Nussbaumer, who grew up in the Yorkton area, and now lives in Saskatoon, will be in China from November 6-13. The event is a platform for top talents from all over the world, who are working on solutions to the United Nations SDGs.
Over 8,000 young people applied to attend UNLEASH and Rory Nussbaumer was one of 1,000 young people from more than 186 countries selected to attend UNLEASH after being deemed one of the next leaders in their field.
The application process was in video and essay format that he submitted in competition with 8,000 other individuals across the world. UNLEASH picks talents based on the following five criteria:
· Demonstrated commitment to solving some of the world’s pressing challenges.
· Possession of a creative and innovative mindset.
· Proven track record of making contributions to solving social causes.
· Willingness to engage in co-creation with peers and exports.
· High proficiency in English and the ability to engage in complex discussions.
The opportunity is one that builds on a continuing interest for Nussbaumer who graduated from Yorkton Regional High School in 2010.
“When I was in University, I got the opportunity to go to the Globe Series Forum in Vancouver in 2016 to learn about the business and economics of sustainability,” he told Yorkton This Week. “Globe Series is the longest running sustainable business summit and innovation showcase in North America. Since 1997, 170,000 people from 97 countries have come to the Globe conference to learn with industry leaders about cutting edge technology like carbon capture and storage, to the future of sustainable food production. This conference excited me about the future economics of sustainability and I then interviewed to be a part of a voluntary side event of the Globe Conference the following year called Leading Change Canada – a conference that brings together 150 young professionals across Canada to learn and network with fellow like-minded individuals.
“As an individual that grew up on a farm, (the son of Dave and Shelley Nussbaumer), with both livestock and grain, the Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production really interested me. The main target of this goal is to ensure a more circular economy – create less waste, by utilizing more by-products. My interests in this are the future of how Saskatchewan agriculture can benefit from our abundance of crop by-products that can be utilized for the switch from crude oil plastics to bioplastics that can be made by using our starches from both pulse crops and canola, to the utilization of other agriculture by-products that can be used for electricity generation and renewable natural gas.”
It’s a case where new markets are opening for farm products as companies look to move to renewable resources.
“We are currently seeing a boom in the demand for pulse based protein,” said Nussbaumer, who is 27 years-old. “One of the by-products of plant protein through the fractionation process of creating pea protein isolate, is a lot of starch. The more lower cost starch supply available is creating an opportunity for a bioplastic industry to form and be competitive with crude oil plastic.
“From the demand for grain-free pet foods to the demand for plant-based meat alternatives in the past decade, Saskatchewan’s pulse crops are currently in very high demand by consumers globally. The largest ingredient in the Beyond Meat burger is pea protein isolate which is derived from Yellow Peas – of which Saskatchewan produces 50 per cent of Canada’s production.
“I like to think that the incoming trend for both starches and proteins from yellow peas is similar to the Canola crush boom that Yorkton experienced in the mid 2000’s with the global switch in demand from butter over to margarine. The prairies are seeing a large amount of investment in pea fractionation facilities that will provide grain producers both a premium similar to what canola crush facilities offer, while also allowing them more economic freedom to add in a nitrogen fixing crop into their crop rotations. To the east of Yorkton, Roquette, is currently constructing a plant that will process 125,000 metric tonnes per year of pulse crops after 2020 in Portage La Prairie Manitoba through a Wet Fractionation process, and to the North West of Yorkton, Verdient Foods is currently operating at 160,000 metric tonnes a year through a Dry Fractionation process.”
During UNLEASH, the 1,000 talents will go through an immersive innovation process facilitated by Deloitte, where they will be collaborating on solutions that can help reach the SDGs by 2030. They will be guided by a group of facilitators with expertise in their field as well as global experts and mentors.
Nussbaumer said he looks forward to the challenge and opportunity the event offers.
“I’ll be working with talents that have a similar interest and focuses in Sustainable Development Goal 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production,” he said.
“We will be working on ideas pitched both by individuals attending the event, and solutions compiled by Deloitte that potential investors are looking to have solved.
“For five days the talents will work long hours together on how to address these challenges while also working with mentors ranging from experts in marketing and finance, to investors potentially interested in the solutions to the ideas after the event.
“The teams will be working in different locations across Shenzhen – a city of a population of over 10 million people.
“Talents like myself focused on SDG 12 will be working at the Silver Star Science and Technology Park, an ecological science park with more than 350 organizations and 2,000 employees working for organizations including Fuji Xerox, Silver Star Intelligent Technology, Shenzhen Digital Life Research Institute.”
Nussbaumer said in a release regarding the upcoming summit that he sees agriculture as being part of the solution to key issues, not a problem itself.
