By Angela Scott-Briggs, Posted on January 4, 2018

ATFS Project is the world’s first decentralized AgriTech & Food Science crowdfunding project built on Ethereum Blockchain and Smart Contracts. The ATFS aims to enhance people’s quality of life all around the world by revolutionizing the current food system.

According to the World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2050 the total population is expected to grow by 34% to about 9.7 billion, and the elderly population aged 60 or older by 56% to about 200 million. It is a reality that there lacks sufficient supply of food to feed the rapidly expanding population, especially in terms of animal protein supply. In view of this, ATFS has established a plan for Smart Farm 2.0, an advanced intelligent farm to ensure breakthrough productivity, and research & development of Plant-Based Meat as an alternative to animal meat.

In addition, the current agricultural distribution system is a collection of high-cost and inefficiencies caused by too many middlemen so that the actual producers and consumers are not seeing any benefits at all. In an Interview with David (DJ) KIM, the CEO and Founder of ATFS,he explains how the ATFS Project has designed a Disruptive Decentralized Platform based on the blockchain technology to tackle this issue.

1) Talking about blockchain technology: What does it mean for ATFS Project.

David :The ATFS Project aims to create a new type of food blockchain. We need the blockchain technology to ensure and incentivize transparency between consumers and producers.

Currently, the consumers trade with confidence in the product’s origin down to the seed source from its label. However, they are not knowledgeable to other processes in production–like what herbicide or fertilizer was used–and this influences its food safety. In the traditional food supply chain approach where price is the differentiating factor, we cannot fix this problem.

With blockchains, we are able to store the product’s place of origin, producer, region and transactional movements. This way, we have information that guarantees food product safety & quality while getting regional data on supply and demand. It is our Disruptive Decentralized Platform with smart contract& blockchain technology that incentivizes and rewards producers with higher transparency and opens up consumers to traceable and verified information.

In reality, this verification is going to be difficult, and that’s why we will first start this new system with our limited products listed on DDP. We will hold strict guidelines for all products based on the US’s NOP and EU’s Euro-Leaf standards on organic farming. This holds true for our own crops and plant-based meat menu as well. Our long-term goal is to have the food blockchains be widely used for secure verification for the benefit of transparency between agricultural producers and consumers worldwide.

2) Your team proposes an integrated approach with 3 organically linked missions as a solution: Smart Farm 2.0, Disruptive Decentralized Platform, and Plant-Based Meat. Briefly elaborate these missions.

David : Check out ATFS’s Business Model Architecture below to see how the three missions work with each other in the ATFS ecosystem.

The first step is to build Smart Farm 2.0, a term we coined. Our new and unique version of a smart farm incorporates big data, deep learning and AI-based decision making on top of IoT technology. This greenhouse would be able to maximize productivity by automatically adjusting to optimal conditions.

Second mission is the specialized R&D center for Plant-Based Meat. We will develop substitute meat products in Asian cuisine that is as close to real meat in texture, taste, aroma and looks. At the end of the day, we aim to mass produce this variety of products tailored to consumers’ preferences in East Asia and then to the world.

The third mission is launching Disruptive Decentralized Platform, a unique marketplace for crops from our Smart Farm 2.0 and our plant-based meat menu as well as other qualified products from verified sources. It runs on blockchains and smart contracts, and takes cryptocurrencies as payments.

The completion of all three missions is bound to make impact on the agricultural and food industries, shaping a new form of ecosystem that links the crypto world with tangible elements in our everyday lives.

3) Why are you having an ICO?

David : The business model pursued by ATFS combines existing industry with ICT and blockchain technology, and is a part of Industry 4.0. Therefore, we thought crowdfunding in the crypto world is a natural fit.

An important feature of an ICO that prompted us is how we would be assessed personally by individuals all around the world unlike venture funds or IPO’s that are funded only by large institutional investors. This aspect is quite inspiring as this is aligned with our vision of contributing to a better world together. All investors of ATFS ICO are essentially a group of pioneers revolutionizing agriculture and promoting the value of individual contribution.

We are proud to share such an opportunity with the crypto world.

