The Next Stage of Livestock Farming is Served with a Side of Cellular Agriculture
New Harvest are Raising the ‘Steaks’ of Cellular Agritech & it’s not about being veggie (by JC)
By John Carrigan
When I was first asked to attend the New Harvest Research Institute’s annual conference in Boston Massachusetts on behalf of RebelBio, I was certain they had gotten the wrong dude. Don’t get me wrong, as part of SOSV, which is the world’s number one early investor and supporter of cellular agriculture (Perfect Day, Biomimetic, Memphis Meats among others), I would bleed for these companies.
However, as the son of the Tipperary farmer, who is a keen fisherman, and also loves to watch any form of animal racing, I’m a keen believer in the utility of animals. Therefore at New Harvest, I expected at best to just hate the food and at worst to be besieged and possibly lynched by an angry mob of sandal wearing, tofu eating, lefties.
It’s Not About Being Vegetarian
I’m being a bit flippant of course. You don’t have to be vegan to somehow think that maybe we all eat too much meat and that modern livestock farming practices are questionable. When we consider the environmental issues the whole sector really appears to need more disruption. Believing that Memphis Meats can change the world for the better or that Perfect Day are a technology not just desired but required, sits just fine with me. It does so because I believe such rational application of technology is beneficial in a way that slogan shouting is not. I don’t believe meat is murder, at least not if its carried out the right way. Furthermore, Paul Shapiro claims that none of us would eat meat if the walls of abattoirs were made of glass, this is actually in part irrational when one considers that going back generations man was much closer to the kill. Hunter/gatherer did not mean hunting for mushrooms.
And therefore I was somewhat ignorant and a little sceptical of New Harvests’ motivations. I spotted my mistake early when I perused the speaking roster. Speakers were represented by a number of serious scientists working in the area of cultured meat, but the talk that caught my eye was on how we came to have cultured embryonic stem (ES) cells only very recently.
For decades scientists have struggled to establish ES cells from agricultural animals. The first ES cells were derived from mice in 1981 but it wasn’t until 17 years later that the same was established with humans. Yet ES cells from agricultural animals remained elusive, despite enormous implications for the livestock industry, and of course, cultured meat production. In late 2017, Dr. Vilarino from Davis was part of the team that finally cracked the code for cows. It’s was a good reminder of just how difficult it can be to translate research between species.
Livestock Farmers and Cellular Agri are Better Working Hand in Hand
Later in the New Harvest conference Benjy Mikel, a food scientist and an expert in developing new business opportunities in the food processing industry, gave us the break down of the complexity of meat products. This was a great talk in that it allowed us, as an audience, to appreciate that with both its vastness and complexity, the traditional meat industry won’t disappear overnight. Rather cellular agriculture should initially look to infiltrate and work within the existing and established frameworks of the traditional meat industry. Beyond the headline-grabbing lab-grown steak, this new paradigm shift will offer new applications and opportunities that, to date, only fulfil existing or new areas within the broad scope of the meat industry, for instance, cellular agriculture cannot yet yield structured meat in volume and so instead could be used initially in ‘mince meat’ products.
By lunchtime, I was starting to feel more comfortable that I wouldn’t be tossed off the roof of the MIT media lab for my errant ways. I also found that there were farmers from out west and up north present, people smart enough to want to know what’s going on from all sides. Other memorable talks from the weekend came from the CEO of Aquabounty, Ron Stotish, a company which produced the first GM salmon. Ron had a lot to say about the horrors of the American regulatory system when it turns political. The take-home message is that it’s great to have rules and a system but it won’t work if people don’t stick to the rules.
If You Call a Cow by any other Name…
Finally, one of the more memorable contributions for me was from a cow Vet called Cody Creelman who blogs about the life of a cow to a healthy social media audience. I have since enjoyed his very interesting youtube videos and I was also very taken with his positivity about how cellular agriculture could actually help future farmers who currently have difficulty making ends meet. He did, however, reel against the use of the term “clean meat” which he regarded as insulting. New Harvest themselves set out a challenge to the audience to find alternative names. On hearing the variety of suggestions that ensued from ‘slaughter-free meat’ to ‘smug meat’ one got a feeling there was some polarity in the room.
But overall, I left the conference with the impression that we can all work together to make this happen and for that reason, as long as we avoid the silly slogans and support Memphis meats, Geltor, Because Animals and all those great companies that will provide alternative choices for us.
The RebelBio accelerator is taking place in Imperial College White City Incubator, London. RebelBio is backed by venture fund SOSV.
Companies or prospective entrepreneurs who would like to avail of funding, mentorship & support for early-stage life sciences they can apply or show their interest here.
