Feeding the Future

Cellular agriculture, vertical farming, and plant-based proteins

Think of your favorite food, a juicy hamburger or maybe a delicious salad tossed in Italian dressing. What if I told you that the meat for your hamburger was created in a lab and the lettuce for your salad was grown in a skyscraper. Despite how unrealistic all of this may sound this is the future of food.

The Problem

We’re in a crisis (and not just one). Humans and the Earth are suffering.

It is Goal 2 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to end world hunger by 2030. But severe food insecurity has been increasing since 2015.

In 2018, alone, about 700 million people were affected by severe food insecurity.

The raging global pandemic is not aiding in decreasing these numbers.

About 370 million children don’t have free meals from their schools that they depend on.

There’s more. It is Goal 13 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to take action against climate change and its effects. Yet 2019 was the second warmest ever recorded.

In the US, agriculture was 10.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions in 2018.

The point is people are hungry and the Earth is dying. With the population expected to be between 9 billion and 11 million by 2050, we need to figure out innovative solutions to feed everyone while keeping the Earth safe.

Our Current Food System

Before we understand how we can innovate food we need to understand how the creation process works right now.

The term “food system” describes the process of providing food to a population. The system is complex and can be broken down into many steps. But the main steps are production, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, distribution, consumption, and disposal.

Food production: is the process of actually growing the food. Whether this is on a farm, orchard, vineyard, or another site.

Harvesting: This includes the picking of the food. This process can be extremely expensive and labor-intensive. For example, a modern tomato harvest costs about $500,000.

Processing: In this step, food gets transformed from just ingredients into actual food; like making flour into bread or strawberries into jam. This includes the addition of preservatives and other additives.

Packaging: Here the food gets put into things such as plastic bags, quart containers, boxes, etc. to stop spoilage. Biodegradable and other eco-friendly packaging options are becoming more common.

Transporting/Distribution: The food will be taken from the original site and spread across various stores/marketplaces to feed the community. Long hauls release greenhouse gases into the air so there is a growing movement for Farm to Table restaurants.

Consumption: This is our favorite part, where we get to enjoy the food. In 2011, the average American adult ate about 1,996 pounds (nearly a ton) of food.

Disposal: Old leftovers and spoiled food are taken to the trash. From here most of it is taken to landfills where it creates methane, harming the environment. Safer for the environment, there is also composting, which essentially gives nutrients back to the Earth. In America alone, about 40% of all food is wasted.

Food of the Future

Now that we understand how food gets from farm to plate to trash, let’s look at some ways this is changing.

Cellular Agriculture

Imagine biting into a juicy burger or a delicious piece of bacon, but it didn’t come from a farm or slaughterhouse. Instead, it came from a lab.

Cellular agriculture is the process of growing agricultural products, like our favorite meats, in a lab.

The demand for meat is expected to be up by 70% by the year 2050. Cellular agriculture will help to meet this demand.

Both cellular and acellular products can be derived from cellular agriculture. Cellular products, such as meat, contain living or previously living cells in the end result. Whereas acellular products, like milk made from yeast, do not contain cells in the end result but rather organic molecules.

In the process of creating cellular products, stem cells are taken from the source through a biopsy. The cells are then placed in a nutrient solution to proliferate and differentiate. They grow into muscle cells and eventually muscle fibers, giving us the meat that we love. In some cases, the cells are placed in a bioreactor to scale up production.

In creating acellular products, like milk, for example, the casein gene is inserted into yeast. Now, the yeast has what is called recombinant DNA which allows yeast to make casein as if it were coming from a cow.

Vertical Farming

Agriculture takes up loads of space, about half of all the land on Earth, to be specific. The population is going up meaning there are more mouths to feed and less land to live on. Enter; vertical farming.

Vertical farming is essentially growing products upwards instead of outwards (the sky is the limit, right?). As depicted above, plants are stacked in tall columns to grow. Vertical farming overcomes challenges such as adapting to weather patterns and transportation of food while increasing the rate of production.

Conditions to grow plants are optimized through vertical farming. Factors such as light, humidity, and temperature can be controlled in order to produce the best outcomes. Vertical farms bank on soilless farming techniques, such as aeroponics, hydroponics, and aquaponics to yield products. This innovative solution uses 90–95% less water than traditional farming and eliminates the need for pesticides.

With this is said, there are major drawbacks to vertical farming. Including that it requires high amounts of energy. If we wanted this to truly become the future it is imperative to use renewable energy to power these sites. Vertical farming is also expensive, especially in urban areas.

Plant-Based Proteins

Protein is a vital part of any diet. It makes up parts of our bodies including hair, bones, and muscles.

But, right now, the way we get our protein especially through meat is insufficient. Producing animal products is about 30% of total water usage.

But, meat is not the only way to get protein. Protein is also found from other sources such as plants. Growing plants requires less water, less space, and produces less greenhouse gas emissions than meat. So, why not just make meat out of plants?

But how? Extrusion technology is a prevalent way to create plant-based proteins. It is also known as high moisture extrusion processing. The extruder machine is like a screw in a barrel with a small opening referred to as a die. In the machine, the plants undergo intense pressure and moisture levels to alter the protein structure. The product is pushed out through a cooled die.

Other considerations that need to be made in order for the plants to resemble meat are taste and appearance. Impossible Foods uses an iron-rich molecule called heme to give the product a similar color and taste to real meat.

Company Spotlights

Here are some companies that are currently working in the space of food innovation.

Memphis Meats

Memphis Meats, a startup based in Berkeley, CA, is using cellular agriculture to bring cultured meat to the market. Their goal is to “feed 10 billion people by 2050, and countless more beyond that, while preserving the environment and offering consumers additional choices in meat, poultry and seafood”. The company’s process to lab-grown meat takes about 4–6 weeks from start to finish and cells are grown in what they call a “cultivator”. In 2020, they raised $161 million in funding. Memphis Meats introduced the world to its first cell-based meatball, chicken, and duck.

AeroFarms

AeroFarms, based in Newark, NJ is using vertical farming to combat the food and climate crises. AeroFarms' mission is “to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity”. Their aeroponic technique allows them to use 95% less water than traditional farming all with 390 times greater production. The company also boasts a retail brand, DreamGreens. DreamGreens provides quality greens year-round to the New York area.

New Wave

New Wave Foods specializes in plant-based shrimp. Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the US but often times harvesting it pollutes the Earth and the ocean with chemicals and waste. New Wave Shrimp is sustainably sourced and environmentally friendly. Primarily made of seaweed, New Wave Shrimp does not contain any soy or shellfish allergens. In January 2021, the company recently received $18 million in funding. Although the company does not currently have plans to bring their shrimp to retail they do have plans to enter their product into the restaurant business this year. CEO, Mary McGovern, even stated that “We have deemed 2021 the year of the shrimp”.

Key Takeaways

1. Both the food and climate crises threaten normal life, especially as the population continues to grow.
2. Cellular agriculture offers a way to still indulge in our favorite meats without harming animals or the environment.
3. Vertical farming saves space and produces a high yield of products but requires tons of energy and money.
4. There are several companies revolutionizing the way we see (and eat) food.

The world is moving fast and we need to keep up. The future of food is on the horizon so look into small changes you can make in your diet, research interesting food technologies, and most importantly keep yourself and the Earth happy!