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 * Introduction
 * Shift №1 One hour food system
 * Shift №2 Community food revolution
 * Shift №3 The impact plate
 * Download PDF
 * Contact

Preferable Future of Food

Sally with EY Doberman


HOW DID WE GET FOOD SO WRONG? 


COMMODIFIED, INDUSTRIALISED, FAR REMOVED 


PERFECTLY SHAPED CUCUMBERS IN FOSSIL PLASTIC 


BILLIONS OF ANIMALS FARMED IN FACTORIES 


ONE STANDARDISED TOMATO OUT OF MORE THAN 5000 VARIETIES 


A SEA OF MASS-PRODUCED SAMENESS 


WHEN FOOD IS ACTUALLY 


LIFE.




WITH INFINITE VARIETIES.




IT’S TIME FOR THINGS TO SHIFT.


HERE’S OUR TAKE ON WHAT AN ALTERNATE FUTURE COULD LOOK LIKE — AND HOW WE GOT
THERE.


THIS IS A PREFERABLE FUTURE OF FOOD.




AND INTER­DEPENDENT ECO-SYSTEMS


IN PERFECT SYMBIOSIS.

SALLY, EY Doberman’s future manifestation lab, brings to life an emerging system
that has yet to come to fruition.

We manifest these preferable futures through the lens of digital products,
services, and business models that could enable and accelerate key
transformational shifts across business and society.




Let’s journey


№1 


ONE HOUR FOOD SYSTEM




№2 


COMMUNITY FOOD REVOLUTION




№3 


THE IMPACT PLATE



We recognise that these three shifts are not the only ones needed — far from it.
We have chosen them because we firmly believe they could unlock more far
reaching transformation, and that they can be greatly accelerated through
existing, scalable solutions.

SHIFT №1


ONE HOUR FOOD SYSTEM

In our future, industrialised global supply chains have become a thing of the
past, and food circles are growing smaller. Instead, producers have direct
connections to you and me, creating accountability and opportunities — changing
the dynamics of the food system.




EVEN THOUGH THE FOOD SYSTEM HAS GOTTEN SMALLER, THE VARIETY IS GREATER.




RATHER THAN THE GLOBAL STANDARD DIET, WE HAVE THRIVING, DIVERSE, AND DELICIOUS
LOCAL FOOD ECONOMIES.

No, local sourcing is not the only answer, but it is an opportunity yet to be
sufficiently tapped. Large amounts of regeneratively grown food can come from
within and close to where we live if we create a better and more equitable
system.


OPEN MARKETPLACES SEAMLESSLY CONNECT LOCAL PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS

In 2022, there was a structural power imbalance in the agri-food value chain ⁠—
moving money and power to retailers and global agricultural companies. As a
result, many farmers found it hard to sustain their livelihood from farming, and
fewer still had the finances necessary to invest in better, more regenerative
farming practices.

In addition, most people worldwide, especially in cities, were entirely
disconnected from where their food came from. Those who wanted local food were
often limited to a weekly farmers market. There was a great need to bring
producers and food closer together.

A key barrier to change was that the retailers almost entirely controlled the
means and channels for distribution. These amazingly effective systems that
successfully fed billions of people had also created an unnecessary and profound
chasm.

Today, vibrant local marketplaces connect local and regional producers with
consumers. These open platforms allow consumers to buy and interact more
directly with producers through an ecosystem of services, for instance,
subscription, co-growing, and food-related experiences. The increased connection
has led to an increased demand for regeneratively produced food.

Through intelligent, collaborative distribution networks and hubs, food products
can move smoothly from different farmers and producers to the end customer. Food
mileage is reduced. Regional food resilience is greater.

With fewer intermediaries, food producers get a higher margin for their
products, making investing in sustainable production methods and technologies
easier. In addition, smaller producers have an easier time making ends meet.

The platforms have also made it possible for farmers to diversify their income
streams through selling experiences, knowledge, and refined products.

Enablers
These open local marketplace platforms result from different sectors taking
action in this area.

