Vince Sewalt, Senior Director of Product Stewardship & Regulatory at DuPont guest blogs with his thoughts on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's report on Future Products of Biotechnology, and its shortcomings with respect to cellular agriculture.

Illtud Dunsford comes from a centuries long line of farmers in Wales, and is an award-winning producer of artisanal meats as founder of Charcutier Ltd. He is also a Nuffield scholar. The Nuffield Farming Scholarship program was established by William Morris, the grandson of a farmer. After working as a bicycle repairman in Oxford, England, Morris began making newer bicycle models, and eventually started a motor car business. Realizing in the then-early stages of the car industry that he should seek best practices, Morris travelled to Detroit to learn how reliable, lower cost cars were being produced in America. His model, the Morris Cowley, was able to compete with Henry Ford thanks to mass production principles learned in the United States. Morris became a leading industrialist and philanthropist, and was honored with the title Lord Nuffield.The Nuffield Foundation was established in 1943, and by 1947 its scope of objectives had widened to include agricultural advancement. The purpose of the Nuffield Farm Scholarship program is for scholars to “search out and bring back to farmers in the UK details of good and innovative agricultural husbandry, from different parts of the globe.”Illtud’s studies led him to the discovery of cellular agriculture, at the 1st International Symposium on Cultured Meat at Maastricht University in 2015. Illtud’s final report documenting his world travels with the Nuffield program includes a chapter on cultured meat, and New Harvest community member David Leibowitz has provided a synopsis of this chapter below.

Making cellular agriculture a reality is no small feat! It is a team effort, carried out by New Harvest's network of scientific pioneers from various backgrounds working together on the challenges of culturing meat piece by piece. For many of the scientists in our community, dedicating their careers to the advancement of cellular agriculture was a dream that could only have been made possible via a grant from New Harvest. Since New Harvest is funded completely by donors, we are essentially crowdfunding a new field of science on a global scale.Our small but growing team of Research Fellows are on the front lines of this work, paving the way for even more future cellular agriculturists to produce meat, milk, eggs, leather, and other animal products without animals. Read on to find out in their own words what being a part of the New Harvest community has meant to them.

New Harvest Communications Director Erin explains some of the processes that fall under cellular agriculture in plain English. A version of this article was originally published in AgFunder in July 2016.

Rebecca Ruth Seidel is the dairy manager and cheesemaker of Wholesome Dairy Farms, a grazing operation in rural Pennsylvania. As a 4th generation dairy farmer, decade-long vegetarian, and former Penn State American Studies graduate student, she's interested in the intersection of animal ethics, scientific progress, and the American diet. Rebecca shares her perspective on cellular agriculture as a current dairy farmer in her first guest post for the New Harvest blog.

This publication by Mark Post was summarized by Tom Ben-Arye, with edits by Jason Weiss. The original paper can be accessed here.

This publication by Vebeke, et. al was summarized by Jason Ketola, with edits by Danielle Torrise. The original paper can be accessed here.

This publication by Van der Weele, C., et. al was summarized by Tyler Knox, with edits by Danielle Torrise. The original paper can be accessed here.

This publication by Pandurangan, et. al was summarized by Tom Ben-Arye, with edits by Jason Weiss. The original paper can be accessed here.

This publication by Zhi-chang, S., et al. was summarized by Jason Weiss, with edits by Utony Nguyen. The original paper can be accessed here.

This publication by Dennis, R., et. al. was summarized by Utony Nguyen, with edits by John Nahay. The original paper can be accessed here.

What does the Paris Agreement on climate change mean for the future of the livestock supply chain? Does it bind parties to adopt sustainable, safe, and affordable animal protein supply chains like cellular agriculture? Spoiler alert: no, it does not. However, it does call on parties to protect forests. That’s a first step in a long journey we only have a short time to take.

This publication by Hong, S., et. al. was summarized by John Nahay, with edits by Danielle Torrise. The original paper can be accessed here.

As the world community is negotiating a climate deal this week, it sees clean energy as the central solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but turns a blind eye on clean animal products even though livestock production accounts for up to near 20% of global emissions. Just like renewable energy and clean tech are part of the solution, cellular agriculture technologies are needed to extend our lease of life on earth.Solutions to our broken livestock supply chain must be brought at the heart of the negotiations for a climate deal to be impactful.

On February 24, 2015 the cultured meat movement lost one of its pioneers, Willem Frederik van Eelen.

Andy Vrbicek suggests that the role of animal agriculture in climate change is vastly underestimated because of calculation parameters in this thought-provoking essay.

Join our forward-thinking community in advancing technologies to sustainably and affordably feed a growing global population.