Plant Futurist Feature: Patrick Montague-Jones
Meet Patrick Montague-Jones, a passionate MBA student from London Business School, currently on exchange at UC Berkeley Haas.
Patrick's journey into the Plant Futures Challenge Lab in fall 2023 was driven by his desire to explore the intersection of business and sustainable food systems.
Patrick was drawn to the Challenge Lab as a way to immerse himself in the FoodTech and AgTech world, seeking to build knowledge and credibility in these fields. His decision to join was fueled by the program's interdisciplinary approach and the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse group of students.
“Signing up to the course, I was very excited to team up with students from so many different backgrounds. My team is comprised of Business, Economics and Biology students. I have learnt so much from each of them, and I know the quality of our output for our Challenge partner is significantly improved, drawing together our knowledge bases.”
Throughout the course, Patrick found inspiration in envisioning the future of food systems. His dream is to see a regenerative and equitable food system that embraces climate-appropriate food sources. Patrick's favorite plant-based meal is dal chawal with chana masala, reflecting his appreciation for diverse and flavorful plant-based dishes.
What does the future food system of your dreams look like?
A regenerative and equitable food system, which replenishes as much as it extracts from the earth. This means controlled consumption of climate, terrain and season appropriate food. In the Western world, I'd like to see adoption of new food sources, taking inspiration from other cultures, to ease the load on the planet. For example, we could begin farming and eating insect-based products. They are more protein-dense, far less-resource consuming (i.e. water and space) and less polluting than existing, widely accepted protein sources (i.e. meat and soy).
I also hope that growing and deeply understanding food becomes commonplace and more accessible for the everyday consumer. To truly make a step-change, we need to address three main aspects:
1) Food growth and sourcing (including biodiversity)
2) Consumer education and attitudes
3) Policy and lobbying.
