Leaps by Bayer, an investment arm of Bayer AG, and Singapore-based investment firm Temasek announced the creation of a new company that will develop new varieties of vegetables best suited to grow in vertical farms. The new company, dubbed Unfold, raised $30 million from Temasek and Bayer in its initial funding round and plans to use the money for building out R&D operations in the U.S. 

Unfold is taking a slightly different approach to the vertical farming concept. Whereas most vertical farming companies focus on developing new technologies to improve the grow process of plants (building more automation into the growing and harvesting processes or finding the perfect light “recipe” for a crop), Unfold will channel its resources into seed genetics to develop seed varieties specifically tailored to the vertical farming environment.

So far, vertical farms typically use seeds developed for other types of grow environments — greenhouses or open fields, for example. Unfold, which has entered into agreement for some rights to germplasm from Bayer’s vegetable portfolio, will breed seeds tailor-made for the vertical farming environment, which uses LEDs in place of sunlight and, typically, hydroponics or aeroponics.  

Speaking in today’s press release, Unfold CEO John Purcell said the company will combine seed genetics with ag tech methods to improve things like flavor and appearance of vertically grown greens. The company also aims to develop seeds that can mature faster and yield more edible product. To start, the company will work on lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. 

Approaching the vertical farming process at the seed level, so to speak, is the exception rather than the rule at the moment, though Unfold isn’t quite the only company trying this. In Singapore, a company called SinGrow has developed its own breed of strawberries, which it grows on its own proprietary vertical farming racks.  

Unfold’s Purcell told CNA this week that vertical farming is “an important player in the food ecosystem.” But the model has yet to prove itself as a food-growing method that can feed millions and deliver a return on investment. Focusing on seed genetics can help farmers cultivate more varieties of vegetables that taste better and grow faster may provide more answers to the question of vertical farming’s overall scalability and its long-term role in the food system.

Future-Forecasting Trend: Cannabis in drinks.

With young consumers shifting their behaviour towards healthier lifestyle choices,

and the softening of opinion towards the use of Cannabis in soft drinks is there an opportunity for adult soft drinks?

Coca-Cola thinks so and is reportedly in talks with a Canadian company to create a cannabis-infused health drink since Canada has recently legalised the use of recreational cannabis on the 17th October 2018.

The soft drinks giant said it is "closely watching" the expanding use of a cannabis element in drinks.

It is said to be in talks with Aurora Cannabis to create a drink infused with cannabidiol, a naturally occurring non-psychoactive compound derived from the cannabis plant.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, does not produce the high commonly associated with marijuana. It is believed by many to have anti-inflammation and pain-relieving properties and numerous CBD-infused products have emerged recently.

Aurora Elixirs is leading the way with natural ingredients infused with hemp extract and cannabinoids. Aurora Elixirs presents a brand that focuses on the transcendent experience of consuming ight doses of CBD in a safe vessel. Truly balanced, these tonics are marketed toward consumers that seek a refined and sensual experience.

Lagunitas is another player in the market. Their latest foray is a non-alcoholic, zero-calorie sparkling water infused with hops, CBD, THC, or both is called Hi-Fi Hops.

Every 12oz can has no more than 10mg of marijuana-infused goodness, with drinks featuring CBD and THC, or the “purple” version featuring just THC. THC is the compound in cannabis that creates a mild-altering buzz, while CBD is a non-psychoactive component that is thought to reduce stress, pain and inflammation.

What looks like an emerging may become big business in the next few years.

The Bug Burger contains a patty made beetroot, parsnip, potatoes and mealworms, which are the larvae of the common darkling beetle

Ikeas research Lab, Space 10 has created a menu of five new dishes as solutions to the problem of a predicted global food shortage given the population growth over the next 10 years.

"At Space10, our research is rooted in an important principle – dishes shouldn't just be healthy or sustainable, they must be delicious too," explained Space10, which counts food designer Simon Perez and plant engineer Sebastian Dragelykke among its diverse team.

What do you want for your brand? What could your brand look like in a year or 5 years. What are the macro-trends that will shape your business. 

