This report from UK Research and Innovation discusses the future of the alternative protein sector in the UK, drawing on a workshop held with representatives of industry, research and policymaking. It discusses plant proteins (e.g. pulses, lupins), fermentation processes (algae, bacteria, fungi, mammalian cells) and novel systems such as insect proteins and new types of aquaculture.

This report, produced jointly by the Good Food Institute and the Breakthrough Institute, argues that the United States should attempt to take the lead in the rapidly developing alternative proteins sector, including cellular agriculture. It frames the move towards alternative proteins as being driven not just by technological developments and investment, but also by increased consumer demand for protein coupled with public concerns about health and sustainability. As we note in the TABLE explainer What is ecomodernism?, the ecomodernism movement (of which the Breakthrough Institute is part) tends not to seek to actively influence consumption patterns but rather seeks to meet demand sustainably.

In this book, environmentalist George Monbiot explores how we can feed everyone while using less land. He speaks to farmers and scientists using new methods to grow food, including perennial grains, farming without ploughing, and precision fermentation of protein and fat.

In this podcast by the Sustainable Food Trust, molecular geneticist Dr Michael Antoniou explains how regulation of gene editing is changing in the UK, as well as the potential health risks of gene editing.

Replacing 20% of ruminant meat consumption with microbial protein - specifically mycoprotein from fungal mycelium - could offset increases in global pasture area, reduce methane emissions, and halve annual CO2 emissions from deforestation, according to this life cycle assessment (LCA). However, reductions in emissions from deforestation may plateau as the proportion of meat replaced by microbial protein grows. The paper discusses the methodological limitations of static (as opposed to dynamic) LCA.

The Good Food Institute has published a series of four reports giving the latest industry and investment updates about alternative proteins, including plant-based foods, fermentation, cellular agriculture, and alternative seafood.

A new initiative, Good Dog Food, has been launched to develop “healthy, ethical, and sustainable” lab-grown pet food. The initiative is a joint venture between Scottish biotechnology business Roslin Technologies and venture capital firm Agronomics.

The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture Intensification has published two policy briefs: the first seeks to understand the agricultural innovation investment landscape - how much is being invested, by whom, and in what; while the second looks at the approaches and instruments used in successful cases of scaling up agricultural innovations.

This paper outlines the systemic risks of using artificial intelligence (AI), specifically machine learning (ML) models, in agriculture and proposes ways of mitigating those risks. The three categories of risk considered are: risks related to data; risks related to the narrow optimisation of ML models; and risks linked to deploying ML models at scale.