Kevin McGeough of More Than Protein Ingredients: Five Strategies Our Company Is Using To Tackle Climate Change & Become More Sustainable
Youth must recognize Climate Change solutions, like all solutions, take time for society to accept. I hate to say it, but it is often a global event such as a pandemic or a war to create significant change. I have seen this with agriculture and food in the last few months with the Ukraine War as people are starting to realize how fragile our global food system is, and now is the time to look at alternative solutions.
As part of our series about how companies are becoming more sustainable, we had the pleasure of interviewing Kevin McGeough.
Kevin McGeough is an organisational & management consultant, with over 14 years of project management experience. With a passion for making positive social change through effective leadership, research, engagement and process, he has successfully managed a wealth of multi-industrial/community projects, specialising in environmental, food, agricultural, community and technological fields. Currently, he is the co-founder and CEO of More Than Protein Ingredients Ltd. (MTP).
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My entire career has been in Agriculture and Food. The plant-based protein market offered a unique opportunity. It is a fast-developing market that is addressing a gap when it comes to food security and climate change. Currently, the meat and dairy markets are reaching a tipping point regarding land availability, its impact on the climate and the cost of production. Plant-based proteins have a smaller carbon footprint, are reaching price parity and provide a foundation to develop nutritious new foods. It is great to be involved in a new and quickly evolving industry that is trying to find solutions for food security and climate change.
What is the mission of your company? What problems are you aiming to solve?
Our mission is to deliver the next generation of pure, clean label plant-based protein ingredients providing our customers with the foundation to produce good tasting, visually appealing, sustainable plant-based food. Simply put, we are trying to solve the instability in the current food supply chain that has a large climate footprint, is land-intensive and relies on long supply chains. Second, produce better Plant-based ingredients, which will result in better foods that appeal to consumers and manufacturers. More Than Protein is developing new manufacturing processes to produce sustainable plant-based ingredients and provide manufacturers with advanced ingredients that make better plant-based foods consumers demand. Ultimately good ingredients lead to better foods, making it more attractive for consumers to switch to more sustainable food sources.
Can you tell our readers about the initiatives you or your company are taking to address climate change or sustainability? Can you give an example for each?
First, we are focused heavily on our raw materials. We source our protein crops locally from a 200 km radius or less. Furthermore, we are implementing a crop program for our farmers that is environmentally sustainable and rewards farmers for maintaining solid environmental practices. Pulses, our primary feedstock, like yellow peas, have a naturally lower carbon footprint than most foods because they require little to no nitrogen fertilizer to grow. Furthermore, Pulses fix nitrogen in the soil, reducing the amount of fertilizer farmers need for their next rotational crop, such as wheat.
Second, as we engineer and build our facility, we are focused on implementing low-energy reduction solutions where possible and developing new products to move us towards -net-zero waste & carbon neutrality. This will help eliminate the biomass that enters the wastewater and the methane gases that are produced from the water treatment process.
Finally, where no carbon mitigating solutions can be found in sustainable crop production, energy reduction and raw material waste mitigation, we will be contracting a green energy supplier to supply us with green heat and power.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
Through our crop program, our farmers are rewarded for producing sustainable crops. For More Than Protein, this means more consistent raw material that is less likely to be contaminated or have significant quality and composition variations reducing operating costs and producing better products.
Every new product we create from our waste stream means turning the cost it takes to dispose of waste into a product that generates revenue for our company. Some of the products we will produce from our waste stream are in so much demand even before production that we have letters of Intent (LOIs) in place that we could sell our production four times over what we can produce.
Having local, sustainable green power generation means less risk of power supply issues. It allows MTP to utilize the heat from power generation in its operations, which will reduce our operational costs.
The youth-led climate strikes of September 2019 showed an impressive degree of activism and initiative by young people on behalf of climate change. This was great, and there is still plenty that needs to be done. In your opinion, what are five things parents should do to inspire the next generation to become engaged in sustainability and the environmental movement? Please give a story or an example for each.
It is great to see youth demanding change when it comes to climate change and sustainability. That being said, addressing climate change and sustainability are complex problems. Well, I am not one to give advice, but I think it is vital that Parents be honest with their children that Climate Change is complex and will involve a journey, not a simple solution. This is why More Than Protein is looking not only at its operations in a vacuum but also for a complete supply chain sustainability solution from the seed to the dinner plate.
We need to encourage our youth to embrace change and adapt to address climate change. It will take a significant shift in societal mindset, requiring society to understand that our lifestyles will have to change if we are truly going to address climate change.
We need to encourage our youth it is ok to fail. It is when we make mistakes that we learn we are not infallible. Once we accept failure, we are more willing to learn and see if there might be other solutions we missed. Climate Change has not been effectively addressed as society has been very slow to change when it comes to CO2 emissions.
Youth must recognize Climate Change solutions, like all solutions, take time for society to accept. I hate to say it, but it is often a global event such as a pandemic or a war to create significant change. I have seen this with agriculture and food in the last few months with the Ukraine War as people are starting to realize how fragile our global food system is, and now is the time to look at alternative solutions.
I like to convey this as my final thought. When we look at solutions for Climate Change, we have to look at the ecosystems. For example, yellow peas and other pulse crops pull nitrogen (a greenhouse gas) out of the atmosphere and fix it in the soil as a fertilizer. This reduces the need for energy-intensive nitrogen fertilizer for pulses and the rotational crop such as wheat or canola that will be planted next season.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Building relationships is a long process, but the key to a successful business.
Without constant validating and fine-tuning of your product offerings and business strategy, you can quickly become irrelevant to the market and investors.
IP has no value if it cannot generate cash flow.
When building your team, a can-do attitude and flexibility are as important as experience.
You and everyone on your team are going to screw up, do not blame yourself or them but learn from it
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
It is not one person but the community. Our first-round investors bought both their investment and knowledge, which allowed us to reach many milestones at a lower cost and in a shorter time. The different levels of governments work with us to get us through the regulatory and development permit environment and bring in funding. Finally, our small team has allowed us to make significant strides in advancing the organization and supply chain and building a long-term sustainable business.
You are a person of great influence and doing some great things for the world! If you could inspire a movement that would bring the greatest amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
It is a mistake to think that one person can inspire a movement. A movement that is led by the community is much more impactful and long-lasting. As a CEO, I see success coming from building a strong community that sees the value in creating a new plant-based supply chain.
Do you have a favorite life lesson quote? Can you tell us how that was relevant to you in your own life?
To make mistakes is human. To learn from it is the journey.
For me, learning is what excites me. Understanding that if you make mistakes or fail, you can pick yourself up and move forward.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
https://www.linkedin.com/company/73825780/
Thank you so much for these amazing insights. This was truly uplifting.
Kevin McGeough of More Than Protein Ingredients: Five Strategies Our Company Is Using To Tackle… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.