FoodHQ puts down roots
Organisation driving change across food industry and connecting food innovators
What did you have for breakfast today? And for dinner last night? The food we might eat in 2040 or 2050 is probably not the food we eat now, FoodHQ chief executive Dr Victoria Hatton says.
Palmerston North-based company FoodHQ bills itself as where food ideas meet science and as helping shape the future of food.
Hatton has been in the job a year and is celebrating FoodHQ now having a visible presence.
It has taken over the lease of the former Massey Agricultural College dairy factory.
The building on Dairy Farm Rd is owned by AgResearch and used to be known as The Factory.
Hatton’s office is in the old boiler room.
Her vision is to create a thriving hub where people can come and talk about all things food.
FoodHQ was established in 2013 and is a collaboration between companies and research and educational institutions including AgResearch, Plant & Food Research, Fonterra and Massey University.
Hatton has discovered very few people know about FoodHQ and she hopes moving from a tiny room to a building with visibility will improve that and make it easier to talk about FoodHQ.
“The ability to take a physical stand and say this is us and where we are is exciting, and it is poignant that this is 10 years on from the initiation of FoodHQ.”
Hatton wants to provide opportunities for people to talk about what they are doing, as she says when you get people in a room they think about things they wouldn’t normally think about.
Last month, FoodHQ hosted 45 diplomats from 21 countries plus the European Union, who were in Palmerston North for the Festival of Cultures.
FoodHQ’s objectives are to drive change across the food industry, connect food innovators, and to catalyse innovation by sparking ideas.
Given the food we eat in 25 years is likely to be different from what we munch now, Hatton says we need to start thinking about the research and development, infrastructure, policy and regulations required.
What scaffolding is needed around food and food production to build a future-proof food system?
Last year, FoodHQ released a report, Unleashing Aotearoa New Zealand’s next protein revolution, which identified four emerging proteins New Zealand could explore further or advance: leafy greens, fungi, hemp and seaweed.
Hatton says a key part of her job is to excite others about FoodHQ’s vision so they want to be engaged and share resources.
There is a mismatch between what science is doing and what industry wants and her job is to bring the two together so science is more agile to meet the needs of industry.
She advocates for greater collaboration, food innovation and investment among researchers, industry and policymakers to advance the food industry.
Hatton says the FoodHQ board is
amazing and is the reason she took the job, moving from Auckland where she was sustainability and climate change director at PwC New Zealand.
Hatton has a PhD in geography and social anthropology from the University of Leicester in England. She explored ways to help people participate in local planning.
How do people organise themselves and speak to each other? How do they influence or manipulate others? Who was missing from planning discussions?
The research helped her understand what drives people enabling her to see what they want and how she can help them get what they want while also delivering what she wants.
She also has an honours degree in climate change from the University of Cambridge and moved to New Zealand in 2005 to take up a job at Massey University.
FoodHQ is working to develop a series of think pieces to disrupt conversations about food production, science and innovation. The first article in the series, Gene Genius: how gene technology is changing the future of food, was launched this week.
In June, Hatton will speak at E Tipu: The Boma Agri Summit, which is being held in Palmerston North for the first time.
Palmerston North City Council and Fonterra own 20 per cent each of FoodHQ Innovation Limited and Plant & Food Research 60 per cent. Plant & Food Research chief executive Mark Piper chairs FoodHQ’s board.