Some pioneering retailers saw the public’s desire to access locally produced
food and decided to invest in developing market platforms to tap that market
opportunity. They also had the benefit of already having well-developed
distribution capabilities.

Cities began collaborating around the notion of one-hour food systems ⁠— wanting
to support regenerative and resilient food production on a regional level,
recognising the need to create new contact points between producers and buyers.
Many municipalities already had experience from building co-distribution centres
and continued building on this asset.

In other places, new intermediaries sprung up, such as companies that wanted to
connect quality-sensitive restaurants with local farmers and producers.

Technologically, these platforms have been more successful by using algorithms
matching buyer preferences with locally available producers. When someone
travels, they experience other one hour food systems, discovering local flavors
and food cultures. It also helps inform what is produced from year to year.

The use of APIs between the digital tools and management systems that farmers
use has made it painless to get valuable and accurate information into the
marketplaces.

By virtue of being open, these platforms have truly empowered small producers to
reach a broader market. Anyone can jack into these marketplaces as long as they
get third-party verification as a trusted food producer.

Read More
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Select pioneers 2022:

REKO-rings
Dagens
Mylla


EXPANDING OUR UNDER­STANDING OF THE VALUE AND NUTRITION OF FOOD

The appearance of open digital marketplaces has connected people with producers
and reconnected people with how food is grown and how precious it is.

Food is no longer the anonymous mystery it was in the early 2020s. Back then,
most people had little contact with their food’s origin before picking it up on
a supermarket shelf. More often than not, the origin was hidden from sight along
with the sweat and toil of the men and women who nurtured it to life.

Today it is easier for people to appreciate the work that goes into bringing
food to the market. The process has come alive through these platforms. The same
can be said for seasonality, which is much easier to relate to within one-hour
food systems.

There is a greater focus on the nutritional differences between food from
regenerative agriculture and large-scale industrial fast agriculture. We have
broadened our focus from a few rough metrics around calories, carbs, proteins,
and fat ⁠to a broader understanding of nutritional density, how food impacts our
gut and immune systems, and beyond.

It would be inaccurate to say that these marketplace platforms simply connect
producers and consumers. The whole story is that these platforms make it
effortless for people to access locally produced and delicious fresh foods that
are nutritionally matched to the needs of the individual.

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CREATING B2B SYMBIOSIS WHERE WASTE IS TURNED INTO VALUE

Industrial symbiosis used to be a well known, but a rarely practiced concept

Many found the idea intriguing but not enough to pursue it in their businesess.
It was simply too cumbersome, difficult, and different from normal waste
handling and procurement practices. Producing and getting rid of waste was just
a regular part of the business.

That is different today as many facilitated marketplaces for waste and side
streams exist. These platforms make additional resource flows visible and broker
the contact between supply and demand through data-driven mapping.

These systems provide a means for organisations to get paid for what was
previously considered waste. At the same time, buyers can access cheap resources
for their operations. Many platforms also help measure the environmental
benefits of this increased symbiosis.

Select pioneers 2022:

Fish feed (Axfoundation)
Big Akwa
De Clique


Select pioneers 2022:

Fish feed (Axfoundation)
Big Akwa
De Clique
SHIFT №2


COMMUNITY FOOD REVOLUTION

An expansion in urban food production is bringing food closer to people, and
people closer to each other. Enhancing communities. Enriching city life.


TODAY, MOST OF US GROW SOME TYPE OF FOOD AT HOME — IT’S AS COMMON AS HAVING
HOUSE PLANTS.


DINNER GUESTS BRING KALE OR CARROTS, RATHER THAN A BOUQUET.


AND NEW JOBS AND BUSINESSES ARE BOOMING, FROM COMMUNITY FARMERS TO URBAN FOOD
PLANNERS.

For practical reasons —scarcity of space, the high value of urban land, the
density of cities— urban food production is unlikely to bring more than 10-25%
of the volumes needed to feed a growing population. That is, however, not
insignificant and it could also improve wellbeing and quality of urban life,
stregthen and reviltalise communities, and bring back our appreciation for food.

Rooftop garden


An expansion in urban food production is bringing food closer to people, and
people closer to each other. Enhancing communities. Enriching city life.

