SPEAKERS
Lourdes Gant, Amy Novogratz
Lourdes Gant 0:05
As a business owner of an aquaculture company, how can you take the first step to be profitable and sustainable at the same time? That’s what we’re going to be talking about in this episode. Hello, and welcome to the business of agriculture podcast. This is the podcast for the Sustainable Business movement in the Aquafarming and ocean ranching industries. This podcast aims to amplify the voices of entrepreneurs addressing the United Nations global goals, aka Sustainable Development Goals. Number 14. To conserve and sustainably use the oceans and the seas, listening to fellow business aquaculturists in their journey in this new model of food production, of making their business sustainable, and help the ecology of the ocean, while also making a profit all at the same time. Get inspired to learn how even small to medium businesses can make an impact, save the seas, leave a legacy, and have a better quality of life. One of our goals is to take away a nugget of wisdom that will help your business move from the industrial revolution to business 5.0. Our vision is that of collaboration in the aquaculture industry. I’m Lourdes Gant your host. As an aquaculture business. How do you become a sustainable leader in the industry? This episode is dedicated to answering that question. So listen in and I hope you enjoy this episode.
Lourdes Gant 1:36
If you listen to Episode Six, Joel Solomon talked to us about the clean money revolution, whereas a co-author with the rich of the clean money revolution, it’s about reinventing power, purpose, and capitalism. A call to action to know where your money is and what it’s doing. You can get a copy of his digital book by emailing us at team at manatee holdings calm. Welcome to Episode Seven Season Two of the business of agriculture podcast. In this episode, I’m so delighted to have Amy Novogratz of Aqua Spark. Thanks for being on the show, Amy.
Amy Novogratz 2:11
Thank you, Lourdes. As I’m so glad you’re doing this show. So thank you for that as well and for including me.
Lourdes Gant 2:15
Oh, it’s a pleasure. It’s a pleasure. She’s the co-founder and managing partner of Aqua spark another lens-based Global Fund investing in sustainable agriculture businesses, building a portfolio ecosystem of companies all along the aquaculture value chain, working to solve industry challenges to develop the optimal aquaculture food system of the future. Aqua spark has been at the helm of transforming the aquaculture industry from one that was seemingly risky, is stigmatized, and investable, the one that is clean, antibiotic-free and profitable while having a positive impact globally. I’m so delighted that’s the mission of your company. It’s so amazing to hear about this stigmatized word on the word aquaculture. So I’m so happy that a woman leader is changing that All right. Let’s get this ball rolling. So, Amy, my first question to you is, what is your advice to small businesses wanting to embark on sustainable aquaculture or green technology was
Amy Novogratz 3:21
first of all congratulations. I mean, the opportunity of developing technology to make agriculture more sustainable is pretty massive and really exciting. When you start to think of the impact it can have. My advice is a couple, I guess a few fold one, know who you’re serving. And I think if it’s a farm technology, you’re serving the farmer. So it needs to be a technology that the farmer is benefiting from it, where they really understand the value of it. We don’t want technology for the sake of technology, right? We want technology that makes things more efficient, productive, profitable. We’ve seen that farmers want technology that helps make things easier, easier market access, access to financing, that helps them become a part of the system. So aside from the kind of making their own far more productive and profitable, it connects them more outward, and that becomes a straight-A route for them. So I think to serve the farmer is advice number one, and to be specific about what your technology does. And that’s especially directed to kind of aquaculture technology. We’re seeing so many new Tech’s enter aquaculture, and they’re all optimizing farming and transforming aquaculture and what is your technology actually doing? How does it work? And how do you explain it to people that don’t know the industry they don’t understand the industry. I mean, it’s exciting again. Well, you know, I mean, what’s happened with tech adoption and aquaculture in the last even just a few years, we’re seeing the value for tech start to explode.
Unknown Speaker 5:01
That’s really so cool that you say that because coming from a trailblazer like you guys are, it goes back again to I guess the fundamentals of business is serving, what it’s for solving a problem. And be specific to who your client’s ideal avatar is to make it more, I guess, effective and efficient, as well as robust in terms of what is the main objective and purpose of the technology. So thank you for bringing that back because every time people talk about technology, all this swirling in our head happening, have you know, robotics and all this stuff, and then forgetting the principles and fundamentals, like what you mentioned, just being a solution to a problem.
