Foodvalleyonline.com Reviews

The Agrifood Foodvalle - The Netherlands' High Tech Agrifood Ecosystem

National Geographic has called the Netherlands “agricultural giants”. This tiny country produces world class innovative agricultural and food-related solutions. They are based on the high-tech agrifood ecosystem foodvalle, where companies collaborate with knowledge providers and governments to accelerate innovation.

Elemica helps agrifood businesses digitally transform their supply chains and optimise processes. Their cloud-based Digital Supply Network follows products from field to factory and back again, enabling a tremendous amount of data to be harvested.

Food & Health

The world needs more health-supportive food. The agrifood ecosystem of the Netherlands wants to play a central role in searching for solutions. Personalized nutrition is one of the key areas. It can prevent health complaints, keep people fit and active for longer and speed up recovery from diseases.

Research in this area is being conducted at the highest level by universities and knowledge institutions, including Wageningen University & Research. A multi-disciplinary team is working on a healthy and sustainable way of living, eating and doing business.

Businesses and other stakeholders in the production chain collaborate towards innovative, tasty plant-based protein ingredients and products. The goal is to help create a healthier and more sustainable future. This is what the Protein Shift innovation theme is all about.

Protein Shift

The protein industry is in the middle of a major shift from animal to plant-based proteins. While consumers still prefer meat-based options, they are increasing interest in alternative proteins due to health and environmental concerns. Companies with the right vision and expertise can transform these alternatives into tastier and less expensive products to capture market share.

The relative mobility of a protein-DNA complex as measured by gel shift depends on its secondary structure: the chemical shifts of atomic nuclei (1Ha, 13Ca, and 13Cb) differ significantly between residues in helix and sheet structures. However, the contribution of the electric field to these changes is difficult to evaluate and is likely screened by solvent.

Changing the order of component addition in gel shift assays can prevent nonspecific binding and yield a more specific shift. The order of adding a DNA probe (Oct-1 or AP1) and the protein extract influences the formation of these complexes. Adding a competitor DNA with an identical sequence to the labeled probe can eliminate nonspecific interactions.

Circular Agrifood

We believe that a circular agrifood system is the future of sustainable and resilient food production. Globally, one third of all produced food is lost or wasted every year. Agrifood systems that operate according to the principles of a circular economy can reduce waste and increase efficiency by reusing and recycling materials in their production process.

We support farmers in their transition towards agrifood management practices that are based on closed loops of nutrients and shared resources, as well as diversified agro-ecological systems. This requires new intra/inter-company material metab- olisms and may require a shift from current industrial agriculture based on exploitation of finite resources towards a restorative model.

To accelerate the development of new agrifood systems, we offer the opportunity for agrifood businesses to join our Upcycling Community. This community setting provides a safe environment where businesses can collaborate on upcycling, get inspired on what is possible and test their ideas in a real-life business context.

Upcycling

Upcycling is a great way to reduce waste. It keeps materials out of landfills and oceans and prevents them from breaking down into toxic microplastics that can cause soil degradation and seep into drinking water. It also saves energy used to produce new products and helps avoid over-consumption by extending the life of items before they are discarded.

Many people enjoy upcycling furniture and other household items, turning old glass jars into household vases, for example. Other examples include using old ladders as shelves or turning washing machine drums into outdoor plant pots. These creative solutions allow individuals to create one-of-a-kind pieces while reducing waste.

Foodvalley NL has launched a challenge for startups that develop nutritious, upcycled plant-based foods, and are looking to scale their business. It will support the most promising entrepreneurs by accelerating innovation and business growth. This can include access to facilities, resources and investors. The call for entries is open until November 15. Learn more about the challenge here.