Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Jo Drummond, Foundation for Arable Research, Senior Researcher

Jo Drummond is a Senior Researcher with the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR), where she runs the cereal research programme. A graduate of Lincoln University, she has worked in the arable sector for 20 years and has experience of both NZ and UK systems. Jo works with growers to support development of sustainable cereal programmes. Her areas of interest are agronomy, applied pathology and entomology, pesticide resistance management and agroecology.

Taking sunlight and running it into money – a lighter touch

Jo works with cereal growers, operating at the start of the process that leads to a loaf of bread. She took us back to the basics, explaining the growing process, the influencing factors, and their impact on flour supply and baking. She emphasized how systems are having to evolve as consumer demands change.

Jo outlined the challenges of growing wheat, highlighting the roles of variety, management, and weather. She described the sun as the fuel, the crop as the engine, management as the driver, and the environment as the wild card, noting that we can control very few of these factors. Weather can ruin even the best plans, producing unusable wheat. And climate change, with its flooding and droughts, is now exacerbating these issues.

Quality is another challenge. Milling wheat growers are paid based on yield and quality and receive a price premium over feed wheat. Despite this premium, the majority of the wheat grown in New Zealand is grown for animal feed. Growing enough high-quality milling wheat is both an art and a science. Protein, water absorption, dough elasticity, gas retention, gluten webbing, volume, colour, crumb, and shelf life are all influenced by the variety, management and environment under which the milling wheat was grown.

Management, particularly nitrogen use, is crucial. Nitrogen is the biggest input cost, requiring a careful balance between supply and demand. Growers must consider how much nitrogen to apply, when, and where, while also recording and reporting it. Up to 50% of applied nitrogen can be lost through leaching, emissions, runoff, erosion, and immobilization. Jo emphasized the long-lasting impact of nitrous oxide from nitrogen fertilizer, which persists much longer than methane from livestock.

Overusing nitrogen is wasteful both to the environment and financially, so finding the economic optimum rather than targeting the total biological option is a useful risk mitigation strategy. FAR’s research has identified this sweet spot, allowing farmers to reduce nitrogen use, maintain quality, remain profitable, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Agrichemicals are another hot topic. They protect yields by managing diseases, pests, lodging, and weeds. However, farmers face a shrinking arsenal as pesticides are removed from the market, pesticide resistance grows, and consumer awareness of food residues increases. Pursuing yield at the expense of the environment is no longer viable. But removing all agrichemicals could result in at least a 30% loss of production, so building resilience is crucial. Crop protection practices, including precision agriculture, plant breeding, and biocontrol, will play key roles. Plant protection products will still be used, but they can’t be the sole defence. Layering strategies is becoming the norm to enhance systems and start the journey toward sustainability. This is challenging for farmers but will become expected.

Jo’s take home message is that we can reduce our environmental and economic footprint while still producing high-quality products, but growers must operate within limits and will have to make do with less as climate change, weather extremes and reduced access to agrichemicals test their resilience.

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Dr Gert-Jan Moggré, Senior scientist, food chemistry and functionality at the institute of Plant & Food Research limited.

Solving two problems at once

Gert-Jan reported on the progress being made in the “Bread bags from Bread Returns” project which has now completed stage 2.

The project aims to address two major sustainability issues: returned bread, and single use plastic bags by asking what if we combined these two things? Can we make packaging out of bread returns using recovered starch turned into bread bag material that are compostable?  The first step is to create starch thermoplastic. This behaves like a plastic and can be transparent but is fairly brittle and can attract water so it is blended with a second polymer to get the mechanical properties they need.

Stage 2 of the project is extruding and blending: ThermoPlastic Starch (TPS) by extrusion, blending with co-polymer, techno-economic modelling.

The team had to design an extraction process that is profitable and easy to do. They tried several processes. While there is higher starch recovery from white bread than mixed bread, they want to be able to use all bread returns. They have now confirmed they can make TPS using bread returns starch mixed with a polymer, with a range of tensile strength similar to commercial TPS based packaging materials.

A technoeconomic analysis came next, to consider if the concept makes financial sense. They needed to estimate the relative economic viability of the different processing options. Based on producing 220 million bread bags (the full requirement in New Zealand) they found that there are enough bread returns and that bags could be made at scale cost effectively based on their estimates, although on price alone they can’t compete with low density polyethylene bags. Consumer preference or legislation may require change to the use of these in future.  The technoeconomic analysis for preparing TPS from returned bread found a net positive return in comparison to using commercial starch-based polymers made of virgin starch material.

Next steps are bread TPS production for bread bag applications including pilot-scale starch extraction, blow-forming bags with bread TPS/PBAT blends and testing functionalities key to the baking industry.

Further investigation is needed of the techno-economic analysis to settle on an optimum system and to increase the quality of the analysis assessment, involving unit operations user requirement specifications and quotations, variability testing, and setting feedstock and product specifications.