We can help you answer those questions: jon@future-filter.com

Glenfiddich recently unveiled the winners of the World’s Most Experimental Bartender competition

The winners were Charles Roche and William Hetzel of east London’s Scout cocktail bar. The Duo created a fragrance based on the taste notes of the whisky to create a tantalising pre-drinking experience. The fragrance is based on the whisky’s wood, fig, caramel and leather elements. The fragrance is intended to engage consumers’ olfactory senses, simulataneously opening up what is the essence of whisky-tasting to a wider audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCeaxArtoEQ

Recent graduate from the Royal College of Art Johanna Schmeer considers the future of food based on her knowledge of the possibilities afforded by nanotechnology. Creating a series of synthetic foods for a future whereby the worlds growing population needs to tap into new resources she conceives how products made from enzyme enhanced bio plastics would in theory harvest essential nutrients as alternatives to traditional food sources.

Built on fact, her project is based on a recent scientific breakthrough by scientist Russell Johnson, who has identified a way to synthesise functioning biological cells made from plastics.

Adding a smattering of fantasy based on this fact, Johanna has created 7 food products that fulfil the essential food groups. For instance they produce water, sugar, fat, minerals and proteins. These speculative objects secrete powders and liquids that could be ingested in our distant future.

http://vimeo.com/98281097

Envisioning a future whereby digital technology has superseded analogue cooking, Marjorie Artieres visualises the domestic kitchen in 2024 where 3D printers are commonplace. 3D printing food has provided perfect nutrition, no waste and issues surrounding food shortages, but with it has come uniformly shaped, processed & diagnostically perfect pods of food that has removed the pleasure and rituals of cooking.

Her Note by Note project offers a laboratory style tool kit for creating and recapturing the heritage of analogue cooking that has been lost with the rise of the digital kitchen.

Unlike cooking today, her future kitchen proposal has no recipes, instead Note by Note uses experimental and innovative cooking to create a new repertoire of flavours, textures and colours.

Artieres's project is as a provocation to technologists to re think the future of cooking with passion and taste rather than just necessity.

http://vimeo.com/98531837

Reconsidering how we engage with food, utensils and experience are high on the design agenda with numerous projects exploring such subjects. One of the latest is from Ellie Corp - a jewellery designer who has collaborated with a chef to create a series of tools for eating.

The first part of a three part collaboration she has designed tools for the first course. Titled 'Suck: a ba starter' the tools focus on sucking of a kind of noodle soup and as such Ellie has designed objects that interact playfully with the rituals surrounding eating.

Working with soft and hard materials Ellie has used silver and stainless steel with natural sponges to help with the liquid retention and the over all experience of eating.

Part 2 and 3 are to follow as will be an actual dinner where visitors will be able to experience the utensils.

As people live in more crowded urban environments with less opportunity to grow fresh fruit and vegetables and a growing desire for consumers to know the provenance of their food, the Niwa project is the ultimate solution. A kickstarter funded project, Niwa is an automated hydroponics growing system that is easy to use and would blend into most homes and is being seen as a new generation of kitchen appliance. From watering, to lighting, to heat regulation the whole unit is controlled by a smartphone.

Once seeds are planted, the app uses its preset growing knowledge to keep the plant alive garnered from working with farming experts over a 2 year period.

Questioning whether cooking could be more about experimentation and less about tradition as well as the impact of the onset of the Internet of Everything - designers  Christian Isberg, Carl Berglöf and Lasse Korsgaard have devised a collaborative cooking machine that explores a new perspective on the future of cooking. A timber framework with a large cooking pot it has 35 food dispensers containing all the ingredients needed for an endless amount of dishes. Working remotely 5 anonymous chefs control the heat, timings and seasoning of the food via their smart phones.

The anonymity of the chefs also poses questions about the need for their physical presence and also redefines consumers relationship with food preparation and celebrity chef culture as well as our growing reliance on our technology as our digital guardians.

http://vimeo.com/96913610

Inspired by the 2013 report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations called Edible Insects, which investigates how eating insects could help future food shortages, design graduate Búi Bjarmar Aðalsteinsson has created a Fly Factory that breeds insect larvae for human consumption. Echoing the spider factory from Thomas Maincent in its aesthetic Aðalsteinsson's fly factory uses larvae bred in the factory to create pate and dessert.

