Culture Clash: How Traditional Farming and Cultivated Meat Can Work Together

Cultivated, or ‘lab-grown meat,’ offers a promising path for reducing climate impact and feeding a growing population. But what does this mean for the traditional agricultural industry? How can it embrace a technology that challenges a practice as old as civilization itself? 

In this episode of Balancing the Future, hosts Micah Schweizer and Chai Nussbaumer speak with Illtud Dunsford, farmer, founder, and CEO of Cellular Agriculture Ltd. to explore how cultivated meat may not replace traditional agriculture but rather evolve from it. Using a bioreactor modeled on the human vascular system, Dunsford’s breakthrough technology could dramatically reduce the environmental footprint and cost of meat production, while still relying on inputs from farms. 

From curing meat with centuries-old methods to pioneering lab-grown alternatives, Illtud shares his personal journey from initial skepticism to becoming a leader in innovation. 

LINKS 

• Illtud Dunsford on LinkedIn 
• Cellular Agriculture Ltd Website 
• METTLER TOLEDO Laboratory Solutions Website 
• METTLER TOLEDO Laboratory Solutions on LinkedIn 
• Balancing The Future Podcast Website 
• Micah Schweizer on LinkedIn 
• Chai Nussbaumer on LinkedIn 

SOURCES 

Could Cultivated Meat Revolutionize Diets of the Future? - Balancing the Future 

Planetary boundaries – Stockholm Resilience Center at Stockholm University
Coffee Consumption – British Coffee Association 

Coffee Without Beans, Chocolate Without Cocoa – The Companies Making Plants from Cells (and why we need them) - Cultivated X 

California Cultured 

Cell culture of plant cells - EBSCO 

Plant-based and cell-based approaches to meat production – Nature.com 

The strange future of lab-grown meat - Food and Environment Reporting Network 

Culture Clash? What cultured meat could mean for UK farming – Royal Agricultural University 

 

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