Arjun Ganesan of Ancera: How We Are Helping To Create A Resilient Food Supply Chain
An Interview With Martita Mestey
The food industry also needs to attract and retain top talent. Traditionally, the industry has encountered difficulty in drawing white-collar talent from areas like Silicon Valley; however, by showcasing the potential for innovation and impact, we can change that. At Ancera, we have built a diverse team of data scientists, biologists, and industry experts committed to transforming the food supply chain.
The cascading logistical problems caused by the pandemic and the war in Eastern Europe have made securing a reliable supply chain a national imperative. What must agriculture companies and policymakers do to ensure secure and resilient food supply chains? In this interview series, we are talking to business leaders who can share insights from their experiences about how we can address these challenges. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Arjun Ganesan.
Arjun Ganesan is the CEO of Ancera, a pioneer in science-based productivity and risk solutions for the poultry industry. Ancera’s solutions enable improved productivity through next generation monitoring of microbial threats in context with production metrics across all points in poultry processing. Ancera, builds sustainable partnerships with market leaders to create significant impact. We are dedicated to improving lives worldwide through our commitment to biology, technology and people.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
Growing up in an industrial town in South India, the world of medicine was a familiar backdrop to my childhood, with both of my parents being accomplished surgeons. Yet, it was the field of engineering that drew me in because of the potential it held for problem-solving; I was intrigued by the possibility of designing solutions that make an impact.
My college years saw me experimenting with entrepreneurship, where I capitalized on an overlooked market need and founded a local design agency that grew into a financial services shop. Though this was an unusual venture for an industrial town, I saw the market we were in as an opportunity rather than a hurdle; we began creating content for industrial markets, filling a niche that more prominent agencies in cities previously dominated. Our quick turnaround times and tailored services set us apart. It wasn’t always a smooth ride, of course. Like all entrepreneurs, I made several mistakes along the way, yet I was fortunate to witness the rise of a new generation of businesspeople intent on building new legacies. Eventually, our design agency caught the eye of a publicly traded film company and was acquired in our fifth year. The acquisition of my design company pushed me into the exciting world of content creation and media. I became involved in creating English-language content similar to Bollywood, including running a TV station and a magazine; however, capital costs eventually exceeded our ability to sustain these ventures.
In 2008, I had the chance to dive head-first into a new field, the private aviation industry. Again, I was in the thick of marketing, this time trying to build leadership and revenue. A year later, encouraged by my mother, I pursued an MBA at Yale, where my interest in fundamental science grew.
While I was there, a friend asked me to go to a campus event that changed the course of my career. There, Elon Musk spoke about launching rockets, space mining, and logistics and how that’s the future. Inspired, I explored Yale’s patents in these fields, leading me to connect with the professors who held them on things like dark matter. One professor, in particular, had an idea for an energy grid powered by the vibrations from human voices. I asked him what other ideas he had, and he showed me a video of what I thought was stars — in actuality, it was a video of bacteria, something I knew nothing about, but I realized it would solve a fundamental problem. Despite my last biology class being in the 10th grade, I found myself drawn to this challenge, reflecting my lifelong journey of learning, adapting, and innovating. From there, Ancera was born, and today is the innovator of supply chain intelligence that improves the safety and profitability of food production.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
One story that stands out happened during a pivotal point in my career, in late 2008. We were grappling with a global financial crisis then, doing our best to stretch every dollar for our business. The more significant catastrophe unfolding in the world overshadowed our own struggles, but the stress was palpable.
Late one night, around 1:30 AM, I received a call from the wife of one of our employees, sobbing uncontrollably. She disclosed that her husband had secretly borrowed money from loan sharks and had gone missing. An hour later, another call confirmed that to be true — he was being held by the loan shark who was demanding immediate repayment. In response, we pulled together all the cash we could muster and headed to a prearranged location at the beach. It felt surreal, like a scene from a movie, as we went to help our colleague.
This experience profoundly impacted me: beyond the realm of professional relationships, there are real people behind each start-up, each with unique stories and struggles, just trying to do their best. It underscored the importance of empathy in leadership, of recognizing and acknowledging people’s sacrifices. To this day, this incident is a reminder that in every business venture, the most important thing is the human element, and as leaders, we bear this significant responsibility.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Ancera is still at the beginning of its journey, but if we are successful in our mission, some traits have been instrumental in this journey toward success. These include a combination of luck, grit, and the ability to surround myself with people who inspire me.
First and foremost, I would consider myself to be very lucky. Luck has been the unseen hand that has often guided me to opportunities at the right time. For instance, when our design agency was acquired, I viewed it as a stroke of luck that came from a combination of showing up every day and doing my best while also being in the right place at the right time.