The conceptual micro-factory utilises food waste as the feed for the insects reducing issues surrounding food waste whilst creating a new protein solution which according to Aðalsteinsson tastes like chicken.

Experimenting with the flavours and foodstuff he has also created a series of recipes such as coconut-chocolate larvae dessert. His designs are not expected to be for the home, rather for restaurants and industrial use but the debate still goes on to whether the western palette will except eating bugs and insects.

Aðalsteinsson is not the first designer to explore this area and is one of a growing number of designers and nutritionists who recognise the importance of finding an alternative source of protein for future diets.

The craft beer explosion looks like it is going to have to step aside for the DIY beer revolution. We have already seen the BrewBot that lets you brew your own beer at home and the DIY trend in the kitchen does not seem to be going anywhere which places the BrewNanny perfectly. The BrewNanny is a device that supervises your brewing so that nothing goes wrong, it will even alert you via Wifi if your beer is going bad.

Checking fermentation rate, temperature, light and CO2 the BrewNanny records the data of your beer batch which in turn can be shared with friends to share tips or to just celebrate the best local beer around.

This project is yet another example showing how consumers are taking control and utilising technology to make the experience even more seamless.

Designers have invented an edible water bottle that uses algae and a process borrowed from the molecular gastronomy industry. The holy grail of the bottled water industry - this prototype titled The Ooho has been created by Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez, Pierre Paslier and Guillaume Couche. It works by holding water inside a transparent membrane that can be made in different sizes.

The technique itself is not new and was infact first developed by scientists in 1946 but was popularised again when El Bulli chef Ferran Adria used it for his unique recipes. Called spherification its a method of shaping liquids into spheres.

The flexible skin around the water is edible and made up of a combination of calcium chloride and brown algae and according to the designers is resistant, hygienic and biodegradable.

Pushing the boundaries of experience with smell and taste shows no sign of abating. The latest project to explore this subject is Molecule-R, who specialise in molecular gastronomy. Their product Aromafork is designed to elevate and enhance the eating experience via smell and taste combined. Based on the fact that most of what we taste is actually triggered by our sense of smell, the fork uses blotting paper that the user can infuse with a chosen scent to include bubble gum and wasabi. The fork adds the experience of taste through the added scent.

Citing it as a 'culinary revolution' the fork is ready to pre order now.

Personalised service subscription box experiences have been making waves for a while with consumers looking for unique and personal with the likes 'not another bill'  and Bluum, but the latest in the bespoke offerings comes out of a necessity rather than a desire which will make it a huge success. pillpack is a full service pharmacy that ships prescribed medications to customers doors in personalised individual packs that are organised by date and time. Keeping everything simple and personal the box pack uses simple infographics indicating medication type and helps the users navigate their way through what can be a complicated cocktail of drugs.

Exploring materiality, experience and surprise, Embedded Drinks by Marti Guixe makes users re think their relationship to alcohol. Looking to redefine how we experience and savour the moment with alcohol, Guixe has looked to Catalonian tradition where bread was soaked in alcohol and sugar to be given to children. Taking the idea of infusing foodstuff with alcohol he has created a series of 'snacks' that are either Red Wine, Vodka, Gin or Whisky which in his eyes he thinks makes one savour the alcohol more.

With the desire for Happiness being a key trend we are seeing a plethora of Happiness apps, guidelines on how to make your employees more happy and so on. In this vein we love the "Happiness Brewery" from the Happiness Factory. Described as being like a beer which contains the best parts of your past, the feelings you can no longer have...they try to recreate a personal moment that they then bottle and send to you to capture that fleeting moment of happiness.  

Published on Nowness as part of their food series, Lucy McRae explores the ideas of gene manipulation and cloning with her Make your Maker film. Exploring notions of edible clones and a new sensory experience she conjures up the idea that food and the body are inseperable - a dialogue she has developed with Nahji Chu the savant owner of Australian cult restaurant MissChu.

An evolution of her film for Aesop titled Morphe Lucy further explores a future landscape through beautiful cinematography, colour and materiality