Enabling cellular agriculture in Australia

We are the only organisation dedicated to ensuring that Australia's cellular agriculture sector contributes to providing ethical, accessible and sustainable food for all.

What we do

We focus on tackling common challenges and opportunities facing the cellular agriculture sector in Australia.

We take an inclusive and participatory approach to our work by engaging with a broad range of stakeholders on key thematic areas. These areas include: navigating regulation, accessing and developing talent, and advocating to key stakeholders with common language and consistent messaging.

Cultivated Quail by Vow

What is cellular agriculture?

Cellular agriculture uses cells and innovative biotechnologies to produce safe, accessible, ethical and sustainable food and agricultural products.

This method is most commonly used to make animal-derived foods and ingredients such as meat, seafood, dairy products, fats, egg whites and gelatin. It can also be used to produce non-animal-derived products such as human breast milk, coffee, chocolate and palm oil.

Why cellular agriculture?

The global demand for food will increase by up to 70% by 2050. We cannot meet this demand sustainably or ethically with current production methods alone.

Cellular agriculture is one of many solutions required to ensure an ethical, accessible and sustainable food system into the future.

It has the potential to overcome six critical challenges facing our current agricultural system.

Its actual impact will depend on numerous decisions cellular agriculture companies will have to make as they move towards commercial scale.

1

Food insecurity

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663 million people globally are undernourished and around 697 million people (9% of the world population) are severely food insecure.

We need efficient, affordable and distributed methods of production to boost food availability and accessibility.

Cellular agriculture has an important role to play in reshaping the way our food system is structured.

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2

Deforestation

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Animal agriculture alone uses 35% of the Earth’s habitable land, the equivalent of North and South America combined.

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Globally, we are losing almost 5 million hectares of vegetation every year and around 41% of that due to cattle grazing and another 18% for palm oil and soy beans (over 75% of which goes to animal feed).

Cellular agriculture manufacturing facilities will require fewer land resources, which will create an opportunity to stop and reverse this trend.

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3

Biodiversity loss

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Widespread deforestation and marine habitat destruction has resulted in an alarming loss of biodiversity across the planet.

For instance, wild animals now make up only 4% of the physical biomass of all mammals on the planet. The remainder is made up of humans and our domesticated/farmed animals.

By reducing our dependence on land and our oceans for food production, cellular agriculture can help to mitigate this problem.

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4

Climate change

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Producing food through livestock is behind 14% of our global greenhouse gas emissions.

 By 2030, food produced through cellular agriculture using renewable energy technologies, is predicted to generate far less greenhouse gas emissions than conventionally produced meat.

For chicken, the most efficient meat, this could be 55% fewer emissions, for pork it could mean 65% fewer emissions and for beef, the reduction could be as high as 96%.

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In terms of dairy foods, the production of milk proteins through precision fermentation is predicted to generate 96% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional dairy production.

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5

Public health

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Intensive livestock production has been linked to several human health issues. Including water and air pollution, foodborne pathogens, antimicrobial resistance, and the potential for disease transmission 

With tightly controlled manufacturing processes and stringent food safety standards, cellular agriculture presents a way to minimise these risks

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6

Animal welfare

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Intensively farmed animals endure unnatural living conditions and untold suffering.

Globally, it is estimated that 90% of all farmed animals reside in intensive systems, including 74% of all farmed land animals and almost all fish.

Cellular agriculture has the potential to vastly improve the welfare of animals by removing our dependence on them in our food system.

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Upcoming events

Discover upcoming events within the cellular agriculture sector.

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Career opportunities

The sector is growing and presents a myriad of career opportunities across STEM and non-STEM fields.

Featured supporters

Our featured supporters are pioneering Australia’s cellular agriculture sector and are deeply engaged in supporting our mission.

Latest publications & insights

Keep up to date with the latest news and insights from CAA.

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November 24, 2023
December 3, 2023

Cultivated Issue No. 52: November 2023

Cultivated Issue No. 52: November 2023

Cultivated Issue No. 52: November 2023

Hear from our first Corporate Supporter, and our Seed Grantees update us on their projects.
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November 16, 2023
November 19, 2023

CAA Corporate Supporter - Eden Brew

CAA Corporate Supporter - Eden Brew

CAA Corporate Supporter - Eden Brew

Learn more about one of our 2023/24 Corporate Sponsors, Eden Brew.
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October 31, 2023
November 2, 2023

Food Australia: Collaborating for success at the CellAg Summit

Food Australia: Collaborating for success at the CellAg Summit

Food Australia: Collaborating for success at the CellAg Summit

We summarise the key themes of the CellAg Summit in Food Australia, the official journal of the Australian Institute for Food Science and Technology.
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March 11, 2023
December 7, 2023

What’s next for Vow on the path to regulatory approval in Australia?

What’s next for Vow on the path to regulatory approval in Australia?

What’s next for Vow on the path to regulatory approval in Australia?

As the first company to commence the regulatory approval process for cultivated meat, how is Vow's application tracking? What's next for Vow?
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November 24, 2023
December 3, 2023

Cultivated Issue No. 52: November 2023

Cultivated Issue No. 52: November 2023

Cultivated Issue No. 52: November 2023

Hear from our first Corporate Supporter, and our Seed Grantees update us on their projects.
Read more
Read more
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Thank you to our supporters

We are deeply humbled and grateful for each and every one of our growing community of supporters. We simply would not be where we are without you.

Make a donation

If you believe in the impact potential of cellular agriculture and the work we do in enabling this, make a tax deductible donation today.