We have a broken global food system that is ravaging both the planet and our health. What can we do about it?

We are at a three-dimensional crossroads in the history of humanity. It is a critical juncture for climate change, the way we produce our food, and our long-term health. The way we currently feed ourselves is killing the planet, and it is killing us, too.

We have built a food supply system that is a huge contributor to the climate crisis, and which is also responsible for a nutrition-related health catastrophe in many parts of the world. Current global events have also exposed the downside of concentrated production of certain crops (e.g. wheat and vegetable oil from Russia and Ukraine) — it is time to bring production closer to the point of consumption.

A major new UN report found that food systems account for 80% of the planet’s deforestation, 29% of greenhouse gas emissions, and the largest proportion of biodiversity loss.

Humans turn swathes of land into pasture for greenhouse gas-producing cows. We fell rainforests to grow soy to feed those cows and give them antibiotics which end up polluting water tables. Farmers grow crops that consume huge volumes of water in areas with limited resources, spray pesticides which cause damage to soil health and ecosystems, and we transport food over vast distances.

All of this is a major driver of climate change — and most of the food this ravaging supply system produces is massively processed and bad for us. The odds are currently stacked against anyone who is trying to lead a healthy life. Meat comes laced with antibiotics, while most packaged foods contain heaps of added sugar. This has directly led to epidemics of diabetes, heart disease, and much more.

What can we do?

Encouragingly, there are reasons to believe that humanity is going to solve many of these problems and that the rewards will be monumental.

Both entrepreneurs and consumers, especially the younger generation, are more acutely aware than ever before of the climate crisis, and highly motivated to have an impact. As venture investors, we formalised an impact strategy and launched the Balderton Sustainable Future Goals. The magnitude of impact will be defined by the companies that we back. There is so much innovation going on, and while we’ve already been fortunate to back some incredibly smart people, we are constantly searching for more

In recent years, we have looked for technologies and consumer solutions addressing both the climate and nutritional crises — and there is an overlap in many cases. It’s a win-win here, in that we can look after ourselves in a better way and look after the planet at the same time.

We are backing companies that (i) help people better understand the link between food and their health, such as Zoe, the nutrition science company co-founded by microbiome expert, Professor Tim Spector; (ii) make it easier to make healthier, greener choices each week, such as plant-based meal innovator, SimpleFeast, as well as (iii) decentralised agriculture, such as Infarm and Better Origin.

In 2018, we led a Series A into Agritech company Infarm, which has since become Europe’s first vertical farming unicorn. Infarm brings growing closer to the consumer, reduces land coverage, optimises nutritional impact, and saves on water. As we said when first investing, a company growing salad may not be an obvious choice for tech-focused VC, but Infarm is well on its way to solving some of the current problems facing our society. My hope today is that Infarm will soon produce on a mass market scale, offering eco-friendly greens, fruits and more to families at a very affordable price, all grown close to the point of consumption.

Our recent investment in Better Origin, a circular systems startup creating AI-powered insect mini-farms, will see food waste transformed into feed for egg-laying hens, replacing soy-based feed. Better Origin is a great example of a company trying to find a sustainable way to feed animals. It layers in the circular economy, reduces waste, and lessens our climate impact — it’s a very neat concept.

People are not going to stop eating meat, despite its impact on the planet, so you have to find different solutions. While cultivated meat is still not quite ready for the mainstream, it has the potential to slow down antibiotic resistance, and decrease the environmental impact of the meat industry, while improving animal welfare at a large scale. With new research methodologies becoming scalable, meaning larger quantities and more reasonable price points could be reached, as well as a changing regulatory environment, we think this area has the potential to explode in the next few years. Watch this space for more news.

Biodiversity — and biodiversity impact calculation — startups are the next big area to explore. Measuring for biodiversity is still much less straightforward, but companies such as Nature Metrics are starting to find a systematic way to measure biodiversity loss, and we think accountability for this will become on par with accountability for carbon impact. For carbon accounting, we have backed Sweep which is leading the charge of bringing transparency of carbon production for enterprises across scopes 1, 2 and 3.

Venture is good at rapidly deploying money into areas with huge potential and upside. As a result, it can act as an agent of change. We are committed to playing our part in tackling the climate crisis and helping create the change that the planet — and its people — urgently need. And along the way we hope to upgrade parts of the food supply system to help solve food security and provide people with healthier food options.