Ahead of World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit, Dr. Nicole Atchison, CEO at PURIS Holdings, talks about the plant-based landscape and their 30 years transforming food systems. Hear more on “Scaling A Protein Transition: Getting to 30% by 2050” at World Agri-Tech, March 22 and 23.
Nicole Astra:
Welcome to Talking Plant Protein. I'm Nicole Astra. Another Nicole is joining me in the hot seat today from Puris. Please welcome Nicole Atchison to the show.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
Thanks for having me. Excited to talk about this. This is one of my favorite topics.
Nicole Astra:
Right. I'm so excited to have Puris. You're such a strong voice in the industry, and we'll get to why you're on this show. We've got a conference coming up where you're going to be talking. But first, I want to ask you, what's your response to multiple sources reporting that there's already been a dip in sales for plant-based products. Of course, we think they are absolutely here to stay, but I wanted to get your perspective on that.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
Well, it's an interesting question. But before I answer, I want to take you back a little bit in time. When we started our company, it was in the mid '80s. You can imagine what the sales of plant-based foods were at that time. Very limited and the products were okay, but mediocre at best.
Nicole Astra:
Oh yeah, they weren't great.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
Yep. Through the last 30 years, we've been true believers. A short-term, a couple quarter, a couple year dip isn't going to change our belief in the long-term potential of plant-based.
Nicole Astra:
Right.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
I think it's only gaining momentum. Any transformation of an industry isn't going to be perfect. I think our saying in Puris is what we're doing is hard. And it's not just what we Puris are doing, but what the industry is doing. This is hard. There are some quick wins, but I think we also have to be looking at the long-term outcomes and what's that goal on the horizon that we're all working towards, because that's how we think about it.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
We are here to partner with all of our customers and our farmer partners to really say like, we're here to stay. The products are getting better and better every quarter, every day, which is introducing more people to quality products that they want to try again. We remain excited, and we think that there's a ton of growth ahead, and that there's a ton of investment needed so that we can really capture the full potential of the market.
Nicole Astra:
Okay. Talking about long-term, what about climate-smart agriculture?
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
Yeah. This has been... I think the plant protein is such an interesting way to get consumers connected to agriculture in a way that isn't necessarily always done in food systems. A really exciting development over the past couple weeks has been as part of the infrastructure package to the government, the USDA has announced the partnerships for climate-smart agriculture grant, which is really promoting the adoption of climate friendly cropping systems in the United States.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
This is exciting for Puris, but I think also for the overall plant-based community, because we can use this as an opportunity to really connect the dots between climate friendly foods and how that impacts our American farming system and that these things can and should go hand-in-hand. There's some negative conversation around plant-based being very destructive for American farmland. I would argue that isn't the case always, and it definitely doesn't have to be the case.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
There is a lot of ways that plant-based foods can really support the transition of agriculture to climate-smart practices, using crops like peas that can fix nitrogen from the air and reduce emission, store carbon, increase protein production per acre, and really enable our American farming system to feed more people sustainably.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
What's exciting to us about this is that this is a conversation that hasn't been had for decades and to see this being front and center in the USDA and then at conferences like World Agri-Tech, not just talking about conventional cropping systems, but how do we scale sustainable proteins.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
It's this kind of cool lessons of all of these really interesting topics that have been core to Puris for three decades, but now are mainstream, gaining traction, and poised to really be an instrumental part of our food system going forward. It's really exciting.
