How a maverick approach can supercharge innovation here on Earth – meet keynote speaker Scott Amyx
In the lead up to evokeAG. 2023 – Down to Earth we’re getting to know some of our speakers, and we’re delighted to introduce you to keynote speaker Scott Amyx, Managing Partner at Astor Perkins.
Here Scott shares with us what he is most passionate about agrifood tech innovation, his predictions for how space tech and agrifood tech will ‘collide’ and the importance of interdisciplinary global collaboration to solve on-farm challenges in Australia.
What are you most passionate about in agriculture and agrifood tech innovation?
As the adverse impact and severity of climate change worsen, I am passionate about agrifood tech innovation and agriculture best practices that can thrive under heavy constraints — drought, increase and/or variability in temperature, pests, microbial & fungal diseases, heavy rain and/or flooding or worse.
What are your top predictions on how space tech will support agrifood tech innovation globally in ten years’ time (2032)?
Many scientists justifiably argue that terraforming inhospitable Mars is infeasible if not foolhardy. As a human species, if we are to survive in space, one of the biggest challenges to overcome is the production of life-supporting food in space. As we go further into deep space, we won’t always have a sun for photosynthesis, H2O, fertile soil, or reactive nitrogen. Deep space represents the harshest conditions for agriculture, including but not limited to microgravity, lighting, pressure, and increased radiation that can damage plant DNA.
By 2032, space tech could support agrifood tech innovation through:
- Continued advancement in plant genome editing with CRISPR/Cas9 to address the aforementioned issues mentioned above
- Astroculture plant experiments to optimise growth and yield in inhospitable, harsh conditions
- In-space greenhouse structures that can help inform better in-door, underground, and container vertical farming on Earth
- Advancement in culture, production, and storage of cell-based, cultured meat, seafood, fruits, and vegetables
- Dynamic agriculture, on a season-by-season basis, based on terrestrial sensors and LEO CubeSats data modeling.
How can we leverage researchers and innovators from the global pool to solve local problems in agriculture?
Some of this is already happening. From interdisciplinary, global collaboration projects, guest expert researchers at local institutions, open source research, data (IoT and synthetic data), and tools (AI/ML/DD) to finetuning global research models to address specific local problems in agriculture, there is already great efforts made to leverage best practices and research for local and regional applications.
More practically, to further amplify these efforts, funding, policies, and incentive structures need to be enhanced for maximum cooperation and collaboration.
To read the full article, visit https://evokeag.com/evokeag-keynote-scott-amyx/
ABOUT ASTOR PERKINS
Astor Perkins is a deep tech and sustainability VC that backs mavericks solving some of the hardest problems facing humanity on Earth and in space.
From climate change mitigation and adaptation, longevity and human survival on Earth and in deep space, to the space economy itself, We are tackling some of the most difficult scientific, engineering and technical problems that have global market potential.
Sector Coverage
Survival & longevity, biotech, life sciences, health, agtech, foodtech, climate change mitigation & adaptation, sustainability, impact investing, AI/ML/DL/NN, robotics, autonomy, autonomous vehicles, cybersecurity, renewable energy & storage, hydrogen, nuclear fusion, quantum computing, quantum information/ teleportation, space, rockets, satellites, satellite servicing, space tourism, space stations, lunar moon base, asteroid mining, and terraforming.
