Project INSIGHTS REPORT

Emerging agricultural technologies and the future of food: Exploring potential

Tech and Automation, Sectors in Transition

The Issue

The need to transition toward a sustainable food and agriculture system is critical and widely recognized. The current food and agriculture system contributes to many sustainability issues and environmental pressures, including the production of greenhouse gases, overconsumption of water, freshwater pollutants, and loss of habitat and biodiversity. Simultaneously, agriculture is highly vulnerable to flooding, extreme heat, drought, and loss of soil quality. Such impacts have severe effects on the livelihoods and wellbeing of producers, their communities, and society at large. As diets change and the global population grows, there is a need to explore new ways of producing and distributing food in ways that contribute to sustainable and resilient futures.

Cellular agriculture refers to a suite of technologies to grow proteins, like dairy or meats, indoors with minimal or no use of live animals. This technology has the potential to reduce emissions related to livestock production, sparing land for possible biodiversity conservation, and minimizing pressure on wild fish stocks. It could also contribute to food system sustainability, animal welfare, and resilience.

Other countries are developing regulations, incentivizing research, and supporting production and sale of cellular agricultural products. However, cellular agriculture triggers many social and economic questions. For example, there is concern regarding the potential livelihood implications of these technologies for livestock farmers and agriculture workers. Other research has demonstrated that the public has concerns about cellular agriculture. The positive impacts of this form of agriculture cannot be realized without adequate consumer acceptance and demand.

What We’re Investigating

This project explored the opportunities, challenges, and key considerations for developing a cellular agriculture industry in British Columbia (and broadly Canada) in ways that support transitions to sustainable food futures. Through interviews, discreet research projects, a survey, learning exchanges, workshops, and meetings, the project engaged people from NGOs, industry, government, research institutions, Indigenous communities, and the broader public to explore social, environmental, and economic opportunities and challenges around developing a local/regional industry.

The project included:

• A three-day, in-person learning exchange in 2022 on the social implications of cellular agriculture with people working in agriculture and food sectors, NGOs, technology developers, entrepreneurs, social science and natural science researchers, educators, and students.
• Feedstock studies and supply chain mapping on cellular dairy production in the Fraser Valley.
• Coordinating and inviting submissions to a special issue in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. The topic of the issue is The Social Implications of Cellular Agriculture and the Future of Food.
• A survey that explored public perceptions of 504 residents of Metro Vancouver towards cellular agriculture opportunities and the potential cellular agriculture has for enhancing food security, economic development, and sustainability in Canadian communities. The survey explored:

1. How Metro Vancouver residents viewed possible transitions to cellular agriculture with respect to likely, ideal, and concerning food futures.
2. The demographic factors associated with willingness to try and likelihood of buying cellular agriculture products.
3. Possible and/or desirable future scenarios for cellular agriculture’s emergence in public food systems including access, centralization and integration.

• A virtual workshop in 2023 where students, researchers, startup innovators, and non-profit leaders who engaged in the research at some stage throughout the two-year duration of the project shared their insights and lessons for orienting the development of the cellular agriculture industry toward sustainable food futures.

What We’re Learning

The project yielded several insights to guide development of a local/regional cellular agriculture industry in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

Building and deepening engagement and relationships. The emergence of cellular agriculture can result in significant fear and anxiety for a range of stakeholders. A just transition of the protein industry, including the development of cellular agriculture industry, requires increased and meaningful engagement between industry, academia, government, and local communities, especially with Indigenous communities, as cellular agriculture decouples people from animal foods which may conflict with the interdependence at the center of many Indigenous ontologies. Relationship building takes time, and researchers and startups working in this space should ensure appropriate time and resources are allocated to relationship building to build trust and offer transparency. This process of relationship building is often more complex than anticipated, and it is critical for those who want to embark on this work to do so with humility and following principles of reciprocity, consent, accountability and trust.

Increasing public knowledge and transparency: There is still relatively little public understanding and familiarity with cellular agriculture and there is a need for transparent communication strategies to educate the public regarding cellular agriculture, recognizing that diverse communities may have values that are in line and/or in tension with this technology. As the industry grows, public education and engagement is important to improve literacy and inclusion in the industry. Cellular agriculture could gain public acceptance if it contributes to food systems in a beneficial way, for example making foods more accessible with respect to low cost and high availability, as well as the proliferation of local businesses.

Challenges to industry development and growth. Canada is a new player in the global cellular agriculture industry. Without increased public support in the form of interdisciplinary training and technical skills development, funding, and incentives for open innovation and knowledge sharing, there is limited potential for the industry to develop in inclusive and holistic ways. Technological development within cellular agriculture is primarily driven by the private sector, with many of the lessons and knowledge around the technology being protected as intellectual property. As a result, the cellular agriculture industry is at risk of becoming highly centralized and operated by only a few large firms, with less opportunity for competition or broad-based public participation.

Food systems sustainability: Cellular agriculture could contribute to critical ecological sustainability objectives related to biodiversity and ecosystem health, but the technology does not guarantee such benefits. It could also contribute to climate change mitigation, but it does also present climate change concerns. Further research is required to better understand and enable cellular agriculture’s contribution to environmental sustainability, including the development of comprehensive environmental, social and governance metrics, implementation with sustainable energy systems, and integration within circular economies.

What’s Next

Future work that builds on the foundations and networks developed through this research include two new cellular agriculture research efforts. One is supported by Genome BC on ways of developing an ethical research space for engaging Indigenous communities in the use of cellular agriculture technologies and growth of the industry. A second project supported by Genome Canada, looks at how cellular agriculture (and other agricultural technologies) can be developed in ways that both contribute to climate change mitigation objectives and align with social justice and equity principles.