Amy Novogratz 5:45
Absolutely, absolutely. And when you start to think of what deep technology can really do, it gets kind of tremendously exciting. But agriculture is still in a place where technology is pretty nascent. And again, it’s changing really quickly. But, you know, a lot of agriculture, farmers haven’t dealt with technology before. So we don’t need to kind of enter the space with the deepest attack, and you just kind of need technology that serves a purpose, where the benefit is really obvious and clear.
Lourdes Gant 6:14
Thank you. I would like to add on that as well, I think in terms of when a farmer, as you mentioned, is not really into deep yet of what’s going on in the world. I call this in all of my interviews, society, 1.0, or, in 2019, Japan introduced society 5.0, or it’s all about imagination, society, but 1.0 is the hunter-gatherer stage. If a farmer in business now is already in 5.0, how do they get started, if they can’t see yet in terms of the benefit, because they don’t have the financing to be able to get into these new ways of doing things,
Amy Novogratz 6:55
where we’re so excited about, and again, it depends what market what species but, you know, we’re seeing really transformative technologies that are affordable for the farmer. And that’s kind of where the difference lies. And then if you look at a fishery is the Indonesian technology that feeds only when fish and shrimp are hungry with it, they’ve kind of developed a full data marketplace that allows farmers to access financing and helps them deliver fish to the market. I don’t want to go through the numbers, but they have a rental model that’s really affordable for farmers, and they show how well using that technology. I think through using the whole platform, farmers’ profits pretty much double. So I think that the business case is there from us farmers and more and more farmers are kind of understanding this. And we’re seeing tech hubs in places like Indonesia that help farmers connect to technology, we’re seeing more financing of inputs, and in some cases of farm tech, starting to happen from the outside. So I like to get really specific to the geography to answer that question.
Lourdes Gant 8:04
No, but I like what you said because I remember when cell phones started coming out, you know, everybody who’s only I feel like privilege will have the latest technology and can even get in touch with such a simple phone. And now every third world country, I think has a phone in their hand. So my vision is to be able to have that in the agriculture industry wherein every farmer has access to this like you were mentioning, what’s the name of this simple technology you were mentioning where they can determine
Amy Novogratz 8:32
if the tree is a company in Indonesia. But yeah, but again, we’re seeing I mean, we have a tech company that’s based out of Quebec, that’s primarily serving Ecuador, and Southeast Asia right now with their technology. And it’s actually a FinTech offering for farmers. It helps them finance their production, post-harvest, they have a couple of different financial services. And you’re seeing now that we actually do have technology and access to technology, that that data actually brings in financing and other things that come on top of that. So I do think we’re just at the beginning of technology starting to take off in aquaculture.
Lourdes Gant 9:08
Sounds great. Sounds great. I see you guys because you started this whole revolution in Aqua water ice Aqua Spark, really, as a leader and your recent report on the Aqua spark insights is amazing. And also get your report on tilapia where you are doing this, but mentioning this country’s who has access to this technology, as the big start is really paving the way what I envisioning is called you my Cathy wood of the aquaculture industry where in order to be a list of like, what are all this technology that people can invest in, you know, where he or she has this listing every month, okay, this is what you should go into in terms of investing in, in our space agriculture technology. So I’m looking forward to that when that happens.
Amy Novogratz 9:52
You know that so that’s our next Aqua insights report. Actually, we started out with tilapia and then and early next year for lunch, Second report on technology. Oh, that’s
Lourdes Gant 10:02
awesome. I can’t wait. So my second question is How would you solve the bureaucracy challenge that regulates the industry? So the business is hampered by rulings? And I asked this question because, in my first season, I collated all of the challenges that most of the experts I shared on the podcast, and this was number one. So there are other things like technology innovation, but in certain countries, this has been their biggest challenge. And I know you’re in the Netherlands and I interviewed or genomics from Norway we’re in it’s a very different government landscape, is this something that’s a challenge in other lands?