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Syahmeer How, Plant & Food Research Limited, Research Scientist

Syahmeer How (B.E, PhD Chemical & Bioprocess Engineering, Massey University) is a Bioprocess Engineer at Plant & Food Research Limited in Palmerston North. He specialises in technoeconomic analysis, process optimisation, and decarbonisation strategies for the food industry. Syahmeer plays a key role in developing the Baking Global Technology Scan, applying his expertise in chemical engineering to inform strategic decision-making. Outside of work, he is a passionate squash player and a dedicated foodie.

How can commercial bakeries be more energy efficient and lower their carbon emissions?

EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) aims to mobilise New Zealanders to be world leaders in clean and clever energy use. EECA’s sector decarbonisation programme provides tailored tools and resources to help commercial bakeries be more energy efficient and lower their carbon emissions.

Baking decarbonisation technologies are prominent in Europe and the US. EECA engaged Plant & Food Research Limited to undertake this technology scan looking at emerging technologies and innovation within the baking sector both locally and globally and defining how these could be applied within the New Zealand context.

An energy breakdown showed that baking is the processing step with the largest potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. Scanning the baking process gave an understanding of the energy consumption at each stage of the processes, to see what is most energy intensive for different bakery products. Gas-fired ovens are the main emitter of greenhouse gasses in New Zealand bakeries, and energy loss is a large part of the consumption.

Each technology option was given a rank score from 2–50 based on energy savings/greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions against relative cost of investment. These scores were used to rate and compare the technology options. The technologies were also evaluated for future potential, with ratings projected for 2030 to provide a dynamic outlook. The year 2030 was chosen as a reference point, aligning with New Zealand’s target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% from 2005 levels.

The top technologies and practices recommended from the findings of this report include:

Process Technology

High Temperature Heat Pumps to recover and reuse low temperature heat: A robust decarbonisation solution by utilising waste heat from the production process.

Heat Recovery from Exhaust Gas: This technology provides higher greenhouse gas (GHG) savings compared to insulation upgrades, while remaining low-cost with a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL).

Heat Recovery

Dual Fuel Burners: This flexible option utilises natural gas now, with the capability to switch to electricity in the future.

Hydrogen Burners for Ovens: Future potential exists as infrastructure develops. Currently associated with high operational costs due to limited hydrogen production.

Fuel Switching

Oven Insulation Upgrades: An affordable and easy to implement solution but with minimal impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Exhaust fans with variable dampers: By optimising exhaust systems with variable dampers and adjusting fan drives, bakeries can reduce energy consumption and improve oven efficiency.

Process Scanning & Optimisation: A low-cost, high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) option, although it offers limited greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings.

Roger Romsom and Rutger Drost, Royal Kaak

Roger Romsom has dedicated nearly 40 years to the food processing industry, with 27 of those years focused on bakery production lines at Royal Kaak. As the head of market development for the Asia and Oceania regions, he is constantly seeking innovative solutions to enhance bakery processes. With a background in mechanical engineering and extensive hands-on experience, his approach combines technical expertise with practical insight to drive efficiency and innovation.

Rutger Drost has 15 years of experience in the B2B food and pharmaceuticals industries, after starting his career as strategy consultant. He joined Royal Kaak 2 years ago and is responsible for global business development, with a strong focus on sustainability. Rutger has led the development of Royal Kaak’s energy and sustainability solutions for bakeries, and he works on partnerships with other machinery suppliers to the baking industry to expand Royal Kaak’s Silo-to-Truck proposition. Rutger has a background in business administration and focuses on turning business strategies into practical solutions.

Helping Bakeries Prepare for the Future

Sustainability is woven into Royal Kaak’s DNA, driving innovation in product development. They have ambitious goals to supply integrated production lines with no ecological footprint, aiming for CO2-neutral lines, production processes, and supply chains.

Roger emphasized the urgency of starting now, not waiting 20 years to change our mentality. New designs today will prepare us for the future.

The focus on energy efficiency and consumption across the industry is driven by climate change, increasing government regulations, limited fossil fuel supplies, and geopolitical tensions affecting energy supply and prices—challenges that hit bakeries hard. Kaak is exploring ways to make a difference and reduce costs and CO2 emissions specifically in bakeries.

Energy use accounts for a considerable part of a bakery’s footprint, with ovens taking 80% of that. Most bakeries rely on natural gas, and while there’s a willingness to electrify, it’s a significant investment. High electricity costs and grid congestion are other barriers that hold back bakeries. Will power be available as more people electrify, and how long will bakeries wait for a grid connection?

To reduce energy consumption and emissions while remaining competitive, Roger and Rutger suggest starting with simple energy savings: turn off equipment not in use, switch off fully rather than leaving on standby, optimize line capacity, reduce compressed air pressure, and set up automatic switching off of conveyor belts.

Such low hanging fruit energy savings can be identified by carefully analysing actual energy consumption. Kaak can scan equipment and conduct onsite assessments to identify energy savings opportunities with the oven, and across the entire line.

Long-term solutions are more structural, including options for electric and hybrid ovens, renewable energy generation (e.g., solar heat), and heat storage.

The green bakery of the future might feature a hybrid oven, renewable energy, a thermal buffer (heat battery storing heat, not electricity), and heat as a service (allowing ovens to run on the most economical energy source). Not relying on a single energy source is key.