For practical reasons —scarcity of space, the high value of urban land, the
density of cities— urban food production is unlikely to bring more than 10-25%
of the volumes needed to feed a growing population. That is, however, not
insignificant and it could also improve wellbeing and quality of urban life,
stregthen and reviltalise communities, and bring back our appreciation for food.


COMMUNITY FOOD REVOLUTION


AND NEW JOBS AND BUSINESSES ARE BOOMING, FROM COMMUNITY FARMERS TO URBAN FOOD
PLANNERS.


DINNER GUESTS BRING KALE OR CARROTS, RATHER THAN A BOUQUET.


TODAY, MOST OF US GROW SOME TYPE OF FOOD AT HOME — IT’S AS COMMON AS HAVING
HOUSE PLANTS.


DATA-DRIVEN URBAN PLANNING IS REVEALING SPACES AND SYNERGIES FOR FOOD PRODUCTION

Following the food crisis that ensued from the COVID-19 pandemic, the
Russia-Ukrainian war, and several years of low-yield harvests across the globe,
more and more regions, cities, and municipalities developed and enacted urban
farming action plans.

As this movement grew, so did the need for better tools for planning and
decision-making. As a result, new consortiums of cities, tech companies,
academia, and entrepreneurs came together to take action.

Today there are suites of professional tools that help guide decision-making and
identify urban farming opportunities. Many of these tools use cross-data
analytics to identify underutilised spaces used for food production.

A tool might, for example, identify rooftops or ground-level space that would be
suitable for different types of farming ⁠— making intelligent suggestions about
the most significant opportunities and how to proceed. By cross-referencing with
data sources that could map thermal and CO₂-emission hotspots in the city, the
tool might also suggest how to utilize those heat and CO₂ sources as resources.
Finally, by cross-referencing socio-economic and crime mapping data, the
platform might propose suitable locations for community gardens to cultivate
social capital, not only food. These tools drastically speed up the rate at
which cities could expand their urban farming programs.

Enablers
New standards for safely sharing data between systems and open APIs that connect
different data sources have made these tools possible.

The progress in digitalising old data suppositories has also been meaningful.
For instance, most old building construction drawings that used to sit in analog
city planning archives are now digital — making it possible to do an automatic
structural analysis of rooftops using machine learning. We can now identify
their approximate load-bearing capacity and suitability for different types of
rooftop farming.

The Open Cities Platform became a global accelerator of the development of these
tools. As a result, different cities and sectors started sharing their code,
working together to make rapid technological leaps possible.

Read More
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Select pioneers 2022:

Growing Underground
Nature Urbaine
10% Food in the City (.pdf)


A RANGE OF SMART SERVICES HAS DEMOCRATISED FARMING

Urban farming used to be for the dedicated few. The hardcore enthusiasts. The
nerds.

Beyond having some herbs on your kitchen counter or leisurely growing veggies in
your garden (if you were fortunate enough to have one), urban farming at a large
scale required more than most people were willing to invest. It took too much
time, effort, money, and research at a limited success rate.

Little food came from within our cities, and our gardens remained lawn-covered
biological deserts. Balconies and terraces had only a few decorative flower
pots, and companies were only considering the possibility of growing food if it
was their core business idea.

But a series of nested food crises in the early 2020s led a lot of sectors to
look at how they could scale urban farming. So when companies and municipalities
started launching these tools and services that reduced the effort needed and
the learning curve, a large audience was eager to receive them.

Today, everything has changed. Cities produce more and more of our food. The
whole process from start to finish has become a lot easier and requires less
interest, time, and money. And it is enabled by a new ecosystem of services and
tools that allows everyone to produce food.

Enablers
The development of these tools was aided by progress in data processing,
analytics, and technologies such as AR and machine learning ⁠— making it
possible to put the intelligence and experience of experts into the hands of
city people who desire to grow food.

AR apps now help people envision and dream of what food production could look
like for them ⁠— whether they have a garden, a rooftop terrace, a balcony, or an
indoor space. It helps people foresee the amount of food they can produce and
manage and reduce the amount of work necessary for success. These apps also help
people acquire the tools needed and gain professional support.

