Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA) has released a new report examining the state of the cellular agriculture industry in Australia, making note of the significant achievements made by local start-ups across 2022 and 2023.
The report is guest authored by Dr Tarika Vijayaraghavan, founder of Trove Biosciences, with data provided by Alternative Proteins Global. It also draws on data from the CSIRO’s strategic roadmap, which reflects on Australia’s progress in alternative protein production, and The Good Food Institute’s State of the Industry Reports.
The report states that Australia accounts for five percent of total global investment in cell ag companies, and is ranked fourth in global investment, attracting US$109 million across 2022 and 2023. This places us behind the US, Israel and the UK.
Investment and product development achievements by Australia’s leading cellular agriculture companies are also detailed in CAA’s report. These include Vow’s application for regulatory approval in Australia and Singapore as well as the opening of Factory 1, the largest cultivated meat factory in the southern hemisphere. Magic Valley’s lamb and pork prototypes are also referenced, as are the successful investment rounds by Cauldron Ferm and Me&, and Change Foods’ strategic partnerships with Upfield and Sigma.
Future opportunities for the cell ag sector are also identified, with special mention given to plant molecular farming, where plants can be genetically modified to express targeted proteins. At present, there is only one Australian molecular farming business, Canberra’s FytoBio, which has created a process that allows for the scalable production of specific proteins in high quality, food-grade quantities, while maintaining cost effectiveness.
CAA’s CEO, Sam Perkins, recently co-hosted a Future Alternative podcast episode (below) with FytoBio’s founder, Robin Fieldhouse, which looked the fundamentals of this novel technology and the impact it could have on helping cellular agriculture businesses reach scale quicker and more cheaply than what is currently feasible.
To read the report in full, click here.
To stay up-to-date on the latest industry headlines, sign up to Future Alternative’s enewsletter.
Posted on: