The future of food security with Dr. Michael Gilbert and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois

CIBC Innovation Banking Podcast

The global food supply chain is the world’s largest and most interconnected market and the COVID-19 pandemic has quickly proven that the weakest links in this supply chain are only magnified by complex economic and political issues. When we’re talking about something as paramount as access and affordability of food, some of the numbers are staggering. In this episode we speak with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and Semios’ CEO Dr. Michael Gilbert about the global state of food security and how Semios’ technology is working to improve the global food supply chain and create a more sustainable agriculture industry.

The first step to solving a problem is quantifying it.

Most of the problems on a farm are influenced by two key factors: heat and water. This is pivotal for agriculture technology companies like Semios because by simply tracking these two factors they can build out robust and comprehensive product offerings that help farmers do their jobs.

Farmers are limited by available technologies.

Imposing restrictions like a carbon tax can have evident benefits, but ultimately, farmers are at the mercy of available technology. To dry grains at harvest requires propane, there is no other available technology. How do innovators and policy makers develop solutions that benefit both the agriculture industry and the public while solving global issues like climate change?

Food security is a global issue but it hits closer to home than you might think.

Sometimes countries tend to think of themselves as in isolation from everyone else. In reality, that’s not the case at all.. People care about eating local and understanding where their food comes from, but remaining competitive in the global market boils down to technology and how we can build economies of scale.

CIBC Innovation Banking is a trusted financial partner to entrepreneurs and investors. Get in touch with our team at cibc.com/innovationbanking.

This episode of The CIBC Innovation Banking Podcast was produced by Quill.