Personalized tracking and management tools also track all tasks throughout the
year, including how to take care of harvests.

A host of full-range service providers have popped up, growing food in gardens
and properties where the owners have little interest, time, or competence to do
it themselves. It has accelerated the amount of regenerative food produced
locally and has given home and property owners a way to profit — in veggies or
money.

Read More
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Select pioneers 2022:

Planta
Curtis Stone
Co-Grow


FOOD IS REVIVING, RECONNECTING AND STRENGTH­ENING OUR COMMUNITIES

We didn’t see it at first — the obvious connection. Most of us were not used to
having the kind of buzz and activity in our neighborhoods that urban farming
would bring. We were hanging out in our gardens and balconies, often exchanging
niceties with our closest neighbors. There was a limited amount of community
spirit in many of our communities.

That is one of the most notable differences today. Urban farming has brought
people out and closer together, strengthening our social capital. We’re not only
growing vegetables — we’re growing people and relationships.

Enablers
The increased sense of community has come from many converging forces.

In many places, the shift started as professional urban farmers began to lease
and rent land in privately owned gardens for small-plot intensive farming. These
farmers were genuinely interested in building good relationships with people in
the neighborhoods where they operated, and many enjoyed their presence and
started to farm more.

Municipalities and cities started implementing neighborhood-level infrastructure
to support the growing interest in urban farming. These physical hubs, such as
self-service storage containers, made it easier for people to engage in urban
agriculture. They reduced the need to own everything and made composting, mulch,
tools and knowledge, more readily available. The physical hubs also became
natural meeting points for people.

As interest and focus on urban farming grew, social media platforms started
paying more attention to these growing peer-to-peer networks. Soon, features and
entire applications began popping up, catering directly to this movement’s
needs, helping connect people to share and trade things, skills, time, and a
sense of community.

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Select pioneers 2022:

Odla Kompis
Losæter
Koloniträdgårdsförbundet
ØsterGro


AND, A NEW MICRO-BREWERY MOVEMENT IS REVOLUTION­ISING PROTEINS & FATS

In the early 2020s’ venture capital poured into food tech companies focusing on
fermentation and precision fermentation technologies. Soon, bioreactors and
other equipment prices dropped, allowing regular people to play around with
these technologies.

Foodies started up small fermentation microbreweries, experimenting with new
proteins, algae- and fungi-based foods, no cow dairy products, and 3D-printing
of food ⁠— bringing new culinary experiences to the world. Discussion forums
were alive and vivid. They were eager to learn, experiment, and share their
learning with others.

In parallel, global institutions like the UN and the WHO started exploring how
fermentation tech can feed the many and empower poor communities to produce
their food. These efforts gained support from academia and tech companies ⁠—
providing brain power and money to support the efforts.

Online discussion forums soon turned into open-source databases where these
different worlds of food-as-software met to share their progress and help each
other.

Read More
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Select pioneers 2022:

Mycorena
Solar Foods
Hooked Foods
Stockeld Dreamery

Select pioneers 2022:

Mycorena
Solar Foods
Hooked Foods
Stockeld Dreamery
SHIFT №3


THE IMPACT PLATE

Technology is unlocking a new paradigm of health and environmental consciousness
in eating — helping people break old habits and establish new.





TODAY, WE EXPECT THE FULL STORY OF THE FOOD ON OUR PLATES




ALIGNING WHAT WE EAT WITH THE HEALTH OF OUR BODIES AND THE PLANET THAT SUSTAINS
US

Our understanding of the effects of food on our health is less than 1%, and the
planetary impacts are equally complex. We recognise that unveiling those
patterns will take decades — if we ever fully understand them. However, turning
already existing and emerging data into actionable insights for people would
profoundly impact health, well-being, and the planet.

Our understanding of the effects of food on our health is less than 1%, and the
planetary impacts are equally complex. We recognise that unveiling those
patterns will take decades — if we ever fully understand them. However, turning
already existing and emerging data into actionable insights for people would
profoundly impact health, well-being, and the planet.


