\u201cA really good example is a company called Helaina, but there\u2019s a bunch of them who are making bioidentical-to-human lactoferrin,\u201d Clark-Reynolds said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that sounds really science-y, but lactoferrin is the iron component in milk,\u201d the Future Centre managing director added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to add the iron to cow\u2019s milk to get it to the same levels, from being cow milk, which is easier for babies to absorb.<\/p>\n
\u201cLactoferrin has always been quite an expensive component that dairy companies have made from cow\u2019s milk \u2013 but it\u2019s now at a point where the big formula companies are buying \u2018vat-grown\u2019 (precision-fermented) lactoferrin because it\u2019s got to the point where it\u2019s cheaper to make,” Clark-Reynolds said.<\/p>\n
Future Centre managing director Melissa Clark-Reynolds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s more of a threat than [precision-fermented] meat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vat-grown steak is on the way. <\/p>\n
In June last year, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) introduced a new standard for \u201ccell-cultured foods\u201d and permitted the first lab-grown meat to be sold: \u201ccell-cultured quail\u201d made by Sydney-based start-up Vow Group.<\/p>\n
Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard approved the first cell-cultured meat for sale in June last year.<\/p>\n
The FSANZ decision needed the approval of ministers on both sides of the Tasman.<\/p>\n
It was duly greenlit by Biosecurity and Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard, his office confirms, even if the development was not shouted from the rooftops, and his opposite number in Canberra.<\/p>\n
Breaking out of the commodity cycle<\/p>\n
Things are moving slowly. Vow\u2019s handful of retail partners and restaurants doesn\u2019t include any in New Zealand. And like other makers of vat-grown meat, it\u2019s hard to say what its base product tastes like. Various journalists have given it the thumbs up, but (like lab-grown chicken) it\u2019s always presented in highly processed form like whipped p\u00e2t\u00e9 (A$17.99 for a 180g jar) or croquettes (A$59.99 for 40).<\/p>\n
But if and when it picks up steam, could lab-grown meat help shake New Zealand out of its commodity focus in primary products, if a segment of the market is willing to pay more for the real thing?<\/p>\n
\u201cLots of companies have already broken out of the commodity cycle,\u201d Clark-Reynolds said.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Cultivated meat, transport perks, electric boats: Inside three rising Kiwi start-ups<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI sit on the board of Atkins Ranch, which is not in the commodity cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n Atkins\u2019 100% grass-fed lamb comes from regenerative farms.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can also look at Taupo Beef or Silver Fern Farms\u2019 top-end product as companies that don\u2019t try to fight it out in the commodity market,\u201d Clark-Reynolds said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we have to think that over time, meat is going to be a treat that people are willing to pay extra for.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re already seeing that Americans are willing to pay more for regen-certified meat and they\u2019ll pay extra for a2 milk.\u201d<\/p>\n (Clark-Reynolds spoke to the Herald before a2\u2019s US baby formula recall on toxin fears<\/a> that sent its shares spiralling.)<\/p>\n She adds, \u201cFonterra has a good innovation group. They are investing in plant-based milks. They\u2019re investing in the precision fermentation markets<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Big trends affecting agritech<\/p>\n Clark-Reynolds is also assessing trends, including the decline in population in China and almost everywhere outside Africa, a boom worldwide in demand for fancy cheeses and governments worldwide \u2013 including ours \u2013 cutting funding for \u201cblue-sky\u201d research in favour of more commercially-focused efforts.<\/p>\n Here, the new Advanced Technology Institute \u2013 set to be established later this year with $70 million saved from defunding Callaghan Innovation \u2013 is in the process of choosing between one of five artificial intelligence (AI) projects (a sovereign AI, a creative AI, an autonomous intelligence, a physical AI for real-world systems or a \u201cBioAI platform\u201d for agriculture, aquaculture, and forestry). Only one will be funded.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to see them all funded,\u201d Clark-Reynolds said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut my bigger concern for the future of our bio economy is whether we\u2019re investing enough in primary science. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much research done around the world that government needs to invest in because the private sector will only pick this stuff up when it\u2019s commercialisable; it won\u2019t invest in the really cutting-edge primary science. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd this is where I think places like CSIRO [Australia\u2019s main science and innovation agency] are going to be ahead of us. I\u2019m afraid that Aussie farmers will have an advantage over us.\u201d<\/p>\n So how does a futurist predict what\u2019s ahead?<\/p>\n \u201cI use a bunch of tools \u2013 some of them math, some of them straight out of anthropology,\u201d Clark-Renyolds said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m looking for patterns and using those patterns to help companies, government, NGOs, to think about how the future might turn out.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not trying to say that there\u2019ll be one future. I always say, the present is messy and contradictory, and the future will be too. So there\u2019ll be multiple futures, and we need to help organisations become resilient, however the future turns out.\u201d<\/p>\n Clark-Reynolds will be one of the speakers at Icehouse\u2019s Ignite 26 Growth Summit<\/a> this Wednesday at the Viaduct Events Centre.<\/p>\n The line-up also features Halter founder Craig Piggott<\/a>, Pic\u2019s Peanut Butter founder Pic Picot<\/a> and his stepdaughter (and Pic\u2019s chief executive) Aimee McCammon<\/a> and Puro New Zealand founders Tim Aldridge<\/a> and Sank Macfarlane<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n A panel discussion on the election \u2013 \u201cWhat does the next term mean for your business?\u201d \u2013 will feature NZIER principal economist Christina Leung, former Finance Minister and Icehouse director Steven Joyce (whose other roles include chairman of Herald publisher NZME) and journalists Paddy Gower and Bernard Hickey.<\/p>\n Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald\u2019s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cA really good example is a company called Helaina, but there\u2019s a bunch of them who are making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6127,95,3952,51585,138,11405,25840,5232,131831,7224,12967,2082,71,104906,212340,13840,3822,117,111,139,9452,69,20374,12968,99375,6115,29647,12969,1046,4758,1361,26452,212341,80],"class_list":["post-413038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-already","tag-and","tag-aucklands","tag-bath","tag-business","tag-cattle","tag-cells","tag-create","tag-cultivated","tag-dairy","tag-farmers","tag-for","tag-from","tag-futurist","tag-labgrown","tag-like","tag-meat","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nutrients","tag-nz","tag-oppo","tag-opportunities","tag-pigs","tag-real","tag-sees","tag-sheep","tag-startups","tag-taking","tag-that","tag-threats","tag-vatgrown","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}