How is the animal agriculture industry shaping up for 2023? What hot trends and technologies will make the headlines in the months ahead?

With the Animal AgTech Innovation Summit in San Francisco coming up fast on March 13, a line-up of experts have shared their industry predictions for the year ahead.

Michael Helmstetter, Founder & President, TECHACCEL:
“At TechAccel, we’re bullish on the animal health industry and its growth trajectory. Here’s why:

  • Increasing consumer focus on animal welfare and sustainability,
  • Post-pandemic, a rising awareness of zoonotic disease and an understanding of the need to maintain healthy animal populations to minimize risk of disease transmission to humans,
  • Exciting advances in digital health platforms, precision medicine, and telemedicine,
  • Continued strong consumer interest in pet care and welfare as well as ongoing demand for animal-derived food products.

Ahead, we see a bright 2023 with these factors and more fueling growth and creating opportunity for investors and innovators in animal health.” 

Aidan Connolly, Managing Director, KINCANNON & REED:
“Climate Clashes: Leadership across the livestock sector needs to lead the discussion on sustainability with real plans and timelines for action to reassure investors and stakeholders and ensure the industry is not the scapegoat for a failure to control greenhouse gases.

Disease: Avian influenza, African Swine Fever, for example, are impacting global protein availability. The shortage of turkey at Thanksgiving, eggs and the dramatic decrease in China’s swine population need innovative solutions and contingencies.

Maximizing Digital Technology: Leaders need to have digital literacy to ensure digital solutions are implemented quickly and effectively to transform the consumer experience. Ensuring transparency, traceability, and trust between producers, processors, and consumers is critical, role data and digital technologies need to play.

In summary we need to address the industry leadership deficit. Innovation is the new constant but without strong leadership it will not advance as quickly, efficiently, or profitability as necessary to deliver the food the 2023 consumer wants from the farm to the dinner plate.” 

Dave Summa, Venture Partner, GENOA VC:
“In 2023, we will likely see greater application of novel human therapeutic and diagnostic technologies to the animal markets as well as the continued use of AI applications to reduce costs and address significant unmet animal health needs. The continued market-driven interest for more sustainable supply chains will also provide opportunities for animal agtech in areas like feed additives to displace antibiotics, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote improved feed conversion.”

Justin Webb, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, AGRIWEBB:
“18 months ago, universal public opinion besieged the environmental impact of livestock production. Now, COP27 cited regenerative grazing as both one of the most scalable solutions for carbon sequestration and key to accurately attributing scope 3 emission footprints.

AgriWebb’s 2022-23 State of the Global Farmer report cited that global ranchers are prioritizing increasing overall profitability through sustainable herd efficiency gains. Adoption of regenerative grazing practices through data-driven decision-making means 2023 will transform $500bn global meat production.

Corporate agriculture businesses now acknowledge that on-farm, ground-truth data is the keystone of sustainability, production efficiency and supply chain provenance.

2023 will be the year that on-farm data tools truly empower ranchers to deliver commercially valuable evidence to retailers. In fact, 2023 may be the last chance for retailers to genuinely satisfy consumer demand for sustainably produced meat.”

Anthony Finbow, CEO, EAGLE GENOMICS:
“What’s critical now is the investigation of nature-based solutions, including the interaction between the soil and plant microbiomes, and the ability to sequentially increase soil health and biodiversity, improve climate resilience, increase nutrient density, and enhance carbon sequestration. Our understanding will enable stress mitigation through precision soil management, which will reduce input costs and agrochemical use.

Reduced soil and plant health is linked to deteriorating animal and human gut microbiomes. Advancing our understanding of potential nature-based solutions will lead to opportunities for more nutritious food, sustaining our planetary resources, enhancing human and animal gut health, and reducing the impacts of climate change.”

We look forward to hearing more from our experts on their panel sessions at the summit, book your place now to join them.

Monday March 13:

10.55: Fireside Chat // Feeding the Gut: Nutritional Solutions to Improve Animal Health and Performance
Anthony Finbow, CEO, EAGLE GENOMICS

14:40: Start-Up Showcase
Dave Summa, Venture Partner, GENOA VC

15:20: Roundtable Discussions
Aidan Connolly, Managing Director, KINCANNON & REED

17:25: Maintaining Momentum in Animal AgTech Innovation
Michael Helmstetter, Founder & President, TECHACCEL