Hello 2023! So long and good riddance to 2022. From a personal investment perspective, I’m more than happy to look at 2022 in the rear-view mirror. My year-end portfolio review was a sobering reminder of what I already knew, another lesson in humility that hopefully I will continue to learn from to become a better investor. Now it’s a time for renewal and the look ahead to what might be in store for us in the weeks and months to come. What investment themes will emerge that will help soften the blow of the damage done in 2022. A healthy share of fossil fuel exposure in the first half of last year would have gone a long way to mitigating the carnage inflicted by big tech and crypto. Uranium and lithium stocks also started out the year strong but seemed to lose momentum as the year came to a close. Everyone seems to think we’ll all be driving EV’s in short order, but the stock price of many of those companies have been crushed of late. Are these buy the dip opportunities or is the market coming to the realization that we might be a little early for some of these trades?

I’m not sure that I have any useful insights for you based on my 2022 portfolio performance, but over the next couple of weeks I will take a stab at a few themes that might start to gain traction as 2023 progresses. With that said, there are several enormous macro issues (China/Taiwan, Russia/Ukraine, resurgent Covid to name just a few) out there that could completely trash any ideas I have and put them far from the focus of investors. Nevertheless, we have to start somewhere, so today we’ll explore a broad theme of food security, sustainability and food waste reduction as inflation takes its toll on consumers world wide.

Food waste and spoilage statistics are quite alarming. According to the UN Environment Programme, about one-third of food produced globally for human consumption each year is lost or wasted. That is approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of edible food. Saving just a quarter of food lost or wasted globally each year would feed 870 million people. Not only does this result in financial losses but it also increases greenhouse gas emissions (another key theme and global focus). Are there ways to fix this? Yes. But similar to reducing our global carbon footprint it’s going to take time and a concerted effort. However, I would argue that there is a much greater economic incentive today to reduce food waste given everyone’s concern about food prices relative to opinions even as recent as a year ago.

One group at the forefront of trying to remedy this situation is TrustBIX Inc. (TSXV: TBIX | OTCQB: TBIXF). As an innovative leader, TrustBIX provides agri-food traceability and chain of custody value solutions. The Company’s goal is to create a world where we trust more, waste less and reward sustainable behaviour by addressing consumer and agri-food business demands. The proprietary platform, BIX (Business InfoXchange system), is designed to create trust without compromising privacy through innovative, blockchain-derived use of technology and data.

Source: TrustBIX Fact Sheet

The existing customer base includes hundreds of producers, auction markets, and feedlots. TrustBIX has a market presence in Canada, the USA, China, Mexico, and a healthy baseline of one-time and recurring revenue. Some notable customers include two of the largest beef companies in Canada, JBS Canada and Cargill, as well as household names such as McDonald’s and Loblaw’s (Real Canadian Superstore). Additionally, the Company will be presenting at this year’s CES (Consumer Electronic Show) in Las Vegas where they will be exposed to plenty of industry heavyweights. Even more exciting for the company is that they will be on a panel discussing “Cross-Industry Opportunities for Consumer Tech” along with John Sheehan, a Strategy and BD executive with Amazon Web Services’ Aerospace & Satellite group. That seems like someone worthwhile getting to know, especially for a Company with a market cap of only C$3 million.

Will TrustBIX be a good way to play the food security and waste prevention theme in 2023? Only time will tell. But I dare say that the food theme will at least start the year at or near the top of everyone’s list of concerns.

In this InvestorIntel interview, host Tracy Weslosky talks to TrustBIX Inc.‘s (TSXV: TBIX | OTCQB: TBIXF) CEO Hubert Lau about how agribusiness gaints Cargill and JBS use TrustBIX’s technology to help create a sustainable beef supply chain.

In the interview, which can also be viewed in full on the InvestorIntel YouTube channel (click here to access InvestorChannel.com), Hubert talks about how in addition to Cargill and JBS, TrustBIX has developed long-standing relationships with some of the biggest pork suppliers in China. “If you look at the top 10 pork processors in China, some of them are the largest in the world. They use our pork grading system.”

Hubert goes on to discuss how with the release of the BIX Impact module which expands the capabilities of the BIX platform to track sustainable practices, as well as a SaaS traceability solution called BIX Origin that provides verifiable data at every step of the supply chain, now “our focus is to grow that revenue and those opportunities for us.”

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About TrustBIX Inc.

