PR Newswire | December 8, 1999
CHICAGO - Presenting a road map of the new global agriceutical system, Dr. Ray Goldberg spoke here today to a gathering sponsored by Verdant Partners, an international crop genetics investment banking and consulting group.
Dr. Goldberg, professor of agriculture and business emeritus at the Harvard Business School, has served as a director of more than 40 major agribusiness and ag technology firms and is an advisor to the World Bank. He keynoted the announcement of Verdant's Crop Genetics Award of the Year, for which he is a judge along with Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, Nobel Laureate of the Green Revolution, and Dr. Owen J. Newlin, a former Senior Executive of Pioneer Hi-Bred International and a past President of the American Seed Trade Association. The Verdant award will be in the form of a scholarship to a Land Grant college.
"This award is being created in an environment that is schizophrenic," said Goldberg. "The newly discovered ability to map the genome of humans, plants and animals so as to improve health, nutrition, safety, the environment and the global economy is colliding with the mistrust of the science by some consumer groups." Goldberg said: "The fact that the award goes to a member of the Land Grant system is appropriate. These colleges, together with other groups, are helping create an agriceutical system that will employ over half the people of the world. It will utilize half the assets of the world and supply over half the consumer expenditures in the world."
Goldberg pointed out the role of the farmer is continuing to shrink. In 1950 the farmer contributed roughly 32% of the value added to global agribusiness. By 2028, he estimated that farmers will add only 10%. Food processing and distribution accounted for 50% of the 1950's added value and it will account for over 80% in 2028.
Multinationals including Monsanto, Dow, Dupont, Novartis, Astra-Zeneca and BASF have made major acquisitions of seed companies to capture genetic traits for plant improvement, and are investing heavily in the new technologies. Novartis and Astra-Zeneca recently announced a spin-off of their agricultural interests to form Syngenta AG, a sharply focused life-science agricultural company. "On the other hand," Goldberg said, "Dupont believes the agriceutical system is essential to the reinventing of its company." He added, "The agriceutical system encompasses the traditional participants of the food supply chain, but also extends well beyond.
"The supply side," Goldberg remarked, "now starts with participants that are generating and supplying fundamental underlying biochemical and genetic information. Companies such as Celara, Millennium Plant Genetics and Ceres are focused on gene discovery, gene mapping and gene sequencing of humans, plants and livestock and of their pathogens."
Addressing consumers' retailing and health, Dr. Goldberg said, "supermarkets are no longer just glorified grocers. They represent the consumer in all ways." For example the Wegmans Food Markets chain, Syracuse N.Y. inaugurated a diabetic counseling program consisting of a series of classes for diabetic patients which included meal planning and dietary advice. The combination of health, science and agribusiness totals $15 trillion, almost double the value of agribusiness by itself, according to Dr. Goldberg. Agribusiness, health and nutrition and pharmaceutical sectors of agricultural companies are directing significant R&D dollars to understanding immunity, a common bond shared by plants, animals and humans.
Verdant Partners, sponsors of the meeting, represent more than 120 combined years of world-wide crop genetics experience, with offices in Milwaukee, Wis., Capitola, Calif. and Champaign, Ill.
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