Three Fribourg State Councillors recently presented the early results of the Canton’s economic development strategy for the agri-food sector. Over the last year, an interdisciplinary team has developed a project for each of the Strategy’s three flagship programmes. The results now are set to pave the way for new, sustainable economic activities in this booming sector.

Three flagship projects

Over the last year, Valley partner Cluster Food & Nutrition has been working to deliver Fribourg’s new strategy for the development of its agri-food sector, powered by a CHF 1 million budget. Throughout 2022, three interdisciplinary teams worked in close collaboration with leading local and regional companies to develop a project relating to each of the strategy’s three priority areas:

Project 1: Optimized nitrogen fertilization 
This project focused on optimizing fertilizer quantities by using data analysis to increase yields and reduce environmental impact. Several methods were tested and by using drones equipped with multispectral cameras, the project was able to gather a large amount of data that confirms that these methods were more efficient than traditional approaches.

Project 2: Proteins and additives for a circular economy
This project aimed to develop circular and sustainable models by finding new ways to use local by-products, in particular whey. Project partners developed a technique that enables the production of high value-added, nutritionally beneficial ingredients.

Project 3: Food & Farm Living Lab 
This project was designed to actively enable consumers and citizens to drive a more efficient and sustainable food system. Over 500 individuals took part in seven consumer tests conducted throughout 2022 in collaboration with regional companies. This led to the development of targeted methodological tools to rapidly test new products, concepts, or business models. 

Linking practical knowledge with scientific expertise

Commenting on the projects, the President of the Cantonal Government and Minister of Institutions, Agriculture and Forestry, Mr. Didier Castella, stated: “The development of the Grangeneuve-Posieux campus and the AgriCo site in St-Aubin make it possible for Fribourg to support the entire Swiss agri-food sector both in the area of production, as well as in research and training.”

Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs, Ms. Sylvie Bonvin-Sansonnens added: “This strategy provides a real opportunity to link practical knowledge with the expertise of scientific research in order to create a more sustainable and efficient agri-food sector in the future,” while the Minister of Economic Affairs and Vocational Training, Mr. Olivier Curty, remarked that the initial results “are very encouraging and show that thanks to the investments made in recent years, the Canton of Fribourg now has both the tools and the skills needed to become the Swiss leader in this sector.”  

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With over 400 descriptors and digitalisation plans, the sensory language is building as ever-clearer window into the consumer mind.

Sense It®, a proprietary taste language created by Givaudan, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. First developed in 1993, it has become a universal and standardised language used around the world for food experience characterisation, differentiation, and product innovation.

Sense It® has grown enormously since its inception, with Givaudan regularly adding new descriptors to the language. What began as a local tool for flavour characterisation has been transformed into a robust universal language with descriptors for flavour, taste and mouthfeel.  As the language has grown, so has its ability to describe up-and-coming categories, such as plant-based meat. For example, the introduction of a mouthfeel language for solid applications was recently rolled out, enabling manufacturers to better understand how to modulate dry, astringent and juiciness characteristics in plant-based products. 

Fabio Campanile, Valley Executive Committee member and Global Head of Science & Technology Taste & Wellbeing, explains, “Consumers know if they like or do not like a product, but have difficulty explaining why. Sense It® helps bridge the gap between what consumers perceive and what they are able to express. Over the years the language has been expanded into new, important categories and so it continues to be very valuable in helping guide our customers with their product creation.”

A strength of the Sense It® language is that it allows usage in virtual environments, when alternatives to in-person consumer testing are needed. Trained panels at Givaudan were able to use Sense It® along with their proprietary holistic profiling method to provide customers with highly accurate information on consumer perception without going to consumers. 

Looking to the future, digitisation will play a key role in simplifying the language’s increasing complexity and creating a seamless experience for users. Fabio remarked, “We’re creating a new set of digital tools that will help the user put their sensory perception of a product, such as a plant-based burger, into descriptive words that convey the full experience, including mouthfeel, colour and taste.”

While Sense It® will greatly benefit from this digitisation, it’s also playing a pivotal role in helping AI tools and digital tools become more effective. By translating consumer perception into language, Sense It® provides a rich vocabulary with which we can digitally communicate about the senses, supporting and enabling our next generation of language-based AI applications.

 About Givaudan

Givaudan is a global leader in Fragrance & Beauty and Taste & Wellbeing. We celebrate the beauty of human experience by creating for happier, healthier lives with love for nature. Together with our customers we deliver food experiences, craft inspired fragrances, and develop beauty and wellbeing solutions that make people look and feel good. In 2022, Givaudan employed almost 16,700 people worldwide and achieved CHF 7.1 billion in sales with a free cash flow of 6.7%. With a heritage that stretches back over 250 years, we are committed to driving long-term, purpose-led growth by improving people’s health and happiness and increasing our positive impact on nature. This is Givaudan. Human by nature. Discover more at www.givaudan.com

About Taste & Wellbeing

Powered by innovation and creativity, Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing aims to shape the future of food by becoming the co-creation partner of choice to its customers. Built on its global leadership position in flavours and taste, the Company goes beyond to create food experiences that do good and feel good, for body, mind and planet. With an expanded portfolio of products across flavours, taste, functional and nutritional solutions and a deep knowledge of the food ecosystem, Givaudan’s passion is to collaborate with customers and partners to develop game-changing innovations in food and beverage. This is Givaudan. Human by nature. Learn more about how Givaudan is shaping the future of food at www.givaudan.com/taste-wellbeing

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Swiss AgTech company and Valley partner Ecorobotix will accelerate the growth of its AI powered plant-by-plant recognition and ultra-high precision smart sprayer system after completing its largest capital raise to date.