Amy Novogratz 10:39
You know, we actually have I mean, we are invested in an insect company in the Netherlands. But having invested in a farm in the Netherlands, we invest, we’re a really global group of investors that I think in our I actually don’t know the exact number, but it’s something like out of our 22 companies, it’s 16 countries that were invested in. So really global. It I mean, if you look at insects, you know, like the insects as a feed ingredient for aquaculture, we’re not allowed. And so getting through those regulations was a big process and a number of insect companies in the EU work together and formed a coalition and took a few years, and then we’re successful. So it really depends on what area of the value chain you’re talking about, and what you know what market you’re talking about there to give an answer. I actually think, not to go back to technology. But as we digitalize farming more and more, we’re going to have data that will help kind of respond to those regulations and prove a better case and make a lot more sense to the regulators that aren’t quite understanding the full complexity of the issue right now, I think between data, and I think better communication, more understanding of aquaculture, and more aligned communication around what the message is because it is complex, and it’s especially complex, when different groups have different agendas, and everyone’s kind of pushing for their piece of the agenda. And then I also think you see, more and more. And honestly, I’m not, I don’t know how effective it is yet. But you do see more and more governments trying to kind of get involved and really learning about what is needed. Starting pilots. I mean, we’re seeing some great examples from Indonesia, actually. And I think again, like just starting to kind of break down those walls between what a farmer does, what a farmer needs, all of the different stakeholders along the supply chain, and really facilitate one shared conversation, I think that will add to it. But again, different sub-sectors have really different issues, regulatory issues, we’re also invested in disease battling and bacteria phages. And we’re seeing this company, it’s a Polish company proton, doing an incredible job, kind of, you know, addressing market by market and, and launching in the markets that really get their solution and are supporting it. But it’s a heavy lift to deal with the bureaucratic issues in aquaculture, and probably any industry.
Lourdes Gant 13:03
I like that you’re mentioning that different cases have different solutions, probably. But also, what landed on me with that statement that you said is the one shared conversation. And I have this modality in my head about sustainability. And it’s not just ESG, you know, environmental, short social governance, that it’s like the leadership, the partnership and the stewardship. And this is along the lines of the pillar of partnership and this one shared conversation, play a big role in that where you were talking about better communication of the messages and breaking down the walls between two parties, because Overall, we have one purpose and in this space, it’s saving the planet, I guess, whether that’s via technology, or whether that’s via food and through agriculture. So I like that one shared cotton fixation.
Unknown Speaker 13:56
You know, one of the reasons we like kind of had the audacity to think we could do anything in aquaculture was because one of the glaring challenges when we first started looking at it was the lack of coordination. It’s incredibly fragmented, and that’s connected to different stakeholders, different groups, the communication between them, and that was 2009 1011. And now you look at, you know, the global sustainable seafood initiative. Seafood map. I mean, there are a number of organizations dedicated, I’m bringing these groups together trying to find a common language, common commitments around you know, what the vision of aquaculture should be. So it’s happening. I mean, I think what will speed it up, is when we’ve spent really has some of these solutions at scale, right? Like the conversation around feed will be a lot easier when we have real alternative ingredients to fish meal, fish oil, assessable at scale, and it will be there in a few years. And I think that’s kind of the case of everything with what needs to be resolved in aquaculture. We know a lot of Solutions is that the work is around scaling them. And instead of all kinds of agreeing on those solutions, now, they need to prove themselves and gain enough traction to really show that they are viable. And so we’re in that transition stage, I think
Lourdes Gant 15:14
that’s awesome. And I really like that that was kind of the original mission that you guys have. Because it’s I’m only 13 years in this industry. I’m not even technical. My background is in accounting and audit, but just seeing 13 years span of my life actually learning in this industry, it’s everyday learning. It’s so dynamic. And so just being able to hear about all this scaling and solutions, discussions now happening right after the pandemic is like, there’s this rainbow at the end of the tunnel. So my next question is on season one, I asked everybody the same question, which was, what was the future trend that they’re seeing? And so for season two, I’m now asking my guests, what do you think is one thing that will be here and will not change in this next decade,
Amy Novogratz 16:03
I’m going to say aquaculture, which might sound obvious, but when you look at the rise of plant-based ingredients and plant-based foods-based food, it’s really exciting. We think that’s a big part of the picture, for sure. But I don’t see that replacing farming anytime soon, when you look at the kind of hundreds of millions of livelihoods connected to agriculture, and how efficient good agriculture can be, it’s going to be a long time before we can kind of beat that sustainability footprint, once we get aquaculture really, really bright in a lab. So I think even though the future is will be diverse, and that’s exciting. And it’s great that all of these alternatives are being developed. I think, you know, the farming a fish is going to be around for a while and not to kind of answer with two answers. But I also think data-driven aquaculture and digitalization will increase and it’s going to be a kind of precision data-driven aquaculture that will be here to stay.