Beyond luck, grit has been the bedrock of my journey. Starting a design agency in an industrial town was challenging, with many moments of doubt and uncertainty. Getting into the aviation industry in 2008 and the financial crises that posed significant challenges for my overall career were moments in which I could have put my arms down and settled. Still, I preserved and pivoted to new challenges. Perseverance is the one thing in my life that has consistently rewarded me and given me a chance to lead Ancera and its cause- One that I am tremendously proud of.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Ancera started out focusing on the poultry industry, grounded by hard sciences and diagnostics. While our strength remains in these sciences and diagnostics, we realized early on that food producers need more than just testing and raw data; they need sophisticated algorithms and insightful analysis of datasets to make well-informed decisions.
Recognizing this need, we constantly refine our approach to offer more valuable insights. In the short term, we are heavily invested in broadening our data analytics capabilities to advise food producers better, enabling them to make science-backed decisions. Our current focus is developing a new suite of software products that makes our data even more interactive and digestible, particularly for our Coccidia and Salmonella monitoring products. As we broaden our focus and integrate more data analytics, we aim to tackle bigger challenges within the food supply chain; this includes enhancing food safety, reducing waste, and increasing efficiency. Ultimately, our goal is to influence people’s lives positively by improving the food supply chain.
Ok, super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. To ensure that we are all on the same page let’s begin with some simple definitions. What does the term “supply chain” encompass?
The term “supply chain” is traditionally understood as the optimal flow of food from production to consumption. It focuses on efficient logistics, aiming to minimize costs such as shipping and energy while ensuring products reach their destinations in the shortest amount of time possible.
On the other hand, the “value chain” concept goes a step further. A value chain comprises the processes that make our food more desirable to consumers, which drives producers’ margins. These products are expected to meet various standards: they should be safe, nutritious, affordable, and of course, delicious.
Can you help articulate the weaknesses in our current food supply chain systems?
In my opinion, two key issues primarily challenge our current food supply chain systems. First, despite technological advances — including the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, robotics, and other digital tools — a persistent problem hinders efficiency: these systems are operating in silos. This lack of seamless communication between systems leaves significant gaps in visibility across the value chain, making it difficult for organizations to gain a comprehensive, real-time understanding of their operational systems. This major disconnect makes people apprehensive to adopt modern solutions, hindering their ability to make data-driven decisions and respond aptly to issues. Worst of all, food producers are missing out on optimizing various aspects of the supply chain simply because the technology does not communicate seamlessly.
Second, our food supply chains deal with living matter (such as poultry). This introduces biological and biochemical uncertainties, making these supply chains inherently more complex and, of course, much more unpredictable. The factors that affect our food systems are sometimes out of our control, such as changes in weather. This impacts crop yields, and variations in feed can affect poultry health and growth, thus affecting output.
At Ancera, we are committed to addressing these challenges, leveraging supply chain intelligence. We work hard to enhance food safety and improve the profitability of food production.
Can you help define what a nationally secure and resilient food supply chain would look like?
A nationally secure and resilient food supply chain would ensure the welfare of its people and operations. To be considered successful, the food supply chain must be profitable and equipped with top-tier tools for efficient business management. If those at the heart of our food production system are not thriving after all the hard work they put in, then we are failing to create what I consider a resilient food supply chain.
National resiliency also entails competitiveness; it’s about ensuring American producers have the necessary tools and human capital to compete with the global food supply chain. Labor issues must be addressed; we must find ways to attract and retain talent in the food industry, even when more “glamourous” sectors like Silicon Valley are drawing talent away from traditional industries such as food production, farming, etc. Continual improvement is critical, and we see evidence of this in the efficiency trend in agriculture. Despite fewer people working in the field, more food is being produced than ever before, and food safety standards are improving too.
Lastly, the public perception of food plays a crucial role in the resiliency of our food supply chain. There’s a lot of misinformation about food — its origins, what’s ethical, and how it’s made. Despite these misunderstandings, the industry has continued to produce and supply the country with food, but fostering a better-informed public can strengthen the supply chain’s resilience. The most important thing is to let science guide us to the truth about our food.
Can you share with our readers a few of the things that your organization is doing to help create a more secure food supply chain?
At Ancera, we’re dedicated to enhancing food production safety and profitability, focusing primarily on the poultry industry. We recently reached a significant milestone of monitoring 50 million birds, providing us with a rich dataset that we use to identify underperforming farms and offer real-time visibility for improved decision-making and outcomes.
Our Coccidia and Salmonella products give customers real-time visibility into microbial threats in a much more comprehensive way than ever before. The products give producers intelligence that helps lower their risk from respective threats, quantify their control programs’ effectiveness, and optimize production for safe and abundant food.
Since our inception in 2012, we’ve raised over $50 million, enabling us to build our research and development labs and develop next-generation assays for the food industry. Our work drives growth, and we expect our customer base to double as we continue providing actionable insights to enhance productivity and safety in the food production industry.