Nicole Astra:
Yeah, and proving just how important it all is for everybody to really be kind of moving that direction. Let's talk about out some of your farmer partners. You do a lot of work with seeds. We say, okay, the products are getting better, but it is probably very much due to the ingredient getting better. Tell me the research, the development behind working all the way down at the seed level.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
Absolutely. Our business was founded by my father about 35 years ago. In his heart of hearts, he's a plant breeder. He loves to be in a field, looking at plants and understanding the differences of them. That has been core to our plan and portfolio my entire life. We continue that program today where we've really invested many, many years in developing non-GMO seeds with the destination of food production in mind.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
I think that's a really different approach, especially when you think about the '90s and the early 2000s of what the purpose of crop development was. It was, of course, agronomics. Because if it doesn't yield, it doesn't matter to a farmer. It has to yield. It has to have disease resistance. It has to have pest resistance.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
But if you're also developing these products to deliver nutritional benefits, those macro nutritional factors, color, texture, shape, all of the things that are important for the food system, you can have an interesting combination. That's really been our approach, is focusing on crops that have the end product in mind, which is food for people. Most crops that are grown in the US today are going into fuel, so ethanol, now more biodiesel, or feed, going in animal feed.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
The amount that's actually going directly to human nutrition is relatively small. As we look kind of forward, what do the consumers want? Well, more and more, consumers want to understand where their food comes from, so traceability, sustainability, understanding if their food has been genetically modified or not. Just having the ability to make their own choices and to vote with their dollars on what they're looking for.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
For Puris, we're focused on being able to provide those options so that consumers can... They have options available to them when they want to make those choices.
Nicole Astra:
The consumer has been very vocal about that is what they want, and that's at the level of transparency that we're at and where we're headed. I think the US is behind a little bit as far as the labeling, but that's what the consumer is after. Let's switch gears then to the labeling. Do you find that your end product, is that story told in the packaging or to the consumer that you have carefully crafted and grown in the right way? Do you get to tell the consumer that?
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
It depends on the brand. Some brands really want to lean in and do that and those are the brands who are making very conscious choices on the various ingredients that they're putting together. A lot of times in food, we're talking about the end product and we're talking about agriculture. But there's this whole messy middle in between that a lot of times gets... I don't think overlooked is the right word, but it kind of gets skipped over in the conversation.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
But that messy middle, the transformation of crops into usable formats, so ingredients and other things that actually make it usable for food, is hard because it requires scale to make it actually work. And as you go to scale, it makes it harder to deliver on the traceability. It's these kind of opposing forces that do make some of those unpack labelings harder than they appear to be on the outside if you want to do it at scale.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
I think what's exciting about new technologies in play today, whether it's blockchain or digital egg tech solutions that are driving more visibility through the entire supply chain, that's going to enable the industry to be able to tell that story, because I think every brand wants to, but the complexity of how to do it authentically and does every ingredient in your mix hold those same values. And if one doesn't, are you comfortable with that? I think it's going to really be...
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
It starts with marketing, sure, but it needs to get down to the procurement organization, who's purchasing the ingredients and having those other things in mind. Not just price, but price, greenhouse gas footprint, sustainability claims, traceability and visibility too on farm, all of those will have to gain more equal footing to really enable that transparency to pull through.
Nicole Astra:
Well, in helping with that very messy middle ground is World Agri-tech, and you're going to be on a panel discussion, I understand. Tell me what to expect from Puris there.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
Yeah. I'll be speaking on a panel about scaling a sustainable protein supply. Kind of to my earlier point, the fact that we're having this conversation on... We have members from Cargill and Bunge and others joining. I think it shows where we're at as an industry, that this is an important topic. It's a relevant topic and it's not just a fringe topic anymore.
Nicole Astra:
Right.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
I think that's what's exciting to Puris, is that these kind of conversations are being had not just on the sides or in specialty arenas, but on the main stage. There's a whole gradient of different practices in agriculture. It's really easy to label things as good and bad, but things are never good fully or never bad fully. What we're really focused on is how can we take that gradient and move it along towards the positive direction, but not throw the baby out with the bath water if everything isn't perfect.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
Really trying to enable positive changes in a way that drives markets for farmers and connects our branded partners to quality sources of ingredients that they're proud to share the story on.
Nicole Astra:
Well, Nicole, I appreciate your time on Talking Plant Protein. Our audience can learn more from Puris in San Francisco, March 22nd and 23rd. Thanks so much.
Dr. Nicole Atchison:
Thank you.