory conditions, social drivers and technological innovation, which are shared and offered for the benefit of all people, in 2050 experts predict collective efforts caused by an awareness of the loss of biodiversity and uniform resilience to climate change. They also consider transition processes towards sustainable food and beverage sectors, through the development and adoption of technologies for personalized nutrition, food and beverage lab grown or printed using 3D technology.
These factors, which shape the scenario, further analyze the complexity of the food and beverage sector and help us to understand that it is likely to become increasingly complex. The food and beverage industry has undergone and will continue to undergo various innovations, and it is this hunger for exponential improvement, that will give rise to M&A’s capable of meeting the challenges of an ever-changing global food and beverage market.
We are now entering a new phase of unprecedented opportunity for this industry.
Governments will likely see food as an increasingly strategic resource of vitality and national importance. Ideally, by 2050 we will be advanced enough to have the ability to “select” the various elements of essential nourishment and combine them together to create formulas for health benefits, long-term sustainable development and the improvement of a circular economy. Leveraging new technologies, which are widely available in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, such as IOT, AI, Biotechnology, Blockchain, leading to huge advances in the healthcare sector, this will lead to immense benefit for Italian companies, already at the forefront of the sectors of the future…
The next stage in the development of the food and beverage sector is to recognize that there must be uniform cooperation between the public and private sectors; the government and multinational policies, will have to work together to deliver more equitable results, not only for us but also for the only biosphere currently available, not to mention all the organisms that live alongside us. So, what does this all mean for M&A’s? There will be profitable opportunities for those who dare to grow in the circular economy and derail biodiversity destruction and environmental degradation; Companies and organizations that aim, through agreements and commercial operations, to instill regenerative practices and to create circular and harmless products, both for people and for the planet, will be the winners of the food game, by 2050.
Francesco Paulucci de Calboli