“Agriculture in Saskatchewan is both a solution to greenhouse gas emissions and a solution to non-biodegradable waste. Coming from an agriculture background in both livestock and grain production here in Saskatchewan, I’ve seen opportunities to capitalize on creating value-added opportunities to not only benefit the margins of grain and livestock producers, but benefit the world by making every day consumables more sustainable. These solutions will create a more circular and sustainable economy, while also benefiting Saskatchewan’s agriculture focused economy,” he stated in the release. “I’m very excited to present and build connections around Saskatchewan’s products to other upcoming leaders in the Sustainable Development Goals around the world - from starch by-products from the increased demand for plant-based proteins that can be utilized to make cost efficient biodegradable bioplastics, to the by-products from grains not useable for food consumption that can be utilized to create sustainable low greenhouse gas emitting power – Saskatchewan’s agriculture has the solutions to address climate change and create a low carbon and circular economy.”
Asked to elaborate further on his vision of agriculture’s role, Nussbaumer told Yorkton This Week it is a case of melding the sector’s strengths to address specific issues.
“I think we will see more of the pulse fractionation facilities mentioned above come online into the next decade with meat production organizations like Maple Leaf and Cargill looking to diversify and capitalize on the plant-based consumer demand,” he began. “Our government and private industry is trying to capitalize on this demand with the launch of Protein Industries Canada – a supercluster that is estimated to generate over $700 million in new commercial activity and billions in incremental GDP over the next decade, along with 4,700 new jobs in Canada.”
That will change the dynamics moving forward.
“The current demand for Saskatchewan pulse crops is specifically the pea protein isolate, but over time I think you will see demand for a lot of the starch for biodegradable bioplastics as crude oil plastic represents approximately 10 per cent of worldwide crude oil production,” offered Nussbaumer. “With countries globally banning single use plastics, I think we will also see a trend back towards compostable packaging we used to see in grocery stores, and these products can be created from fibers grown in Saskatchewan from hemp, flax, wheat straw, and more.
“You are also seeing many agriculture producers growing canola year over year, and not introducing more nitrogen fixing crops like pulses in their rotations based on the economics of canola over pulses.
“This new demand for pulse ingredients will hopefully address this issue similar to how agriculture producers grow large quantities of soybeans - which is also nitrogen fixing.”
Nussbaumer said he heads to China with a hope to promote what Saskatchewan can offer in addressing some key global issues.
“My goal at the event is promote how Saskatchewan’s agriculture by-products are solutions to many issues around low emitting energy production, and for biodegradable bioplastics.” he explained. “From starch by-products from the increased demand for plant-based proteins that can be utilized to make cost efficient biodegradable bioplastics, to the by-products from grains not useable for food consumption that can be utilized to create sustainable low greenhouse gas emitting power – I will be promoting Saskatchewan agriculture, and how it has solutions to create a more low carbon economy.
“There is currently a global trend towards governments phasing out single use plastics ranging from plastic bags to plastic water bottles. Between 2010 and 2019, the number of public policies intended to phase out plastic carryout bags alone tripled. One solution no longer utilized crude oil for plastics can be to utilize plant based starches from crops like yellow peas and canola for biodegradable bioplastics.
“Many organizations are working towards a solution of creating a bioplastic from the starch from canola and pulse crops, but are still having an issue with making them fully biodegradable.”
So why might the processes Nussbaumer speaks of work where others seeking global solutions have not?
“The two largest hurdles to making starch based bioplastics mainstream is the strategy on making them biodegrade and how to produce them as or more economical as crude plastic,” he offered. “Bioplastics can easily be made into identical crude plastics, but the goal is to be able to grow the plastic from crops like pulses, and then be able to throw them in either the recycling bin or the compost bin.
“My background is not in chemistry but in finance, agriculture, and marketing, and my goal is to hopefully work with talents that have a background in chemistry or chemical engineering that can look at processes that make bioplastics economically viable.
“The initial hurdle to making bioplastics mainstream is to bring it to an economy of scale. Just like how iPhones are now extremely cheap thanks to everyone owning one, the process of making bioplastics won’t be cheap until a large amount of consumers have adopted the inevitable switch to the more biodegradable solution.”
So what is Nussbaumer hoping comes out of the summit in China?
“On the last two days, talents pitch our ideas in teams in front of a jury,” he said. “The best solutions compete at a ‘Dragons’ Den-style’ event where the ideas are grilled for both their economics and practicality and if the ideas are good enough you are invited to the following year’s event to again further the ideas or work with new ideas.”
And that is where Nussbaumer wants to be when the dust settles.
“My goal is to hopefully be able to pitch the idea in the Dragons Den style competition at the end, but if not, offer my skills in finance, agriculture, and marketing in another viable idea,” he said. “It would be really exciting to see the idea I’m working on come to fruition, but the connections and experience of going to work with such talented individuals across the world is rewarding enough.”