4) What is the cap for your ICO and how did you come to choose that number?

David : ATFS ICO has a Soft Cap of 12,500 ETH and a Hard Cap of 50,000 ETH, based on our conservative and optimistic financial statement estimates.

Soft cap is a conservative fund which takes care of land purchase for Smart Farm 2.0 and various advanced facilities & equipment for the greenhouse. The hard cap is the funding needed to further establish R&D Center for Plant-Based Meat and to secure plants for mass production of the substitute meat menu.

We recently lowered the Hard Cap from 99,000 to just under 50,000 due to the rising ETH value; we want to match our current hard cap to the equivalent USD value to what we had forecasted in our optimistic financial estimation. ATFS wants to provide a fairer and rational investment environment.

5) Why do people need your tokens? Will investors be able to profit from them? And Where do you see the value of ATFS Tokens in the medium to long term and the ultimate benefit for token holders?

David : ATFS stands for AgriTech & Food Sciences and we are the world’s first token in such specializations. ATFS Token is based on a business model which makes it more of a real asset-backed token.

Just take account the smart farm agricultural market. It looms at USD 11 billion and the plant-based meat market (substitute meat market) is about USD 6 billion. In the case of the agricultural distribution, the wholesale market in Korea alone is about USD 30 billion, USD 80 billion in Japan and USD 150 billion in China. In fact, each business model of ATFS will naturally produce and sell within these potential markets, grow their business through drastic innovation, and ultimately bring great profits to ATFS and our investors.

When ATFS Token gets listed on cryptocurrency exchanges, the token value is expected to naturally grow with the business value of ATFS. This will also provide opportunities for capital gains.

6) What do you expect from the future of food tech industry and what role will ATFS Project play in it?

David : ATFS Project intends to introduce Industry 4.0 to the agricultural and food industries. Aging population, shortage of animal proteins and urbanization phenomena are inevitable all around the world. Let’s overcome such adversities together!

ATFS plays the first-mover leading role, holistically advancing the industry with innovations to create new production and distribution systems, new substitute meat products, and new methods of financial payments.

This is huge.

We are here, passionate about connecting the real and crypto worlds. We look forward to collaborating with many food and biotech companies in the near future.

7) Can you tell us a bit about your team? Why should someone believe in it?

David : The ATFS team is comprised of members from large financial institutions and venture capital funds like KB, Benex, IBM, EY, and KPMG as well as blockchain developers, global strategy consultants, and bio-related experts.

In addition, we have technical experts for smart farms, investment banking executives, ICO-related lawyer, accounting specialists, North American plant protein producer, and a global ICO advisor serving on the advisory board.

Our executives have been on the Korea Stock Exchangeand its listed companies, therefore you can trust us in investor relations. ATFS execs vow to be heavily involved and be in efficient and effective communications with our investors.

8) There could be potential investors out there who might not know how to participate in the ATFS Token Sale. Kindly give us a step-by-step guide on how to participate in the crowdsale?

David : Be careful of scammers! ATFS Token purchasing & distribution is only available on our official website dashboard: https://www.atfslab.io. Anything else if FAKE.

For step-by-step guides to all parts of our ICO, please check out the following links:

Please make sure that you also read our Terms & Conditions and make sound judgment before participating.

Our token sale is on from 10 JAN 2018 to 9 FEB 2018. We have an EARLY BIRD Bonus Rate of 40% in the first three days.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out on our open chatrooms:

– Telegram: https://t.me/ATFS_ICO

– KakaoTalk: https://open.kakao.com/o/gb6Z85D/

9) Anything else you’d like to add/we should have asked?

David : For more information, please checkout our OFFICIAL LINKS:

– Website: https://www.atfslab.io/

– Bitcointalk Forum: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2612592

– Telegram: https://t.me/ATFS_ICO

– FB: https://www.facebook.com/atfslab/

– TW: https://twitter.com/AtfsLab/

– KakaoTalk: https://open.kakao.com/o/gb6Z85D/

– Blog: https://medium.com/@atfslab/

– FAQ: https://medium.com/@atfslab/atfs-project-faq-cdeab21ef8b1