Bühler, the Swiss technology group has this month, opened its new center for food innovations in Uzwil, Switzerland. It combines diverse competencies at a single location and sets new standards for product and process development. Four application and training centers – the Flavor Creation Center, the Food Creation Center, the Protein Application Center and the Energy Recovery Center – have opened their doors to customers and complement the existing centers, such as the Extrusion Application Center. The new centers connect the entire value chain and enable a circular economy approach to food production. With Bühler’s state-of-the-art infrastructure and team of experts, customers have an ideal environment to respond to market changes and shape the food of the future.

“In a world where requirements are changing so rapidly, customers need flexibility and creativity to adapt their products to take into account important aspects such as sustainability, the use of local raw materials, healthy nutrition and affordability,” says Johannes Wick, CEO of Grains & Food at Bühler. “With the completion of the new application and training centers, we are able to cover the entire production range, from different raw materials to a variety of end products. This means we can offer our customers enormous flexibility and the options they need to open up new markets.” 

Bühler operates application and training centers at 23 locations worldwide, some of which are suitable for multiple industrial applications. They offer special training courses for customers and act as a common platform to test new ideas and experiment with new products. In recent years, Bühler has expanded its global network of application centers and brought together new business partners, academic researchers, start-ups and suppliers with the aim of offering customers a state-of-the-art environment to drive innovation. In October, Bühler opened the Tropical Food Innovation Lab in Brazil together with the Institute of Food Technology (Ital), the FoodTech HUB Latam, Cargill and Givaudan. This innovative network develops sustainable food and drinks while promoting Brazil’s biodiversity. 

Enabling innovation through synergy effects 

The opening of the new Flavor Creation Center, the Food Creation Center, the Protein Application Center and the Energy Recovery Center as well as the existing application and training centers in Uzwil make this location a one-stop shop for Bühler customers worldwide. “The opening of the application and training centers is an important milestone in our efforts to support our customers and partners in the development of a more sustainable food system,” says Ian Roberts, CTO of Bühler. “In the new centers, customers have access to a unique combination of technology and know-how.” 

The new Protein Application Center offers process solutions for ingredients and consumer products under one roof. The center will promote the expansion of knowledge and advance the development of processes for the production of plant-based foods, including meat substitutes, beverages and ingredients. Equipped with the latest wet isolation and fractionation techniques for the separation of proteins, starch and fibers, the center will be operated in collaboration with Bühler’s partner endeco and will include the Grain Innovation Center, the Extrusion Application Center, the Pasta Application Center, the Food Creation Center, connecting the Flavor Creation Center and the Energy Recovery Center.  

The Extrusion Application Center, where 80 to 90 trials are carried out per year, will be closely linked to the new Protein Application Center, providing the unique opportunity to optimize the entire process solution from raw materials to end products. In this multi-purpose laboratory, customers can carry out tests on food and feed and test new recipes, product formats and properties.     

The Flavor Creation Center brings together Bühler’s proven expertise in processing, roasting and grinding cocoa beans, nuts and coffee in one place to create incomparable flavors and exquisite products. The center, which has been processing coffee since 2013 and cocoa and nuts since 2022, has been modernized and renovated. It offers product innovation, training, process optimization and raw material analysis and works in harmony with Bühler’s Chocolate Application Center, Food Creation Center and Energy Recovery Center. 

Whether it’s snack bars, waffles, cookies, crackers, baked goods of all kinds or chocolate products – the new Food Creation Center was developed to support customers throughout the entire innovation and industrialization process. On an area of ​​850 square meters, the center combines cutting-edge technology, analytical services, product and process development, workshops and training. 

Integrated energy efficiency solutions 

Together, the application and training centers in Uzwil produce around 550 tons of biomass every year. To make optimal use of the waste and by-products generated in the centers, Bühler and its strategic partner Vyncke built the Energy Recovery Center, which functions as a heating system for Bühler’s headquarters. The Energy Recovery Center also serves as a demonstration and testing platform for customers who want to reduce carbon footprint, waste production and energy costs through the use of side streams. “Energy production from biomass as an integrated component of process solutions for food has not yet been consistently developed and therefore has enormous potential, both from an economic and sustainable perspective,” says Johannes Wick. “The Bühler-Vyncke Energy Recovery Center is an important step for us in implementing our sustainability goals and is intended to serve as an example of energy recovery options in food and feed production.” 

