While NST has worked with organizations from a variety of industries, we are a company whose people have cut their teeth on agriculture. For 21 years, we’ve been the architect — along with the California Institute of Food and Agricultural Research, University of California Davis — of a trends intelligence system called Food Foresight.
Food Foresight is designed to spot issues and trends early on in their development so partners have the opportunity to get engaged with and shape how change unfolds — accelerating opportunities, redirecting threats to more beneficial ground and/or making internal adjustments while pursuing a path for the future. Most Food Foresight partners utilize this information as a basis for strategic planning and marketing communications initiatives.
We’ve just wrapped the 2015 Food Foresight report, a culmination of: media monitoring and data gathering; a three-day meeting with a blue-ribbon panel of experts and Food Foresight partners; and distilling all this information into a detailed report of trends most likely to impact the agri-food marketplace.
An overarching trend affecting all aspects of the agri-food chain is covered in this year’s preamble: consumer engagement with food drives more public scrutiny of ‘big ag.’ Heightened attention from the general public has far-reaching implications for all aspects of agriculture. Other 2015 trends identified include:
- Where’s the next billion dollar start-up venture in agriculture?’ Outside investors and entrepreneurs are investing in agriculture throughout the supply change spawning new areas of innovation.
- Climate change, extreme weather events and water take center stage as the challenges of the century.
- Animal protein demand grows in spite of social and political pressures on U.S. animal agriculture.
- Concurrent issues complicate nutrition’s role in healthy eating as some stakeholders advocate to incorporate sustainability and other factors into nutrition decisions.
The full report is only available to only Food Foresight partners. Interested in learning more about Food Foresight or setting up a trends intelligence system specific to your industry? Contact us to learn more.
