Cellular agriculture: The science of producing animal products without animals.

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  Quantumrun Foresight
• January 20, 2022

Insight summary

Cellular agriculture, or bioculture, is a novel approach to food production that uses cells and microorganisms to create agricultural products, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional farming. This method allows for the production of items like meat, milk, and eggs without the need for animal farming and even extends to non-food items, such as fur, perfume, and wood. The potential impacts of this technology range from environmental benefits and job market restructuring to changes in food safety regulations and consumer attitudes.

Cellular agriculture context

Cellular agriculture, often referred to as bioculture, represents a new approach to food production that leverages the capabilities of cells and microorganisms to create agricultural products. This method aims to produce items that are identical to those grown in nature, offering a sustainable and efficient alternative. Additionally, this technology extends beyond food, enabling the production of items such as fur, perfume, and wood.

Presently, cellular agriculture can be divided into two main categories: cellular and acellular. The cellular method, also known as cell cultivation, is a process that involves growing meat directly from animal stem cells. These cells are typically obtained through a biopsy procedure performed on a live animal. Once the cells are harvested, they are provided with nutrients in a controlled environment, often referred to as a cultivator. Over time, these cells grow and multiply, forming muscle tissue, which is the primary component of animal meat.

The acellular method, sometimes referred to as precision fermentation, focuses on the cultivation of microbes rather than cells. In this process, microbes are manipulated and nurtured to transform into end products that include food materials, such as milk and eggs. This method offers a unique way to produce food items that are traditionally derived from animals, but without the need for animal farming. 

Disruptive impact

Traditional agriculture faces an ethical challenge relating animal rights and welfare. Cellular agriculture addresses this challenge by taking animals out of the food production equation. This ethical quandary, alongside the rising consumer demand for sustainable food production systems, has led some companies and startups to invest in food productions processes that use bioculture technologies. 

An additional factor influencing the growth of cellular agriculture is that it is significantly safer for the environment than traditional agriculture. Specifically, cellular agriculture uses up 80 percent less water, feed, and land than traditional livestock farming, and it doesn’t require the use of antibiotics and breeding services—all together, these advantages mean that cellular agriculture can become significantly cheaper than traditional agriculture once it reaches scale.

However, to compete with traditional agricultural companies as well as gain consumer acceptance, these cellular agriculture companies will have to educate customers about the concept of cellular agriculture and the associated benefits. They will also need to source funds for research and production scaling, as well as lobby governments to pass cellular agriculture-friendly regulations. Long term, the cultured meat industry is projected to be worth $28.6 billion by 2026 and $94.54 billion by 2030.

Implications of cellular agriculture

Wider implications of cellular agriculture may include:

• Dieticians tailoring customized and affordable plant-based meat alternatives for people with specific health conditions.


• Bio-factories using gene editing innovations to produce drugs, as well as the organic manufacture of other products including biofuels, textile materials, construction materials like bioplastics, and various chemicals.


• Fabric companies bioengineering bacteria with DNA designed to produce fiber in spiders and then spin it into artificial silk. 


• Leather industries growing a protein present in animal skin (collagen) to produce biofabricated leather. 


• Organism design companies designing custom microbes and culturing fragrances. 


• A restructuring of the job market, with a decline in traditional farming roles and an increase in biotechnology-related jobs, requiring a re-skilling of the workforce.


• New regulations and standards to ensure food safety and quality, leading to a reshaping of the legal landscape around food production.


• Lower food prices in the long term, potentially making high-quality protein sources more accessible to economically disadvantaged populations.


• Consumers becoming more open to lab-grown products, leading to a significant change in dietary habits and food culture.

Questions to consider

• Given a choice between organic and biocultured food, which would you prefer to consume, and why?


• What are your thoughts about cellular agriculture possibly replacing livestock farming?