Scalable transformative impact 

Bühler’s partnerships enable the development of cutting-edge technologies and new forms of collaboration with customers and partners. Milling Solutions, together with the other business areas, has begun construction of the new Grain Innovation Center in Uzwil, where Bühler will develop, test and scale sustainable and efficient solutions for grain and feed processing together with its customers and partners, to improve food and feed. The focus is on yield, quality, energy efficiency and flexibility of the systems as well as nutritious and tasty recipes based on a wide range of grains and legumes. The center is scheduled to be operational at the end of 2024.

“More than the impressive capabilities of each new application and training center we have invested in, they are designed to work holistically and offer a complete process so that customers can get the most out of it and achieve measurable and remarkable results.” says Johannes Wick. 

You can find out more about each of the application and training centers by clicking on the links below:  

• Energy Recovery Center 
• Extrusion Application Center 
• Flavor Creation Center 
• Food Creation Center 
• Protein Application Center

About Bühler

Bühler’s goal is to create innovations for a better world. To achieve this, the company intends to harmonize the needs of the economy, people and nature. As an important solution partner for the food and mobility industries, Bühler has developed a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its operations by 60% by 2030 (Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Scopes 1 & 2, base year 2019). The company is also committed to offering scalable solutions that reduce energy, waste and water in its customers’ value chains by 50% by 2025. Billions of people come into contact with Bühler technologies every day to meet their basic needs for food and mobility. Two billion people eat food produced on Bühler systems every day. One billion people travel in vehicles whose parts were produced using Bühler technologies. Countless people wear glasses, use smartphones and read newspapers and magazines. They are all manufactured using Bühler process technologies and solutions. Thanks to this global relevance, Bühler is in a unique position to transform today’s challenges into sustainable business areas. Bühler contributes to feeding the world safely. And the company contributes to climate protection by producing solutions that lead to more energy-efficient cars, buildings and systems.

Bühler invests up to 5% of sales annually in research and development. In 2022, around 12,700 employees generated sales of CHF 3.0 billion. The Swiss family company is active in 140 countries around the world and operates a global network of 105 service stations, 30 production plants and application centers in 23 countries. Find out more on their website.

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Our current agrifood systems impose huge hidden costs on our health, the environment and society, equivalent to at least $10 trillion a year, according to a ground-breaking analysis by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), covering 154 countries. This represents almost 10 percent of global GDP.

The State of Food and Agriculture 2023

According to the 2023 edition of The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), the biggest hidden costs (more than 70 percent) are driven by unhealthy diets, high in ultra-processed foods, fats and sugars, leading to obesity and non-communicable diseases, and causing labour productivity losses. Such losses are particularly high in high- and upper-middle-income countries.

One fifth of the total costs are environment-related, from greenhouse gas and nitrogen emissions, land-use change and water use. This is a problem that affects all countries, and the scale is probably underestimated due to data limitations.

Low-income countries are proportionately the hardest hit by hidden costs of agrifood systems, which represent more than a quarter of their GDP, as opposed to less than 12 percent in middle-income countries and less than 8 percent in high-income countries. In low-income countries, hidden costs associated with poverty and undernourishment are the most significant.

More tracking to drive effective mitigation

The report makes the case for more regular and detailed analysis by governments and the private sector of the hidden or ‘true’ costs of agrifood systems via true cost accounting, followed by actions to mitigate these harms.

There have been other attempts at measuring the hidden costs of agrifood systems, producing similar estimates as FAO. The new FAO report, however, is the first to disaggregate these costs down to the national level and ensure they are comparable across cost categories and between countries.

