Dear Community,

Happy New Year! We wish you a 2022 filled with health, joy, and success. Here’s to building a better, more equitable food system!

With Gratitude,

Danielle + Phoebe

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

Trend forecasters and industry experts have spoken and the outlook for 2022 is projected to bring about everything from a new interest in mushrooms and snacking innovation to hyper localization and pricing strategies amid inflation.

In other news, the Biden administration is taking on meatpacking giants with a $1 billion plan to provide aid to independent processors and a portal to report unfair trade practices in the industry.

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Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

1. Manifesto for Regenerative Agriculture Adopted at Climate Farming Congress – Arc

Over 70 regenerative agriculture practitioners from over 16 European countries gathered to create a manifesto for unifying the voice of regenerative agriculture in Europe.

2. Regenerative Agriculture Market Scan & Consumer Insights Report

Alpha Food Labs, our sister company, was commissioned by Beef + Lamb New Zealand and New Zealand Winegrowers to understand the current state and future market potential of regeneratively produced food and wine within the United States, Germany and the UK. The research reveals consumers may be willing to pay more for regeneratively-produced food, especially if science can show it tastes better, is better for people’s health and better for the environment.

3. How Will Americans Eat in 2022? The Food Forecasters Speak. – New York Times

They see a new interest in mushrooms, a rethinking of chicken and coffee, a resurgence of 1980s cocktails — and a return to civility.

4. Plant-Based Trends 2022: Cleaning up the Label, Snacking Innovation, Egg Replacements and Alternative Proteins – Food Ingredients First

Experts from CP Kelco, ADM, Almond Board of California, Puratos, Kalsec and GNT discuss the plant-based trends shaping 2022.

5. Biden to Launch Plan to Fight Meatpacker Giants on Inflation – Bloomberg

The Biden administration will meet virtually with ranchers and farmers to hear complaints about consolidation and unfair trade practices in the industry. The White House will offer $1b in federal aid to assist expansion of independent processors.

6. Celebrating 10 Years with 10 Trends That Will Impact Grocery Retail in 2022 – Brick Meets Click

Digitization, hyper localization and pricing strategy amid inflation are among some trends and shifts that will be important to retailers and brands in 2022.

7. 2022 Innovation Outlook: Grocery Gets a Tech Upgrade – Progressive Grocer

Eight broad areas where innovation is occurring on multiple dimensions, from AI to supply chain.

8. From Fresh to Funky: A By-the-Numbers Look at the Food Listing Boom That Wasn’t – Forbes

During the biggest year for food industry public listings in a decade, deal after deal wilted on the trading floor. Heading into 2022, all bets are off on what gets served up next.

9. Recap of the Most Important Food and Beverage M&A Deals in 2021 – Forbes

M&A activity in the food and beverage space remained robust during 2021 amid surging Covid cases with emerging brands capitalizing on the traditional categories snapped up by large CPG and institutions in historic deal values.

10. The Top 20 Agrifoodtech Funding Deals of 2021 – AFN

The top three funding deals involved companies from China, India and the US – and were focused on grocery, food retail and logistics.

11. India: Grocery Startup Founded by Teens Doubles Value to $570M – Bloomberg

Zepto, founded by two 19-year-old Stanford dropouts, promises to deliver grocery and daily essentials in 10 minutes. It has raised $100m, taking its valuation to $570m within five months of starting services in India.

12. Israel: Cleantech Company Tipa Raises $70M for Compostable Flexible Packaging – CTech

The company’s packaging is able to emulate the properties of plastic in protecting food and other goods, but at its end-of-life the products decompose and return to nature through composting.

13. The USDA’s New Labeling for Genetically Modified Foods Goes into Effect January 1. Here’s What You Need to Know. – Washington Post

The agency has done away with familiar terms like ‘GMOs’ and has built in loopholes for tiny producers, and foods made with meat and eggs.

14. The Collective Future of American Agriculture – The Fern

Pandemic-driven shortages gave fresh relevance to coops, hubs and other forms of collective agriculture. Now, with a trust-buster in the White House and a current of defiance coursing through the workforce, this patchwork has a shot at becoming a viable alternative to Big Ag.

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