From chicken guts to stevia, Cargill wants to be an 'innovation brand'

Cargill is using advanced DNA sequencing technology to improve the health and productivity of chicken flocks in a not quite technical-sounding way: by looking at their poop.

Like with humans, a healthy gut can indicate a happy life for poultry. Pairing the feces findings with artificial intelligence can guide nutritional or management fixes that ensure chickens have optimal microbiomes.

"You make the chicken flocks more productive, so you have less loss, higher yields and a lower greenhouse gas footprint," said Florian Schattenmann, vice president of research and development and chief technical officer at Cargill.

The chicken project is one example of a growing focus on innovation at the Minnetonka-based agribusiness, which netted the company several accolades this year.

"It's all about the best people, attracting top talent, and that's why we've become much more outgoing around this," Schattenmann said. "As we talk about innovation more, we've become an innovation brand."

Without the pressures of quarterly reports and activist investors, the private company and its 2,000-member global R & D team has been able to take bigger swings on solving problems like feeding a growing population more sustainably, he said.

Cargill is frequently in the crosshairs of activist groups, given its influence in the global food supply and issues like deforestation. But it's the reality of running a business that drives advancements in sustainability.

There is no shortage of problems to solve through innovation. At the highest level, the global food supply remains on a razor's edge and, as recent years have shown, can easily fluctuate.

"Global food production systems remain vulnerable to risks from extreme weather events, rising geopolitical tensions and policy changes, potentially tipping the delicate demand-supply balances and dampening prospects for international trade in food commodities and global food security," a recent report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said.

At the consumer level, a recent CoBank report showed shoppers will continue to seek out sustainability but call out brands that don't back up their marketing.

"Brands large and small face persistent allegations of greenwashing," wrote Billy Roberts, senior food and beverage analyst at CoBank. "Reaching consumers with a sustainability message will demand greater transparency from brands, in both operations and throughout the supply chain."

For Schattenmann and his team, which operate in the center of the supply chain sourcing and processing ingredients, the focus becomes: "What else can we do?"

Schattenmann joined Cargill five years ago after heading up research and development at Dow. While the German-born scientist's career has largely been in the petroleum business, he sees opportunities to do with plants what petrochemical companies do with oil, like petroleum jelly.

"We've designed a plant-based alternative that has the same effect on your skin but from renewable resources," he said.

Cargill also acquired parts of a British company last year that makes a vegetable oil additive for traditional plastics that helps increase how many times it can recycle. The Croda deal cost about $1 billion.

Acquisitions and outside partnerships are part of the firm's overall innovation strategy, Schattenmann said.

"Scientific knowledge is exploding, so you have to collaborate," he said. "It's really about maximizing impact with minimal resources."

Cargill has also started taking the remains of juiced citrus fruits for beauty products after finding the fibrous parts can replace oil-based ingredients used to modify textures.

"It's on-trend because people want to be chemical-free or silicone-free or acrylic-free," Schattenmann said. "But also it allows us to use 97 percent of the original citrus fruit."

It all comes down to doing more with less, especially as every day there are more mouths to feed and a limited capacity for the planet to provide.