When considering new equipment, it’s not just about the initial cost but also emissions and energy consumption. Consider current and future running costs as scenarios change.

Food waste and bread returns are also critical issues. Public awareness means bakeries will feel pressure to address these. Rutger and Roger outlined two potential solutions focused on production control: bake less, supplying 80% fresh and 20% frozen (with consistent quality), or deliver par-baked bread to be finished in supermarkets (again, maintaining high quality).

The path to a greener future requires changes in human behaviour to reduce food waste, the use of sustainable ingredients, and embracing sustainability in bakeries. Manufacturers like Royal Kaak and bakeries can work together to resolve issues, find opportunities and prepare for the future now.

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Stacey Fellows, Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority (EECA)

Stacey Fellows is an energy efficiency and sustainability engineer with 20 years’ experience in the dairy manufacturing industry of Aotearoa. Stacey is a firm believer in energy efficiency first, which along with economic and environmental benefits, can reduce the need for energy infrastructure. Stacey is the manager of the Market Partnerships team at EECA (Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority), which includes the sector programme, and enjoys collaborating to action energy and carbon emission savings. Her son Henry is a passionate baker.

Energy efficiency makes sense – use this first says Stacey, then look at renewable energy to save money and the environment. So, what is energy efficiency? Energy efficiency means using less energy to make the same products and services. Energy efficiency is called the “first fuel” in clean energy transitions, as it provides some of the quickest and most cost-effective CO2mitigation options while lowering energy bills and strengthening energy security.

It is entirely possible to achieve good reductions in energy use over time, but you first need to see where your energy goes and to do this you have to think about the whole system, as well as your maintenance routine, not just equipment.

EECA supports bakeries to reduce energy related emissions with tailored tools and resources in collaboration with the industry. This aims to simplify the process of reducing individual business emissions through a guided pathway and support. The pathway connects New Zealand businesses with world-class innovation and best-practice guidance. The focus is on empowering energy users to control their energy use.

The benefits are clear: reduced costs, increased productivity, decreasing your business’s impact on the environment and driving customer interest. There is also the opportunity to future proof your business through collaborative, proactive solutions that can reduce competition for the same services, resources, and opportunities.

Stacey outlined the Five Step Energy Management Pathway for decarbonisation. It includes tailored resources for New Zealand commercial bakeries, enabling them to improve their energy efficiency, save costs, and reduce carbon emissions based on informed decision-making.

Engaging your staff to get excited about energy efficiency is the first step. They need to be part of your bakery’s decarbonisation journey. Measuring and accounting for your energy use is next, then set targets and track your performance. Optimising equipment and improving processes can generate big wins. EECA has a checklist you can use. Reduce your energy demand through new technology or upgrades to processes and carry out an energy scan.

Finally, if you’re thinking of switching to renewable energy, the final step, it’s important to reduce your demand first and then take a holistic approach to the energy mix that is most appropriate. Ensure you make informed decisions about fuel switching by doing the first four steps.

You can visit the EECA website for more information or email Sectordecarb@eeca.govt.nz with your questions.

Presented as part of Technology Transfer Seminars 2025

Lyn Mayes, The Packaging Forum

Lyn Mayes established Mad World in 2001, to build networks and collaboration between the private sector, NGOs and local and central government to improve New Zealand’s environmental performance. She set up the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme in 2015 for The Packaging Forum and is also sustainability advisor to the Food & Grocery Council. She is an external appointee to the Board of the Association of Metal Recyclers, a Board member of Be a Tidy Kiwi and immediate Past Chair of the Government appointed Auckland Conservation Board. Lyn was awarded a Kings Service Medal for services to conservation in the 2025 New Years Honours.

Innovation and diversification key to soft plastic recycling

We are approaching a decade of soft plastic recycling in New Zealand and bread bags make up 8% of what is collected from consumers. The bakery industry is playing a part in making it happen here, says Lyn, which is good news. But is our soft plastic recycling scheme sustainable? And what can we do to future proof it?

Soft plastic (plastic you can scrunch up into a ball) has no inherent value, so the scheme has to pay the cost of recycling and incentivise businesses to take on the risk of recycling soft plastics to make new products. A few figures to put it into context: In 2024, 737 tonnes of soft plastic was repurposed into posts. 87% of the population has access to soft plastic recycling.

Lyn emphasised the need to increase processing capacity – the scheme only collects what can be repurposed. They do not store it or export it. “We have to create demand. If people aren’t buying the products made from what we collect, the scheme will stop.” Innovation and diversification are key. Research into new and emerging technologies is needed to broaden the range of reprocessing options.

Convenience also needs to increase – kerbside recycling is not available at the moment but a trial underway in Nelson is proving that this would work through its incredible results – 3.48 tonnes after ten collection rounds (20 weeks) from only one thousand households! Change can also be driven by introducing mandatory producer responsibility for plastic packaging. By moving costs onto producers and with industry managing it, not councils, change may happen faster, but a mindset change is needed here first.