A brief interview I did with Raymond Hulle, a CEO of a public company selling biofuels, bio-based raw materials, seafood and seed oil. Paula Rauw AIX: How big an impact are nanoparticles making on the world? Raymond Hulle AIX: Just consider the food we eat. We feed the world, in part, by harvesting tens of thousands of different crops and many are harmful. Should not we be planting seeds and nurturing them? AIX: Do you think food will be biodegradable? Raymond Hulle AIX: How long until health becomes biodegradable? Raymond Hulle AIX: How long until energy becomes biodegradable? Raymond Hulle AIX: How long until any of these two issues will become sustainable? Raymond Hulle AIX: Why don’t we just replace all plastics by bio-based or bioplastics? Raymond Hulle AIX: I don’t know, I’m not a chemist, but I am an entrepreneur, an investor and the founder of a nonprofit. If the goal is to increase the quality of life for all people, why wouldn’t we just create more bio-based materials rather than sourcing cheap raw materials from big companies like Chevron who stand to make money selling biofuels? AIX: What does nutrition mean? Raymond Hulle AIX: Nutrition is different for everyone, so I don’t know how someone would “normalize” nutrition. Should companies need to rebrand as “nutrition?” AIX: Do you think businesses have a responsibility to provide nutrition as a service? Raymond Hulle AIX: There’s a philosophy of business that says you should only continue doing something if you can earn a profit by doing so. I don’t believe we should have a responsibility to provide nutrition. The market incentivizes us to use the profits from the sale of crops or specific diseases as a catalyst to contribute to sustainable solutions. AIX: Do you have health concerns about our food production? Raymond Hulle AIX: No. The farm to table system is basically a large government-run group project to dole out food in a way that will benefit the consumers. I don’t think it is right for the factory farming systems in the United States and many other industrialized economies. From the data of food sold at AmazonFresh and other grocery stores it is evident that virtually no changes have been made. Most of the food comes from feeds fed from chickens or pigs. Artificial food is just artificial. AIX: Why is meal delivery significant? Raymond Hulle AIX: Dietary transformation doesn’t happen automatically. In the 19th and 20th centuries, companies were importing seeds and grew organic vegetables and fruit on their own. That fostered a generation of farmers who connected directly with their customers. However, other production technologies were developed which produce domesticated food without any connection to farmers. From there, farms shifted to single-crop systems that starve land of insects, disease, plants and insects. Now, supermarkets and restaurants offer local ingredients within relatively short distances where organic farmers must ship food thousands of miles away. AIX: Is your research revealing that healthy nutrition isn’t related to animals, i.e. farming practices? Raymond Hulle AIX: I believe we can meet our nutritional needs from both species. Our primary food is derived from animals, but we aren’t limited to animals. We can have a healthy relationship with animals but also with our environment. Our need for protein is correlated with the need for an abundant supply of omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants, phytonutrients, micronutrients and even probiotics. AIX: Does access to data have anything to do with how humans interpret it? Raymond Hulle AIX: Years ago, we didn’t have access to easy-to-use online technology. We’ve been restricted by the limitations of high-speed fiber optics and cell phones. In this way, our access to data is limited and we must contend with that constraint by making creative use of the data that is available. AIX: What makes it important to society? Raymond Hulle AIX: From my perspective, AIX is more than a company. We have technology to solve global challenges like food security, medicine research, renewable energy, banking, and security. AIX: Which of those problems have already been solved? Raymond Hulle AIX: Our goal is to improve the quality of life for millions of people by creating new kinds of food.
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