Mars and Unreasonable Group collaboration will work together with fifteen rapid growth ventures across five continents in the first year, supporting sustainability and Net Zero by 2050.CHICAGO, April 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, as part of the Unreasonable Food ™ collaboration, Mars and Unreasonable Group announced the inaugural cohort of companies positioned to re-define our food systems. Mars in collaboration with Unreasonable Group, has helped select fifteen purpose-led, growth stage ventures and their leaders, for their potential to drive impact at scale across the food value chain. This next stage of the Unreasonable Food program will positively impact sustainability goals – including the Mars Net Zero Roadmap and 2030 goals of reducing emissions by 50% and beyond.Mars and Unreasonable Group announced the inaugural cohort of companies positioned to re-define our food systems.To identify the Unreasonable Food inaugural cohort, the selection committee reviewed a host of innovative and entrepreneurial disrupters in the food space, all focused on four distinct pillars: Shaping the Future of Food, Improving Farmer Livelihood, Transforming Food Supply Chains, and Reimagining Sustainable Packaging.Mars and Unreasonable Group have selected the first Unreasonable Food ventures, which consists of fifteen cohorts that are headquartered across five continents, operating in nearly forty countries around the globe. The ventures were chosen through a rigorous selection process based on factors such as their problem statement and solution mind-set, technology readiness and differentiation, funding and traction, potential impact, scalability, and timeline to partner."We are excited to welcome these ventures to the Unreasonable Food family," said Daniel Epstein, CEO of Unreasonable Group. "Their innovative solutions and commitment to creating a more regenerative, inclusive, and equitable future of food align perfectly with our mission. We look forward to supporting their growth and connecting them with Mars to drive lasting mutual impact and value."Mars recently unveiled its innovative open-source action plan—the Mars Net Zero Roadmap—to accelerate action toward achieving Net Zero emissions, which includes a new target to cut carbon in half by 2030 across its full value chain

Once lauded as the next big thing for the agrifoodtech industry and a solution to climate change, agroforestry carbon farming services face a tough road ahead: in the first half of 2024, they raised just one-tenth of the $100 million raised in the same period a year earlier.Agroforestry carbon services companies support farmers and foresters in adopting sustainable and regenerative practices that sequester and store carbon, earning them carbon credits to trade on the voluntary carbon market. Credits must be measured and certified before trading — typically using “measurement, reporting, and verification” (MRV) services, and then traded on marketplaces; some companies do both.Engaging farmers remains a significant challenge, however. According to a 2024 Purdue survey, low ROI is a major barrier, with only 8% of respondents discussing carbon capture and contracts with companies. As a result, agricultural carbon credits presently account for just over 1% of total carbon credits issued.But the industry has also seen its fair share of controversy, including high-profile scandals involving carbon certification and offset providers like South Pole and Verra, which were investigated for allegedly providing fake certifications for carbon offsetting programs. These issues, coupled with a drop in funding in 2023, kicked off a turbulent period for the industry, perhaps surprising some venture capital firms, several of whom had identified carbon as a category to invest in for that year.The broader economic environment has certainly posed difficulties too; the second half of 2022 saw the end of cheap money and inflated tech valuations due to war, high inflation, and supply chain disruptions. This shift significantly impacted the entire agrifoodtech funding landscape, which had reached a record $51.7 billion in 2021, to backtrack to $32 billion in 2022, and then plummet to below $16 billion in 2023.When in 2023 AgFunder polled a range of venture capital investors focused on foodtech and agtech to get their predictions for the year, several respondents mentioned carbon as a key area of interest for investors and innovators