About Agricultural Food Systems
Vision
To transform the way food quality is measured.
Mission
Agricultural Food Systems seeks to innovate systems for measuring food quality by providing pioneering technologies that increase value and build trust among agricultural food producers, processors, and consumers.
Executive Summary
Large beef processors in the United States have the opportunity to earn over $75 million in additional annual revenue by measuring meat tenderness effectively. Agricultural Food Systems (AFS) is a company focused on transforming food quality measurement. It seeks to increase value and build trust among agricultural producers, processors, and consumers. AFS offers a new product to assess meat tenderness accurately: the TenderID.
Demand
The target market for Agricultural Food Systems’ first product, the TenderID, is beef processors across the United States. The four largest beef processors in the U.S. account for more than 83.5% of the beef market. Each of them processes more than 12,000 carcasses per day. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “tenderness is the most sought-after guarantee for all levels of the meat industry’s sales cycle, and surveys show that consumers are willing to pay a premium for meat that is guaranteed tender.” In primary research, 100% of meat processors surveyed acknowledged that consumers place at least “some importance” on meat tenderness, while 58% recognized consumers place “high importance” on it. However, “the [beef industry] hasn’t found a way to blaze a trail to the tenderness money-pot.” This shortcoming in addressing tenderness results in tough beef product remaining “a costly and contentious issue for everyone involved in putting meat on the table.” Beef processors desire to serve consumers by meeting the rising demand for tender meat.
Meeting the Demand
TenderID Prototype
Agricultural Food Systems provides beef processors with the ability to accurately measure beef tenderness so that they can more effectively communicate meat quality to consumers. Additionally, the company’s product, the TenderID, provides processors with an average of $24.40 in additional revenue per carcass. The product gives them the advantages of more efficient processing and consistently accurate tenderness measurements. In preliminary testing, the TenderID accurately predicted tenderness in 100% of beef carcasses that a number of accepted industry tests classified as tender.
Investment Opportunities and Profitability
AFS will reach profitability quickly and expects profits will increase to just over $8 million by Year Five with a 50% ROI. AFS is currently seeking investment of $100,000 in order to manufacture and test the production model of the TenderID. To learn more about investment opportunities with AFS, click here.
The AFS Management Team at the 2011 Arkansas Governor’s Cup
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