Ecorobotix, the Swiss manufacturer of ARA, an AI powered plant-by-plant recognition and ultra-high precision smart spraying system, announced the completion of a $52 million (CHF 46 million) funding round, jointly led by AQTON Private Equity GmbH and Cibus Capital LLP, with additional investments from Swisscanto Invest/Swisscanto Growth Fund I, Yara Growth Ventures, Flexstone Partners, and from existing investors including Swisscom Ventures, BASF Venture Capital, 4FOX Ventures, and Verve Ventures. The funding will accelerate Ecorobotix’s geographic expansion across new and existing markets and accelerate new product development.

Stefan Quandt, owner of AQTON PE (co-lead investor), explained his company’s decision to invest in Ecorobotix: “With customers in 15 European markets, these investments will further accelerate Ecorobotix’s rapidly growing business. Ecorobotix will use the new capital to expedite the growth of ARA worldwide, particularly in the Americas. The capital will also help reinforce the company’s mission to radically change agriculture for the better by offering smart, innovative, and sustainable crop treatment solutions. ARA saves farmers money and makes their lives easier, while simultaneously respecting the environment by massively reducing input costs about 70-95%, increasing crop yields, reducing the impact on soil, and preserving biodiversity.”

For this financing Ecorobotix worked with UBS Growth Advisory and Oaklins France as advisors. The capital raised included $48.3M (CHF 43.1M) of new equity and $3.4M (CHF 3M) of new financing facilities thanks to the FOEN Swiss Technology Fund. The new capital will enable Ecorobotix to grow into new markets, expand the product range, and build on the existing commercial success of ARA in Europe. 

About Ecorobotix

Ecorobotix is a Swiss company, Certified B Corporation®, founded to radically change agriculture for the better to respect the environment by reducing chemical/energy use and impact on soil. Ecorobotix developed ARA, a revolutionary plant-by-plant data solution and ultra-high precision crop treatment that reduces the use of herbicides, pesticides, growth treatments and liquid fertilizers by 70-95%, while increasing crop yields by 5% or more and significantly decreasing CO2 emissions. Using AI technology and its unique ultra-high precision spraying system, ARA can recognize individual plants, classify them in real-time, and spray the weeds with an unprecedented precision of 2.4×2.4in (6×6 cm) without affecting the surrounding crops or soil.

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Nestlé has officially inaugurated the Institute of Agricultural Sciences to help advance sustainable food systems by delivering science-based solutions in agriculture.

Speaking at the inauguration, Paul Bulcke, Nestlé Chairman, said: “We have nurtured direct relationships with generations of farmers around the world. To continue providing people with tasty, nutritious and affordable foods, we need to transition together to a more sustainable food system. The new institute will strengthen our expertise and use our global network to support farming communities and protect our planet.”

With global food systems under pressure, there is an urgent need to accelerate new approaches that ensure a sustainable food supply for a growing world population while contributing to farmer livelihoods.

At the new institute, Nestlé experts screen and develop solutions in key focus areas such as plant science, agricultural systems and dairy livestock.

It builds on the company’s existing plant science expertise in coffee and cocoa. Over many years, Nestlé plant scientists have been contributing to Nestlé’s sustainable cocoa and coffee sourcing plans – the Nestlé Cocoa Plan and Nescafé Plan (pdf, 9Mb) – including the recent discovery of more disease and drought-resistant coffee varieties.

Nestlé is now strengthening this expertise and expanding it to further crops, including pulses and grains. The institute is also working with farmers to trial regenerative agriculture practices to improve soil health and encourage biodiversity. In addition, experts explore novel approaches in dairy farming that have potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the areas of cow feed and manure management.

Jeroen Dijkman, Head of Nestlé Institute of Agricultural Sciences, said: “Our goal is to identify the most promising solutions to promote the production of nutritious raw materials while minimizing their environmental impact. We take a holistic approach and look at several factors including impact on yield, carbon footprint, food safety and cost, as well as the viability of scale-up.”

As part of Nestlé’s global R&D network, the institute collaborates closely with external partners including farmers, universities, research organizations, startups and industry partners to assess and develop science-based solutions. The new institute reaffirms the company’s commitment to strengthening Switzerland’s unique innovation ecosystem.

Speaking at the official opening, Valérie Dittli, State Councilor of the Swiss Canton of Vaud, said: “The new institute is strengthening the Canton of Vaud as a center of excellence for research and education in agriculture and nutrition. It also contributes to the efforts that are underway to support farmers in the face of climate change. Agriculture is at the core of quality nutrition and in the Canton of Vaud we can count on an innovative ecosystem that brings together partners including agricultural professionals, schools for higher education and private research centers such as the one from Nestlé.”

In addition to its new facilities at Nestlé Research in Switzerland, the institute incorporates an existing plant science research unit in France, and farms based in Ecuador, Côte d’Ivoire and Thailand, as well as partnerships with research farms.

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