What if our farmers could earn ten times more money per hectare while protecting the planet?
This is the business model proposed by Belgian industrialist Gunther Pauli, and the idea is gaining ground!
The idea is simple: by drawing inspiration from nature, we can develop a sustainable economy based on mobilizing local businesses, using local resources and recycling waste.
It’s no longer a question of finding the cheapest price, but of generating the most value. In economics, value is more important than volume, not volume.
As an example, Pauli tells us about coffee: “We only use 0.2% of the coffee harvest from Ethiopia, Colombia, etc., because we only give value to the few soluble milligrams in our coffee. We said to ourselves: “No, we have to use all of it, to have a fair price and to have a value reflecting the reality of the product.”
So we developed solid coffee: in other words, with cascara, the roasted coffee beans, we also produce energy bars. The recipe is simple: we add cocoa butter and we have a product to eat that is also rich in caffeine and antioxidants. A product with high added value.
Coffee grounds are also a very good substrate with which to grow mushrooms. These mushrooms are then sold, and with the mushroom waste, which is rich in amino acids, we feed the chickens.
I’ve got an egg, chickens, mushrooms, soluble coffee, solid coffee and I’ve given value to cascara. That’s what nature does all the time. We generate dozens of times more value, a lot more jobs and at the end of the day, we satisfy a lot more of everyone’s basic needs.”
To find out more, take a look at this video interview that’s sure to impress!
