THE PELICAN BEAK
Food & Farming Content to Save the Planet 🥕
HAY folks, it’s Christopher, Simon & Julia from PELICAN AG VC our Nature, Food & Farming Venture Fund (join our webinar on May 21 to hear more). We invest in early-stage innovators who’re outstanding in their field 👨🌾🐄🥕 Here we bring content that matters, and shine light on a hopeful future☀️
⛈️ Despite having the wettest 18 months on record, farmers not getting onto fields & temperatures in Antarctica being ‘simply mind boggling’ (38.5 degrees over average), 🌈 there’s a lot going in the right direction for nature, food & farming. First that South Park have solved our national food guidelines:
🍟 Big Food’s being called out: ‘they can’t control themselves, we need Government intervention’ -☝️ our friends Dr Chris van Tulleken & Henry Dimbleby’s testimony to the Lords, Food, Diet & Obesity Committee. 🚬 Ultra processed food deemed the new smoking. 🍪 Nestlé shareholders set targets for unhealthy products. Defra to make food labelling clearer. Big Food funders of the British Nutrition Foundation called out ✊
👨🌾🐄🥕Farming with nature: ‘More diversity on farm = more yield & more food security’ says a 2000 farm, 11 country study. 🤠 Carbon Cowboys on why regenerative grazing is the best way to farm drought affected areas.
🐮 The world’s most expensive cow sells for $4.3m, a Brazilian Nelore, prized for drought & heat tolerance.
🐔 95% of chicken we eat comes from intensive farming. The Soil Association show intensive farmings effects on water catchment, biodiversity & poor nutritional density. Law firm take on Industrialised Chicken for Wye river devastation.
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🦢 Friend of the fund Benedict Macdonald, wins contract to restore largest natural grassland in UK. We love a story about Pelicans as bellwethers for functioning wetlands, here they’re also bringing a community in the Balkans together.
🌳 How Nepal doubled its forest cover.
🦫 A single beaver pond holds 1.1m gallons of water, how they affect landscapes.
🐛Common Ground’s Josh Tickell talks 🦠 Biology vs Chemisty 🧪 for feeding our planet:
Mesmerising aerial shots of man’s largest scaring of the earth’s surface; Burntynsky presents mining & agriculture vs nature, and where it’s being restored.
Plants talking to each other, caught on camera:
Fungi & the web of Life: we understand c.2% of our soil, fungi connect all life in our forest and we’ve only discovered 5%; Bjork x Merlin Sheldrake discuss. Also watch the real time carbon flow within myccorzial hyphae via SPUN.
We’ll need a lot more of these, as farmers are paid to restore hedgerows; a day in the life of a hedge layer:
- READ & LEARN -
Landmark study demonstrates carbon sequestration potential of rewilding in the UK:
🌅 “The fact that carbon sequestration rates in rewilding projects are as fast as woodland planting over the first 20 years, is a world changing piece of research. With only 26 years until 2050, climate solutions that are truly focussed on biodiversity are absolutely critical to meeting global climate & biodiversity commitments. This report will finally enable focussed investment into rewilding and biodiversity through the voluntary carbon markets.” - Ivan de Klee Project Initiator, Nattergal
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🌏 101 on global food system brittleness: how sensitive is it to changing climate & water temp? Must watch by the mighty Prof Tim Benton:
- LISTEN -
🥼 Fake meat, fake milk, fake eggs banned in some US states, Vox explores why.
🦪 How Oysters save coastlines by Gastropod.
🧠 How psychotherapy affects metabolism by Brain Energiser Dr Chris Palmer.
- PELICANS ON THE WING - Where We’ve Been & Where We’re Going
🤟JOIN US ON 21st MAY, as Pelican Ag host a webinar with the RFSI, exploring the key role that venture capital plays in scaling regenerative agriculture & food production: Thanks 8point9 for the shout out (please subscribe to their brilliant newsletter!) 🙏
- Pelican Ag taking flight- Our NEWS -
🚀 We’ve been non-stop closing 3 investments in the last 7 weeks: backing soil measurement, biodiversity monitoring & natural capital platforms 👏
Portfolio company news:
Pelican Ag’s investment into Mirattera announced here, alongside Lukas Walton’s S2G, Tom Chi’s At One Ventures and Cisco.
MAD CAPITAL backed by Builders Vision, The Rockefeller Foundation & Schmidt Family Foundation.
FA BIO secure £5.3 million from 3 top Impact VCs to protect natural ecosystems by identifying superior microbial bio-products that will improve soil health & boost crop production.
VISIT 🧑🌾 : Wild Ken Hill remarkable farmers in West Norfolk offering nature & regen farming tours 🐄
STAY 🥄 : Coombshead: Guesthouse bakery and working farm in Cornwall.
SHOUT OUT 🔊 : to Regen farming publication Eight Point Nine and the work they do to raise the benchmark on sustainable farming reportage. Please follow.
You’ve reached the end! Please share this newsletter & spread the word. It’s the best way for us to grow 🙏 Thanks for staying tuned
Chris, Simon & Julia
Still scrolling?
- WE LOVE -
🐑 Sheep farmer Marian Porter with one of the greatest lamb rescues we’ve seen! 🤩
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Send in anything we should cover & see y’all next month!
Back by popular demand, the Pelican Beak Playlist:
