"Meat from 3D printers, as implemented in Israel, is almost unaffordable: a kilo of tenderloin quality would cost 100 euros," says Professor Dr.-Ing. Marius Henkel, Professor of Cellular Agriculture. © Bernd Weißbrod/dpa
At the invitation of the Bavarian Farmers' Association, expert Marius Henkel spoke about alternatives to meat and the future of world nutrition.
Erding – "Meat and milk from the laboratory, vegetables from the high-rise building – who needs farmers anymore?" Professor Dr.-Ing. Marius Henkel spoke on this provocative question in the hall of the Raiffeisenbank in Altenerding at the invitation of the Bavarian Farmers' Association (BBV). The expert is the first professor of cellular agriculture in Germany and holds a chair in Weihenstephan.
In front of around 70 guests, Henkel outlined the future of the world's food supply: "We are rapidly approaching ten billion people and have to think about how we can continue in food production. After all, food still has to be cheap in price and good for the environment in 20 years' time." It is important to pay just as much attention to climate effects as to health. Availability must be guaranteed. "But we also need to look at safety, ethics, animal welfare and food justice in the world."
Currently, 77 percent of all agricultural land is needed for livestock farming and feed generation, although only 17 percent of our food intake comes from animal foods – "that's inefficient". In addition, eight kilocalories of feed would yield just one kilocalorie of food, but as an example, 137 million chickens would be slaughtered per day in the world.
In order to obtain proteins in the form of vital proteins, such as meat, he named three possible artificial paths: imitations from plant raw materials, food from biomass and meat from cell cultures. The former could be made from beans or tofu, they are already available on the market. Production by biomass via fermentation – the conversion of organic substances outside an animal's body, for example by bacteria – is also feasible. A U.S. company has been offering such products since 1985, as a meat substitute using a mushroom.
In front of around 70 guests, Professor Marius Henkel (right) spoke about what the diet of the future could look like. © Friedbert Holz
It is also possible to produce a kind of fish substitute with nutritional yeast, micro-algae and fungi. After all, cultivated meat had already been obtained from real animal tissue. "But this will always be expensive and thus remain an exotic product. Meat from 3D printers, as implemented in Israel, is also almost unaffordable: a kilo of tenderloin-quality would cost 100 euros."
Henkel also spoke about precision fermentation, which has been established since 1990 to produce artificial milk, for example. "It is a biotechnological production with genetic information from cow's milk. This produces a lot of CO2, and the energy required for production is also high." When asked by a guest where the important vitamins of milk were in this process, Henkel had to admit "that people should definitely eat fruit with it". Biosynthetic milk protein is already sold in the USA, but is not (yet) approved in the EU.
Finally, he spoke about hybrid products, such as burgers, which are made from a soy minced mass with root nodules of these legumes. He sees a great market opportunity here because it is easy to realize. He is rather critical of vertical farming, i.e. vegetables that grow on or on high-rise buildings. "Basically, this type of cultivation is interesting. 80 percent of all arable land in the world is already in use, and it could be cultivated here in a space-saving manner. However, a high energy requirement is necessary, and special plant species are needed. So far, however, investors have not been primarily interested in this, they are mainly interested in hip high-tech ideas."
As a summary of his investigations, Henkel comes to the conclusion that proteins, obtained from plants, have to meet the criteria of taste and nutritional value. Food made from biomass theoretically has great potential, but its implementation in society could be difficult. He sees the greatest opportunities for hybrid products, such as those made from soy, and products from precision fermentation. However, their approval still has to be clarified by politicians. Cultured meat, however, is too expensive, "and vertical farming can never compete with arable farming".
BBV district chairman Jakob Maier, who, like many of his colleagues, raised objections and skepticism, takes interesting aspects for the near future on the subject of nutrition and warned against too one-sided consideration: "We as farmers in particular should know what is happening to the right and left of us, what agriculture might look like in the coming decades."