ALIGNING WHAT WE EAT WITH THE HEALTH OF OUR BODIES AND THE PLANET THAT SUSTAINS
US


TODAY, WE EXPECT THE FULL STORY OF THE FOOD ON OUR PLATES


AI-SUPPORTED TOOLS ARE REVEALING THE TRUE IMPACT OF WHAT WE EAT

It used to take a lot of personal effort to eat sustainably and healthily. For a
lot of people, it led to eating less well and planet-friendly than they wanted
to.

Today, AI-supported tools gather vast amounts of data about the sustainability
and health impacts of what we eat and put this information at our fingertips in
the form of actionable insights. Open APIs make data available wherever food is
purchased: restaurants, grocery stores, marketplaces, and online vendors.

Powerful machine learning algorithms, image recognition, and AR are used to
guide our thinking and decisions. From planning what to eat and point of
purchase to the kitchen and the dinner table.

It is a form of data-driven nudging based on our personal preferences and needs.
Helping to bring awareness and making better choices easy.

Read More
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Select pioneers 2022:

Klimato
Mat Checken
Paradiset
CarbonCloud
Innoscentia


INTEGRATING A MULTITUDE OF SOURCES TO ENRICH AND REVEAL COMPLEX PATTERNS

The tools that help people and families eat better pull data from various
sources, ranging from academia and public health institutions to tech companies
and actors throughout the food value chain.

The foundation for these unprecedented levels of data access is a set of open
APIs and collaborative algorithms that were started by food industry actors and
later mandated by governments. Through these APIs and algorithms, cutting-edge
data around food’s environmental, social, and health impacts, as well as
nutritional composition, has become more readily available — making it easier to
develop intelligent tools for consumers.

Another vital source of information that enables personalisation is data related
to the individual and their desires, preferences, and health needs. This
involves data around personal taste, medical records, blood tests, and gut
microbiome tests.

Sensor technologies and hyperspectral imaging technologies used in farming also
provide highly reliable data about the nutritional composition of food.

Third-party transparency and supply-chain tracking have become the norm. It
touches every part of the physical supply chain — from seed to peel.

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Select pioneers 2022:

Lumen
Gutfeeling Labs
Mäta Health


PERSONALISED SERVICES MAKES BETTER HABITS DELICIOUS AND EFFORTLESS

In 2022, many people lived with a guilty conscience about their eating, feeling
that they should eat differently but not truly managing to shift their habits.
There were simply too many barriers.

Today, there are personalised services that make new cooking and eating habits
effortless and fun.

For example, box subscriptions compile fresh foods from different producers
within the one-hour food system to suit the specific health needs, tastes, and
conditions of the customer and their families. So it’s easy to get superb food
for the feast and time-pressed everyday life.

Boxes can be matched against nutritional data, special needs, and preferences
and adjusted over time through feedback loops. Subscriptions can even be matched
to personal calendars to anticipate special events or predict when family
members are away.

Smart responsive recipes use the waste from the previous day and provide
interactive libraries for cook-along, plating, and collaborative improvements.

Read More
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Select pioneers 2022:

Årstiderna
Cortilia
Eat Grim


YES, THE CHALLENGES FACING THE FOOD SYSTEM ARE GREAT. BUT OUR IMAGINATIONS ARE
GREATER.


TOGETHER, WE CAN CHANGE THE STORY AND BUILD A PREFERABLE FUTURE.


RICH WITH DIVERSITY, COMMUNITY, NUTRITION, AND DELICIOUSNESS.


 


A WORLD WHERE FOOD IS LIFE.



ABOUT


The future is determined by our actions and inactions we take today, but we
can’t build what we can’t imagine.

SALLY depicts preferable futures to help manifest something painfully on its’
way but yet to come to fruition. Using the lens of digital products, services,
and business models, we make these futures concrete and tangible to reduce the
pain and increase the speed of change.

SALLY is EY Doberman’s future manifestation lab.


THIS IS A PROJECT BY SALLY IN


PARTNERSHIP WITH GULLSPÅNG RE:FOOD.



WE’D LOVE TO TALK.