Water is the most material input in agriculture and food processing. Agriculture accounts for roughly 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, so improving how we source, use, treat, and reuse water directly affects cost, risk, and growth.
Our network of 2,500+ specialists helps producers, processors, and investors translate water innovation into measurable outcomes. Typical objectives include reducing total withdrawals and discharge volumes, cutting treatment and energy costs, stabilizing quality for compliance, and unlocking reclaimed water for irrigation and utilities. We combine process engineering, regulatory strategy, data science, and commercial diligence to move from concept to pilot to rollout.
We support technical and commercial workstreams across the agrifood value chain.
Design or upgrade precision irrigation packages, from drip and subsurface systems to variable-rate scheduling informed by sensors, satellite data, and AI. Meta-analyses show that drip and subsurface approaches can raise yields while improving water productivity versus conventional methods when well managed
Build data pipelines from soil moisture, weather, and crop models to automate setpoints and alerts. Recent reviews find AI-driven irrigation can improve timing and volume decisions when trained on local conditions and fed reliable data
Scope and implement reuse in fields and factories. Food production can safely use reclaimed water where regulations and risk controls are met. The 2023 Codex guideline defines reuse principles across farming and processing, while EU Regulation 2020/741 sets minimum requirements for agricultural irrigation and risk management
Compare regional frameworks and economics. Some countries reuse nearly 90 percent of treated wastewater, most for irrigation, demonstrating viable models when policy, infrastructure, and pricing align. EU reuse is starting from a low base but has clear rules and material headroom
Audit water balances in dairies, breweries, and produce plants. Select primary to advanced treatments and evaluate reuse in non product contact utilities. Industry reviews document technologies and cases for safe reuse, noting both the opportunity and complexity
Map compliance paths and site-specific risk assessments for reuse and discharge. The EU framework requires monitoring, permitting, and transparent public information for irrigation schemes
Translate pilots into site portfolios with CAPEX, OPEX, avoided purchases, and resilience benefits. Hydro-economic studies in Europe highlight the need for region specific pricing to unlock volume at lower cost
… and safety of water used to grow, process, and distribute food. In fields, this centers on irrigation hardware and control. In plants, it spans intake, treatment, reuse, and discharge.
Why it matters now
Resource pressure. Agriculture is the dominant freshwater user, so small efficiency gains scale to large absolute savings
Yield and quality. Precision delivery helps maintain yields and crop quality under heat and drought. Peer-reviewed syntheses show drip fertigation and subsurface systems can increase yield and water use efficiency relative to conventional irrigation when correctly designed and managed.
Regulatory clarity for reuse. Codex issued global guidelines for safe water use and reuse in 2023. In the EU, a harmonized regulation for irrigation reuse came into force with minimum quality, monitoring, permitting, and risk management requirements.
Where water tech creates value
On farm. Drip, subsurface, fertigation, soil moisture networks, satellite ET, and AI scheduling reduce withdrawals and energy per tonne produced
In plant. Counter-current rinsing, membrane separations, advanced oxidation, anaerobic digestion, and targeted reuse loops in utilities can cut freshwater purchases and fees while meeting food safety requirements
At system level. Circular water programs recover water and nutrients, with governance to manage health and environmental risks
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“The FTE (by BGP) team really took the time to understand our brief and quickly connected us with the perfect expert from their network. Working side by side, our expert has shared invaluable technical know-how, helping us unlock the true potential of our new barley proteins and sharpen our market positioning.”
“BGP/FTE helped us gain the right insights, provided helpful recommendations, and executed everything swiftly.
This has helped us identify key risks, allowing for timely anticipation and mitigation.”
“A strong combination of a professional consulting team and hands-on industry experts from their expert network – great collaboration which helped us move forward with confidence.”
“Utilizing their deep industry experience and extensive technical network, the BGP/FTE team navigated our project toward the most valuable solutions, making the most of past insights and existing data. The team stands apart in its approach to driving progress with consistent advancements that offer clarity at every project stage.”
“We asked BGP/FTE to prepare a technical due diligence assessment for a potential investment in the cultured meat space. We were very much impressed by the quality of the BGP team, the thorough way of working, the valuable and up-to-date insights they provided and the open way of communication.
The assessment has helped us in better understanding the challenges of the company in this quickly evolving industry and in structuring a transaction. In many ways BGP outperformed our expectations and we are looking forward to working with them again.”
“BGP/FTE brought in uniquely deep insights through their professionally strong and reliable networks and a robust consulting framework, which is what we were looking for. Their work has helped us make better strategic and commercial decisions.
We look forward to continuing our partnership.”
“We worked together with the BGP/FTE team to develop our fermentation strategy and to make some very clear choices on where to play and how to win. The insights and support from the BGP team throughout this project were outstanding and they also brought in several experts to do a couple of technical deep-dives. Moreover they ensured that our teams were involved and on board with the proposed strategy. Together with BGP we developed a clear path forward in terms of our fermentation strategy and we are now fully in execution mode.”
“The BGP/FTE team helped us assess the alt protein market and better understand the most promising technologies and ingredients. Beyond providing insights and strategy advisory, they also helped us to strengthen our network in this space.”
“BGP/FTE has been a valuable resource in leveraging industry knowledge, market sizing, and cultivated relationships to help our team further evaluate the Alternative Proteins landscape.
We appreciate their ability to envision and look beyond the current state of the industry, peering into the future state where we can all contribute to feeding 10 billion people differently.”
“BGP/FTE was amongst the first ones we called when we embarked on our alt protein journey. The team did an excellent job organising an engaging workshop series for our key decision makers. They provided a detailed perspective on the industry and helped us identify relevant internal capabilities and resources to leverage.”
“BGP/FTE provides us essential support to help drive our vision towards practical implementation. The depth of industry insights they bring in, combined with their consistently top-quality work, enables us to confidently navigate this fast-changing field.”
Our team will help you throughout the whole process, let’s meet! Rather looking for a full strategy consulting team including the best global foodtech experts? Visit Bright Green Partners.
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