Lourdes Gant 17:04
And normally that would be my last question. I really love your energy. I’m really honored that you said yes to being a guest in the podcast. So I’m gonna have an extra question for you. How did you get into all of this?
Amy Novogratz 17:16
You know, I’m still asking myself and now I’m, I you know, It’s not my background at all. And back on the kind of 1015 actually, probably 20 years before starting Aqua spark was, in a lot of ways, a problem solver that works to kind of bring different thinkers together to address big global challenges. And I did it in the 10 years, they’ve been up to Aqua spark through Ted and before that I did media and before that, they were a nonprofit, I was a part of founding team member of in Washington, and at the very beginning of my career, working on going to social policy issues in Washington realize that the makers of policy never really connect with the academics who never connect with the recipients. The disconnected like siloed worlds we were living in, just serviced, especially the people we were trying to serve usually. And it just seemed a little bit shocking to me that there wasn’t one movement around how we did something. And then working with Ted for a decade realizing that that kind of interdisciplinary thinking was new and quite revolutionary when it really shouldn’t have been, and then running the TED Prize where it was about getting different thinkers doers different types of resources behind making an idea come true. And then specifically was working with Sylvia Earle who won the TED Prize the American marine scientist, in her wish was around creating more marine protected areas basically creating massive attention around this stick the ocean in order to get people going to fire it up around them MPa is protecting the ocean as we had the land. And through her wish I met my partner and his on his expedition to the Galapagos, we had 100 people, technologists, scientists, a mix of kind of Ted like people on this boat, my partner who was an entrepreneur, also on the boat, and when we started thinking of some energy together, the ocean space made a ton of sense, we found out really quickly how big aquaculture was, and that it had what seemed like a lot of low hanging challenges, or challenges with a lot of low hanging solutions, that there were no real dedicated investment vehicles with that investing in some of these solutions could really move the needle quickly. We got excited about the potential of agriculture to really solve going to food security producing food, and limits with our planet’s boundaries and the protein challenge and all of these things and we saw where our skill sets and what we cared about could really add to the industry. And so what guess a bunch of pieces just came together, and we started meeting the industry who was really open and generous with their knowledge. And welcome into kind of having different thinking in there. And it just grows and grows. And I don’t think when we started, we could have told you exactly what Aqua spark was. But as you kind of said here 13 years, it said, Really quickly, ever-changing industry. And we’ve just kind of been along for the ride and enjoyed it.
Lourdes Gant 20:20
Thank you so much for sharing that, Amy. It’s seldom that I hear to personal stories of the people in the industry who are experts, I really appreciate your time for it. Well, thank you very much, again for being in the show. And my biggest takeaway from our conversation is really when you were talking about having a one shared conversation as an industry so that that can bridge the gap between the disconnection and the silo in the agriculture space. So I think that we’re going to get there it takes some work and some really good people to be able to make that happen, and you’re paving the way for that. So thank you, again, to our subscribers do leave a review of the podcast so we can get more people to be aware of the value our guests are providing in these conversations. If you’re new to the podcast, I’d like to hear from you. Thanks, everyone. Thanks, Amy. And my last thing would be how can they get in touch with you or your team?
Amy Novogratz 21:15
info at Aqua dash spark.nl for the Netherlands and please write.
Lourdes Gant 21:23
Thanks again and really appreciate your time.
Amy Novogratz 21:26
Thank you, Lourdes. Great to see you.
Lourdes Gant 21:32
Thank you for listening, and I hope you are inspired by this episode. Do take a moment and share this with your friends and colleagues and rate and review the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. I’d love to know what your biggest takeaway from this conversation has been? What are you going to do differently? Please share thoughts across social media and tag us for links and Show Notes for this episode, visit our website www ducks sustainable aquaculture.ca slash podcast. Thank you again. I hope you will join me on the next episode and together we can help create a better business in aquaculture.