As an innovative leader, TrustBIX provides agri-food traceability and chain of custody value solutions. The Company’s goal is to create a world where we trust more, waste less and reward sustainable behaviour by addressing consumer and agri-food business demands. The proprietary platform, BIX (Business InfoXchange system), is designed to create trust without compromising privacy through innovative, blockchain-derived use of technology and data. By leveraging BIX and its unique use of incentive solutions, TrustBIX delivers independent validation of food provenance and sustainable production practices within the supply chain – Gate to Plate®.

ViewTrak Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, provides a suite of hardware and software solutions to the livestock industry in Canada, United States, Mexico and China, such as Auction Master Pro, Market Master, Feedlot Solutions and pork grading probes.

The Company’s Insight technology offers an edge-to-enterprise supply chain solution that brings asset situational awareness to dealers, equipment fleets, and civil construction managers. The platform allows for the tracking, protection, and identification of movement of assets using self-powered and self-reporting cellular tags and cloud-based suite of tools.

To learn more about TrustBIX Inc., click here

Disclaimer: TrustBIX Inc. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

This interview, which was produced by InvestorIntel Corp., (IIC), does not contain, nor does it purport to contain, a summary of all the material information concerning the “Company” being interviewed. IIC offers no representations or warranties that any of the information contained in this interview is accurate or complete.

This presentation may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and assumptions of the management of the Company as of the date made. They are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and other factors that could cause actual events/results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties, including those that the Company does not know about now or that it currently deems immaterial, may also adversely affect the Company’s business or any investment therein.

Any projections given are principally intended for use as objectives and are not intended, and should not be taken, as assurances that the projected results will be obtained by the Company. The assumptions used may not prove to be accurate and a potential decline in the Company’s financial condition or results of operations may negatively impact the value of its securities. Prospective investors are urged to review the Company’s profile on Sedar.com and to carry out independent investigations in order to determine their interest in investing in the Company.

If you have any questions surrounding the content of this interview, please contact us at +1 416 792 8228 and/or email us direct at [email protected].

In September 2021, the UN Food Systems Summit was held to highlight one of the building blocks needed to reach the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The main idea of this Food Systems’ Summit was that we all must work together to bring about positive changes to the management of global food systems. Presently the UN has defined 17 SDGs, although right now it appears that the world is somewhat fixated on the “Climate Action” SDG  that, however, is really only one aspect of sustainability. Others such as eliminating hunger and building sustainable communities rely on healthy and sustainable food systems. When it comes to the definition of a sustainable food system, added are the concepts of economic profitability, benefits for society, positive impacts on the environment and animal welfare. In other words, sustainable food systems must deliver food security and nutrition for all without compromising economic, social and environmental bases.

Why should we care about defining food systems as sustainable? Because all of the SDGs the world is working towards call for deep transformation in agriculture and food systems to make them more resilient, sustainable, and productive. Action must be taken on all levels, from local to global. Good food begins with farmers who grow produce in a way that doesn’t harm the planet, continues with governments and businesses that work together to provide affordable and accessible food, and finishes with consumers who make conscious choices about what, where, and when they buy.

Arguably food is a human right, not a privilege. Today we are going to look at a company that believes in creating a world where we trust more, waste less, and reward sustainable behavior in the food chain. TrustBIX Inc. (TSXV: TBIX | OTCQB: TBIXF) is an innovative data management system that provides chain-of-custody solutions, which allows food processors, retailers, and consumers to have confidence that the claims made around important food attributes are true. This is delivered through a business model that combines hardware, professional services and software solutions. The proprietary BIX (Business InfoXchange System) platform, is designed to create trust and transparency without compromising privacy through innovative, blockchain-derived use of technology and data. TrustBIX delivers independent validation of food provenance and of sustainable production practices within the supply chain. Gate to Plate®, the TrustBIX system is called.

With all that said, let’s take a closer look at the sustainability verification business today. While TrustBix management’s efforts and the Company’s focus is primarily on the development of BIX products and markets, current revenue is generated largely from ViewTrak’s products. ViewTrak has developed solutions for many agricultural technology process verification challenges, with an emphasis on feedlots, auctions and meat processors, and its proprietary technology now includes:

• Auction Master Pro and Market Master – livestock auction market software solutions to help build and operate auction activities,
• Feedlot Solutions – livestock feedlot management software,
• Electronic Pork Grader – pork probe technology to help producers price pork carcasses by evaluating carcasses for fat thickness, lean meat thickness, meat percentage and carcass class.

ViewTrak’s pork probe technology is now used by the largest pork processor in China and by major pork processors in Canada and Mexico to grade and price pork carcasses.

