Food Frontier & CAA join forces

Food Frontier and CAA share a vision to build a resilient and sustainable food future for Australia by accelerating the commercialisation of emerging food production technologies and ingredient innovation. 

As the ecosystem representing these converging food technologies and applications evolves, it has become increasingly clear that it requires a unified voice across policy, regulation and market development. 

By integrating Food Frontier into CAA and combining our expertise and resources, we will establish that voice and deliver greater impact across a broader scope.

CAA and Food Frontier have strong vision and mission alignment and a history of collaboration, with our teams working alongside one another to support various cross-sector initiatives for years. Bringing our core capabilities and resources together enables us to deliver greater impact, across a broader scope, while also establishing a strong, unified voice for the sector at a critical moment where its needs are evolving.  

The sector we serve is undergoing a significant shift, where innovations once considered discrete (such as plant-based proteins, precision-fermented ingredients or cultivated meat) are beginning to converge with diverse applications across the food system. Our new consolidated strategy enables us to devote resources to the most promising opportunities while creating continuity from across both organisations’ expertise. 

Yes, with this merger, CAA’s work will expand beyond cellular agriculture to include the most promising innovations contributing to a sustainable and resilient food future for Australia. 

In 2026, we will introduce a new focus on the diversification of domestic plant protein ingredient supply chains. 

We will engage with the ecosystem of future food leaders to set our future strategy that explores opportunities beyond our current focus. 

In short—yes. 

Cellular agriculture is just one part of the emerging food production technologies and ingredient innovation ecosystem that CAA supports. As we expand our remit with this merger and this sector continues to rapidly evolve, it will become critical for our organisation’s identity to reflect the ecosystem we serve. 

In late 2026, we’ll engage deeply with the ecosystem to inform and strengthen its future strategy and external positioning, with the aim of introducing a refreshed identity that better captures the scope, ambition and promise of what our combined organisation is here to do.

In 2026, CAA will expand its remit to focus on the diversification of domestic plant protein ingredient supply chains, continuing Food Frontier’s work in this space, including supporting the recommendations from its 2025 report, Unlocking Australia’s potential: The case for a national plant protein industry. 

This choice to focus specifically on plant protein ingredient supply chains reflects our strategic commitment to focus on the most promising opportunities across cultivated, fermented and plant-protein applications. 

We want to ensure our organisation’s work furthers the advancement and uptake of technologies and applications as the foundation for supporting companies across the ecosystem, and thus will engage deeply across the broader ecosystem to identify the best opportunities for impact moving forward.

Opportunities across cultivated, fermented, and plant protein applications are all core to CAA’s consolidated strategy.

In 2026, CAA will undertake a participatory design process with the ecosystem to understand how we can best position our organisation to accelerate the commercialisation and adoption of emerging food technologies and ingredient innovations in Australia.

Over many months, we worked through a structured and deliberate process involving the executive leadership teams and Boards of both organisations - as well as our staff, who have been part of the conversation throughout. Together, we concluded this is a natural point of integration. Both organisations have reached a stage of maturity where Food Frontier merging into CAA makes sense, and the evolving ecosystem we serve is ready for a single, coordinated voice for advocacy and engagement.

Food Frontier’s Executive Director and Operations Coordinator will join CAA, bringing complementary skills and historical knowledge of the Food Frontier’s work and ensuring the organisation’s relationships, assets, and IP can be carried forward effectively

Food Frontier’s long-standing board member and current Chair, David Bucca, will join CAA’s Board.

Hannah, David and the remaining Food Frontier Board will continue to serve at Food Frontier through the end of 2026, ensuring a smooth and considered wind-down of the organisation.

We have introduced a consolidated strategy, which you can read about here. Learn more about our organisation’s programmatic focus for 2026-27, including how we will carry forth Food Frontier’s work, in the CAA Year in Review. 

The transition has commenced, with full team integration planned in April. 

Food Frontier will continue to operate in a wind-down capacity through 2026, with Executive Director Hannah Andersen, Chair David Bucca and the Food Frontier Board overseeing that process. Food Frontier's website, research, reports and resources will remain accessible throughout this period.

The Food Frontier brand will be used alongside CAA’s for relevant pieces of work already underway. Later in 2026, we will explore repositioning our strategy and refreshing our identity to capture the full scope of the organisation and ensure we are set up to effectively support the ecosystem in the long term.