For the first time ever, FAO will dedicate two consecutive editions of The State of Food and Agriculture to the same theme. This year’s report presents initial estimates, while next year’s will focus on in-depth targeted assessments to identify the best ways to mitigate them. Governments can pull different levers to adjust agrifood systems and drive better outcomes overall. Taxes, subsidies, legislation and regulation are among them.

A call to action

Commenting on the publication of the report, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said, “In the face of escalating global challenges: food availability, food accessibility and food affordability; climate crisis; biodiversity loss; economic slowdowns and downturns; worsening poverty; and other overlapping crises, the future of our agrifood systems hinges on our willingness to appreciate all food producers, big or small, to acknowledge these true costs, and understand how we all contribute to them, and what actions we need to take. I hope that this report will serve as a call to action for all partners – from policymakers and private-sector actors to researchers and consumers – and inspire a collective commitment to transform our agrifood systems for the betterment of all,”

The report urges governments to use true cost accounting to transform agrifood systems to address the climate crisis, poverty, inequality and food security. It notes that innovations in research and data, as well as investments in data collection and capacity building, will be needed to scale the application of true cost accounting, so it can inform decision-making in a transparent and consistent way.

Switzerland: high costs relating to the burden of disease

The figures set out in the report reveal that Switzerland’s climate cost are proportionately comparable with other Western European countries. The hidden costs on our land are lower (1% compared with 4% Western European average) but nitrogen costs are higher (12% compared with 8%). Switzerland’s hidden social costs, just like other European countries, were calculated to be minimal, but costs resulting from the burden of disease due to dietary patterns were higher than the global average (84% compared with 73%), calculated to be in the region of 18,781 million each year.

Read the full report | Explore the interactive story

About FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Their goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With 195 members – 194 countries and the European Union, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide.

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Vivent, the Swiss-based developer of “wearables for plants”, has announced that Pymwymic, a leading impact investor, and Horticoop, a cooperative of about 400 members active in Horticulture globally have acquired a significant new stake in the company to help accelerate its expansion to new markets.

Both Netherlands-based investors recognise the transformative effect Vivent’s crop health solutions have in improving the profitability of growers and the sustainability of food production. Vivent co-founder and CEO, Carrol Plummer commented on the deal by saying “We are delighted to have Pymwymic and Horticoop join our ownership group, as we increase sales and refine product offerings for new agricultural sectors. They are both driven by deep connections with sustainable agriculture and their involvement reinforces the industry’s growing interest in plant centered cultivation.”

Vivent pioneers unique AI-enabled technology that gives farmers and agtech businesses early warnings of disease, pests, nutrient deficiencies, and water stress, using biological signals from the plants themselves. Vivent’s wearables for plants provide alerts long before visual symptoms appear so growers can treat plants earlier. Vivent’s biosensor is the first commercial crop health diagnostic system based on plant electrophysiology – internal electrical signals plants use to coordinate growth, reproduction and defence.

“Using recent advances in machine learning, we can now decipher the internal network in plants and learn exactly what they need ,” says Dr Nigel Wallbridge, Vivent co-founder. “With our new investors we can deliver plant-driven, responsive, sustainable agricultural systems of all kinds.”

The technology leads to optimised growing recipes, increased yields, and improved crop protection effectiveness. It also encourages the adoption of environmentally preferable crop protection solutions – so more food with fewer inputs.

“We are convinced of the disruptive potential of the technology and hence excited about supporting the team at Vivent,” says Wilco Schoonderbeek, Director Investments at Horticoop BV.

Vivent solutions are successfully deployed in greenhouses and indoor farms and are increasingly used for field-grown crops, like potatoes, apples, grapes, canola and sugar beet, meaning it can serve a wide range of growers and crops across Europe and North America.  

In addition, Vivent also works with suppliers of innovative agricultural technology, including crop protection products, fertilizers, irrigation systems and supplementary lighting to demonstrate plant responses these treatments. Plant breeders can quickly assess the resilience of new plant varieties to a wide range of crop stressors. 

