Agtech, Food & Consumer Goods
To feed more people on an already straining planet, agriculture must become greener, more innovative and more bountiful. Biotechnology is already boosting crop yields, lab-grown meat and fish will further reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and gene editing can help agriculturalists modify traits without adding foreign DNA. But will the public get on board with these novel approaches? What regulatory challenges will be faced by companies in this space? This session will explore all of these topics — and more.
Featured Speakers
Featured Stories
Ginkgo bets on future food tech with spin-out Motif Ingredients
It’s the largest Series A in food tech history: Ginkgo Bioworks announced the $90 million launch of Motif Ingredients, a spin-out company that aims to provide next-generation alternative proteins and other ingredients to food companies worldwide. READ MORE
How this synbio startup is transforming agriculture, feeding the world, and cleaning up the planet
Pivot Bio has developed nitrogen-producing microbes that adhere to the corn’s roots and feed nitrogen to the corn plant daily. Farmers apply Pivot Bio’s product as they are planting corn, which eliminates a second fertilizer application. READ MORE
GE salmon’s 20-year upstream struggle to market
t’s been a long, hard swim upstream, but genetically engineered salmon may finally be coming to a US supermarket near you: The FDA clears the way for AquAdvantage Salmon to be grown and sold in the US. READ MORE
How sweet it is: The next generation of natural, zero-calorie sweeteners
Boston-based Conagen Inc. has its sights set on natural sweeteners, which CEO Oliver Yu described in 2017 as “by far” the biggest short-term opportunity space for biobased products in the U.S. Since then, Conagen has achieved important breakthroughs in the space. READ MORE
From cell culture to table culture: Food tech comes alive
Cellular agriculture aims to produce animal proteins without the animals. It combines biology, engineering, and synthetic biology to design new ways of producing proteins, fats, and tissues in cell culture that would otherwise come from traditional agriculture, thus offering alternatives to animal food products. READ MORE
USDA, FDA announcement brings cell-based meat one step closer to U.S. supermarkets
Cell-cultured food offers consumers options with increased food sustainability, reduced animal suffering, and superior nutrition and taste. READ MORE