Commercialising the worlds most sustainable protein plant — Duckweed
*Update Sep 18th 2018: I’ve decided not to purse this, read more here: Why I’m breaking up with Duckweed.
The process of starting a new business from scratch is extremely unpredictable, and exciting :) My last post was a commitment to Micro Algae. This post is about an evolution of that work as I’m learning, going deeper, evaluating and evolving in the search of being able to solve a real world problem using market forces.
Here I’m trying to summarise the ongoing protein shift, the importance for attractive plant based protein alternatives and why it’s worth properly exploring how to bring Duckweed to the masses. And finally, do you want to be my technical co-founder? Here we go!
The protein shift — the largest shift in diets ever?
One of the main drivers of the food industry during the last two decades has been consumers increased focus on health and sustainability. And recently this behaviour has come to impact protein as consumers perceive a plant based diet to be healthier and more sustainable than a meat based diet.
85% of the Swedish Food industry believes a protein shift is happening. Jay-Z and Beyonce have been on a vegan diet very publicly. There’s a 600% increase in people in the US identifying as vegans during the last 3 years etc.
While the key driver is health and status, it does help that people can actively take a stance against a meat industry with huge ethical and environmental challenges.
And finally, as the agriculture industry is the single largest polluter on our planet (with livestock contributing to 2/3 of that) more people realise the need to shift our diets.
As consumers are motivated to changing their behaviour, there’s a new flood of companies (see left) and organisations (GFI.org) trying to offer attractive alternatives helping them in doing so. Consumer behaviour is mainly driven by price, taste and convenience and that’s why attractive alternatives are key.
However unpredictable the pace of this shift is, it’s clear its impact will be huge on the health of our people and planet not to mention corporations, global trade etc. So expect disruption and many opportunities ahead.
70% more food using less land, water and energy
15 crop plants provide 90% of the world’s food energy intake using almost the same inputs — arable land, fertilisers, fresh water, pesticides, energy, sunlight etc. making it a challenge as we continue to scale things up.
With 3Bn more people joining our planet and increased wealth, the UN predicts we need to produce 70% more food in the coming 30 years. This hairy challenge will have to be tackled in the context of a less predictable and more volatile climate, the exact opposite to what makes for great yields.
What most of the meaningful contributions will have in common is radical improvements in efficiency, dong more with less. This is using less land, water, nutrients, pesticides, energy, waste etc. to produce the same or more yields which can be measured as calories and/or nutrition. Adding resilience will also be key.
This is where super crop and super food Duckweed comes into the picture.
Duckweed: Lean protein factories floating on water
No, you can’t smoke it :) Duckweed is the smallest flowering plant on the planet growing on water naturally and available on all continents. In food applications it is also called Water lentils.
Doubles every 48h. Besides the tiny root, this plant is a photosynthesis factory having no peal, no skin, no internal structures to transport water, no stem etc. It’s basically a floating solar panel. The leaves multiply vegetatively (no seeds needed) enabling exponential growth. The yield is about 20–40 ton (dry weight) / Ha / year. I can’t see any reason why the price won’t eventually be competitive with soy.
With 35–45% protein, a complete and bio available amino acid profile (similar to soy= really good) and lots of other goodies such as Omega 3/6 fatty acids, 15% fibre and lots of vitamins and minerals this is one of the most nutritionally dense plants we have.
10x more water efficient than other crops as this is grown in a closed system. Needs no arable land as it’s grown in ponds. No leaking nutrients.
Now: How to make mainstream foods from Water lentils
The issues around our global food system, sustainability, food security etc. are important factors for the greater good, but it does not answer how we get people to buy and eat this new plant. While there are other producers, there’s no amazing product made from Water lentils yet. In fact, the only product on the market is this protein supplement with an unclear percentage of Water lentils (branded as Lentein by producer Parabel). The few other companies in the space, mentioned at the bottom, are all focused B2B.
I have not yet got my hands dirty with this but it’s clear there are challenges in taking Water lentils to market. There’s market education for a completely new plant, the green colour and no real suppliers of the biomass making the barriers high. And even though it has for long been eaten in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, the plant is only recently introduced in the US and not yet Novel Foods approved in the EU.
Next I’m entering a phase of exploring this new plant properly and then to see where it can best be applied. I’ve started a small cultivation on my terrace(!), found a temporary biomass suppler, have a protein extraction partner, a food product developer etc. lined up to see what we can do in the coming months. In some ways, the real work has not even started yet, I’ve just found something that is worth to properly explore.
Do you want to be my technical co-founder? Or something like that…
I have many fantastic people supporting this work and now it’s time to bring on board talent in a real way. Given the unpredictability of the project and the requirements, I’m currently looking quite broadly for someone who can tick some of these boxes:
- Responsible for exploring and mapping this new ingredient
- Responsible for developing the eventual product(s)
- Navigating and managing various technology, research and production partners
- Someone with a biotech / chemistry / food background
- Ideally bring experience from working with food ingredients, designing new food products, food processing / production, regulatory experience etc.
- A quick learner given most of this will be new to anyone joining
- Someone who naturally embraces uncertainty, risk, fighting the impossible and a lean way of working
- Based in Stockholm or willing to relocate here at some point
If you can’t check many of the boxes above but feel you still really somehow would like to be part of this, don’t hesitate to get in touch. At the end of the day I value ambition and passion way above experience.
Additional reading material and links…
A quite good overview of Duckweed and Novel Foods by Ingrid van der Meer at Wageningen UR.
See the 40 years of Duckweed research of Prof. Klaus Appenroth here.
A few companies working with Water lentils today are Parabel in Florida, former algae biofuel business (their farm, their product), ABC Kroos (NL) who have a patented protein extraction process from Water lentils, Hinoman in Israel who offer a dried whole plant powder, Aquible in California who are just starting.