“We are delighted to support Vivent on their journey to unlock the ‘language of plants’ and deepen our knowledge of how to manage plant stress. It is remarkable to  see precisely how plants respond to stressors in the environment and to learn how we can use these signals to support better crop management in the face of climate change,” Commented Monique Meulemans, Pymwymic Investment Manager.

About Pymwymic

Pymwymic has taken a frontrunner role in the transition towards investing with care for both people and planet since 1994. Backed by 200 individuals, families, entrepreneurs and angel investors and joined by institutional investors, we have launched two Sustainable Development Goals-focused impact funds. Pymwymic’s Healthy Ecosystems Impact Fund I (closed in 2021) has nine portfolio companies (of which two exited) building solutions to preserve and restore our ecosystems. We are currently investing through the Healthy Food Systems Impact Fund II, supporting the change making entrepreneurs who are transforming our food system from farm to fork.  To find out more visit their website.

About Horticoop

Horticoop, founded in 1904 and supported by approximately 400 members who operate professional greenhouse horticultural businesses and with companies active in the fields of lighting, climate, technology and substrates for the industry , invests in companies at various stages of maturity that are transforming Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). With long-term investments and by connecting members and businesses, we are creating a healthy future for CEA, transforming an industry that must meet the need of a growing population while promoting sustainable resource management practices. You can find out more here.

About Vivent

Vivent was founded by well-known serial entrepreneurs Carrol Plummer and Dr. Nigel Wallbridge, who have now applied their information processing and telecommunication system skills to biological networking, with an initial focus on crops. Vivent’s team of expert plant and data scientist and experienced commercial people have worked with leading agricultural institutes, universities, crop protection companies and growers to validate this innovative approach. Vivent’s focus is on high-tech indoor growing operations and high-value outdoor crops. More information is available on their website.

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We recently welcomed HES-SO – the largest specialized university in Switzerland – into the Valley community. So we thought it was time to sit down with Sergio Schmid, Head of the Institute of Life Technologies at HES-SO Valais, to chat about their contribution to the food ecosystem and explore how other Valley partners can connect into their work.

Can you tell us a bit more about the School of Engineering and the Institute of Life Technologies at HES-SO?

Certainly. HES-SO’s School of Engineering is a vibrant and welcoming community of students, professors and researchers. Every year, about 470 students follow our Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes. We also work with many PhD students in collaboration with partner universities in Switzerland and around the world.

Which topics do you and colleagues focus on? 

Food and sustainability are key topics for us. Our Sustainable Food Systems research group, for example, covers the production and development of food products. They take an interdisciplinary approach, exploring consumer needs, expectations and preferences and considering how food systems need to change to mitigate climate change. 

The topics we tackle can vary greatly. Our teams have recently focused on developing new processing approaches that help plant-based proteins reach price parity with animal-based proteins. Other colleagues have been exploring the potential of new bioplastics and how waste can be valorised through food technology and biotechnology. 

How do you collaborate with partners and companies?

We actually develop around 200 projects a year, and most of these are joint projects with industry partners. We pride ourselves on finding ways to transform cutting-edge science and technology into solutions that can directly benefit the partners we work alongside. 

We’re also fortunate to have a pilot plant. This means that we can initially carry out research on a pilot scale that can then be easily implemented on an industrial scale. This is often particularly valuable to smaller partners who aren’t yet able to invest in their own facilities and equipment.  

We like to actively anticipate what support industry partners might need and work alongside them to develop new processes that enable them to innovate. But we also encourage companies to reach out to us about their specific challenges and would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with innovators who might be looking for a research partner. 

How does HES-SO contribute to developing the food innovation ecosystem? 

As a University of Applied Sciences, we ensure that the knowledge gained through our extensive research collaborations flows back into our courses. This means that our students are aware of the latest trends and how companies are responding to them – and are prepared to tackle real-life challenges in their careers after graduation.

At the same time, we encourage all our students to apply their knowledge and learn by doing throughout their studies. We see this as one of our key contributions to shaping the innovation ecosystem: we grow the talent that will shape the future of food. 
 

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