What are a few threats over the horizon that might disrupt our food supply chain that we should take action now to correct? Can you please explain?
Several threats over the horizon can potentially disrupt our food supply chain, and we need to be proactive in countering these threats. Firstly, public perceptions of food play a significant role in shaping our food supply chain. After the Second World War, the US has strived to remain independent regarding its food and energy supplies, storing enough for approximately a year. Maintaining this level of independence requires continued investment and awareness of changing public perceptions of the food industry. Additionally, we must ensure that the food industry remains profitable and that those within it can adequately handle supply chain disruptions. A thriving and resilient food industry is more capable of withstanding shocks and ensuring the continuity of production.
The nature of our globalized supply chains makes them vulnerable to seemingly unrelated events worldwide. A case in point is the war in Ukraine, which has caused a surge in global commodity prices and impacted grain export, increasing feed costs and squeezing the poultry industry’s already-thin margins. This is just one example of how a combination of events beyond our control can significantly impact food security. Thus, we must prepare for these uncertainties by focusing on what is within our control and developing adaptable and resilient supply chains. One way to do this is by adopting scientific production approaches, like the solutions offered by Ancera, to safeguard our supply chains.
Ok, thank you. Here is the main question of our interview. What are the “5 Things We Must Do To Create Nationally Secure And Resilient Food Supply Chains” and why?
The first thing we need to focus on is ensuring the profitability of the food supply chain. If the players in the chain aren’t profitable, they can’t invest in the tools and technologies required to maintain robustness and resilience. For instance, at Ancera, we focus on improving our clients’ profitability by providing tools that offer real-time visibility into operations, helping companies make informed decisions to optimize performance.
The food industry also needs to attract and retain top talent. Traditionally, the industry has encountered difficulty in drawing white-collar talent from areas like Silicon Valley; however, by showcasing the potential for innovation and impact, we can change that. At Ancera, we have built a diverse team of data scientists, biologists, and industry experts committed to transforming the food supply chain.
Moreover, we must apply a scientific approach to food production and supply chains; data is key here. Ancera’s platform, for instance, is built on digitized data sets that allow us to monitor millions of poultry samples, providing unparalleled visibility into the health and productivity of poultry stocks. This data-focused approach allows us to identify problems and devise solutions much faster than other monitoring methods. Technologies like this are essential in the industry to remain competitive in the global market, which brings me to my next point. We must continually innovate. The food supply chain is incredibly complex and ever-evolving. Hence, we must stay ahead of the curve. By continually innovating, we’re able to address new challenges, improve productivity, and ensure food security for our nation.
Last but not least, educating the public about the food industry is important because misinformation can create unnecessary challenges. Educating the public about the food supply chain and its complexities is a critical step toward national food security. By opening conversations about where food comes from, how it’s produced, and the ethical and practical considerations around these processes, we can increase understanding and appreciation for the work that goes into feeding our nation. This, in turn, can drive informed consumer decisions and broader societal support for creating resilient food supply chains.
Are there other ideas or considerations that should encourage us to reimagine our food supply chain?
The financial implications of improving food data accessibility can encourage us to reimagine our food supply chain. For comparison, the financial technology (fintech) revolution was triggered when services like Venmo created the ability to connect banking systems in new and instantaneous ways. Similarly, GPS data accessibility in our mobile devices enabled services like Uber and other apps to emerge. Just as fintech and GPS technology transformed their respective industries, similar revolutions are ripe for the food industry.
Now imagine this applied to one of the most critical things — our food source. This area is currently lacking in comprehensive, accessible data, much to everyone’s surprise. Making this data available and usable can lead to better financing, risk management, more efficient marketplaces, optimized operations, and countless other opportunities for improvement and innovation. At Ancera, we’re playing a pivotal role in this transformation by structuring this “dark pool” of data and creating an infrastructure around it. Not only is this beneficial for us, but the implications extend far beyond, enabling other stakeholders to capitalize on this valuable resource.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
If I could inspire a movement, it would center around educating people about food production, a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of our daily lives. Considering the importance of food on our health, environment, and economy, understanding the processes behind what we consume should be basic universal knowledge. It’s not a political issue, which I love — it’s about bringing transparency, appreciation, and responsibility to the forefront of our understanding of food production. Imagine if just two percent of the population became engaged advocates for understanding — the percentage needed for it to be considered a movement — the ripple effects would be monumental. We could foster a society that makes better decisions for their health and supports ethical and sustainable practices.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Readers can find me on LinkedIn here, please reach out if what I spoke about resonates with you. You can learn more about Ancera on our website, https://www.ancera.com/, and follow the company’s news via LinkedIn here.
This was very inspiring and informative. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this interview!
