FoodTech 11

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

On May 16 we will host our 11th annual FoodTech Workshop at Bonny Doon, and I expect it will be the best yet! 

This year we are splitting out the Ag and Food Tech Workshops into two separate back to back day-long events.

As you will see, we are organizing a stellar set of startups and speakers for both days --several top startups and 4 discussion panels each day.  Here is a link to the AgTech Workshop website on May 15, and you will see that we are organizing a set of related and equally compelling sessions on the first day. 

We have already signed up seven very cool startups, listed above, and we will be putting up 4 important discussion panels and 5 SOMM sessions.  Given the obvious importance of AI for every area of business, we have decided to include AI sessions for both our AgTech and FoodTech Workshops. Each one will include domain experts as well as specialists already in the thick of applying AI to a variety of use cases in our industry. Get your questions ready!

Here is the current state of the Discussion Panels:

AI in Food Tech 

Howard Chao, Doon Insights (moderator)

Darwin Ling, Good AI Capital

Matt Schwartz, Afresh

Mary Shelman, Shelman Group  

Will ROIs on Ag and Food Tech Normalize? 

Brian Frank, FTW Ventures (moderator)

Valerie Christy, Astanor

Rob LeClerc, AgFunder 

Sebastien Pascual, Temasek

How should FoodTechs Navigate the changing relationships among CPGs, Retailers and Consumers? 

Rob Dongoski, Kearney (moderator)

Chris Romano, Produce Guru

Dorn Wenninger, UNFI 

The Future of Legacy Ag/Food Systems: A Mock Debate

Harold Schmitz, March Fund (moderator)

Perry Aulie, Perdue

Lena Horvath McAtee, Gullspång Re:food

Laura Zaim, Louis Dreyfus Commodities

We have asked prominent attendees to initiate "Something On My Mind" (SOMM) Mini-Sessions. Here they are:

SOMM Sessions

David Godfrey-Thomas, Afina: Food for Ukraine

Alex Kopelyan, IndieBio: Should We Encourage Non-Food Specialists to return to FoodTech?

Michael Rose, The Mixing Bowl: Robots for Food Service

Celine Schiff-Deb, Givaudan: The Promise of Biomass Fermentation to Nourish the Planet in the Near Future

Joseph Zhou, Bits x Bites: Sustaining Ag/Food Tech Investment amidst Geopolitical and Market Uncertainties

As is always the case in Bonny Doon, the day will be very convivial and social. The venue is my mountain retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a compound in the beautiful redwood forest. After lunch we will do our traditional walk around the gardens and pond.  At the end of the day we will enjoy a fine wine/beer reception, live music, and a hearty dinner together. 

We still have seats left for the FoodTech Workshop -- Register at the link below. 

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Bonny Doon!

Regards, 

Howard Chao

Doon Insights

The Meadow at Bonny Doon in the Spring