Cellular agri development to change food industry: Study

Call for increased public investments in open-source research and education

A recent study led by Penn State researchers in the US has concluded that the development of cellular agriculture — food grown in factories from cells or yeast — has the potential to either accelerate socioeconomic inequality or provide beneficial alternatives to the status quo.

They assessed the potential trajectories for a new technology that synergises computer science, biopharma, tissue engineering and food science to grow cultured meat, dairy and egg products from animal cells and/or genetically modified yeast.

The entities that currently are best positioned to capitalise on these innovations are large companies, according to researcher Robert Chiles, assistant professor of rural sociology, College of Agricultural Sciences.

Over the past decade, scholars have explored a broad spectrum of socioeconomic and ethical questions pertaining to this technological approach, noted Chiles, who is a research associate at Penn State’s Rock Ethics Institute. However, Chiles explained, this scholarship has done little to explore the types of mechanisms that might facilitate a more just and equitable development of this sector.

To assess cellular agriculture’s potential trajectories, Chiles and colleagues attended 11 cellular agriculture and alternative economic organization events held around the United States over two years, interviewing key experts at those conferences and summits, asking how they think the industry will develop and should develop. Likewise, the researchers collected data from an additional 21 conferences online.

The study’s findings affirm the argument for increased public investments in open-source research and education on cellular agriculture, particularly for community and household-level production.