But the future of the Company belongs to the strategic expansion of the BIX solution, customers for which already include Cargill, which uses BIX as part of its ongoing sustainable-sourcing program for its customers such as McDonald’s Canada. Along with enhancing and expanding the capabilities and functionality of TrustBIX’s technology and BIX platform to ensure that the Company continues to be innovative and drives value within agri-food supply chains, TrustBIX’s stated objective is to expand revenue streams, including ESG and cleantech initiatives. Just last week the Company announced it had signed a contract to develop a Traceability Protocol for the Biomass Quality Network of Canada (“BQNC”). BQNC is facilitating the commercialization of agricultural biomass for industrial applications through the development and adoption of quality standards and methods. This falls in line with a previously announced contract with All West Demolition Ltd. to track biomass and waste streams to divert material from landfills and to create new products for agricultural and industrial markets. Other ESG initiatives include signing up the Sunterra Group as its first client for the BuildSense® suite of energy management solutions. The BuildSense suite of solutions is offered in three discrete solutions as Build Aware, Build Sight, and Build Sense, and gives customers progressively deeper insight into energy consumption and sustainability management in their business operations.

Talk about ticking a lot of boxes for an ESG investor. With only 38.4 million shares outstanding, TrustBIX has a market cap of $6.1 million based on its most recent closing price of $0.16 making this a relatively inexpensive option for some quality ESG exposure in your portfolio. Albeit with a burn rate of roughly $500k per quarter and only $900k in cash at the end of Jun/21 TrustBix could be getting close to needing to raise capital, depending on how things have progressed over the last 3 months. The good news is that the company is generating revenue and has made a concerted effort to limit expenses, so perhaps the burn rate may subside and the need for capital will be pushed out past year end. In the meantime, who do you trust and who do you value to verify that? I like to choose TrustBIX.

In a recent InvestorIntel interview, Tracy Weslosky spoke with Hubert Lau, CEO of TrustBIX Inc. (TSXV: TBIX | OTCQB: TBIXF), about  TrustBIX’s blockchain based, chain-of-custody, solutions programs, which  bring trust and transparency into the agri-food industry supply chain and about the company’s recent listing on the OTCQB Venture Market.

In this InvestorIntel interview, which may also be viewed on YouTube (click here to subscribe to the InvestorIntel Channel), Hubert Lau said that TrustBIX data management products allow for  collaboration among agri-food industry players without them being required to disclose competitive, private, or confidential information. He went on to explain how as a trusted third party, TrustBIX allows food processors, retailers, and consumers to individually validate brand promises and claims and to create a win-win situation for its Agri-food  supply chain participants from the farmers to the individual retailers.

To watch the full interview, click here.

About TrustBIX Inc.

As an innovative leader, TrustBIX provides agri-food traceability and chain of custody value solutions. The Company’s goal is to create a world where we trust more, waste less and reward sustainable behaviour by addressing consumer and agri-food business needs and demands. The proprietary data management platform, BIX (Business InfoXchange system), is designed to create trust, without compromising privacy, through innovative, blockchain-derived use of technology and data. By leveraging BIX and its unique use of incentive solutions, TrustBIX delivers independent validation of food provenance and of sustainable production practices throughout the supply chain – Gate to Plate®.

ViewTrak Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of TrustBIX Inc., provides a suite of hardware and software solutions to the livestock industry in Canada, United States, Mexico and China, including Auction Master Pro, Market Master, Feedlot Solutions and pork grading probes.

To learn more about TrustBIX Inc., click here

Disclaimer: TrustBIX Inc. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

This interview, which was produced by InvestorIntel Corp. (IIC) does not contain, nor does it purport to contain, a summary of all the material information concerning the “Company” being interviewed. IIC offers no representations or warranties that any of the information contained in this interview is accurate or complete.

This presentation may contain“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and assumptions of management of the Company as of the date made. They are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and other factors that could cause actual events/results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties, including those that the Company does not know about now or that it currently deems immaterial, may also adversely affect the Company’s business or any investment therein.

Any projections given are principally intended for use as objectives and are not intended, and should not be taken,  as assurances that the projected results will be obtained by the Company. The assumptions used may not prove to be accurate and a potential decline in the Company’s financial condition or results of operations may negatively impact the value of its securities. Prospective investors are urged to review the Company’s profile on Sedar.com and to carry out independent investigations in order to determine their interest in investing in the Company.

If you have any questions surrounding the content of this interview, please email [email protected].