Cellular Agriculture Canada (CAC)
Leveraging Canada’s advantage as a global agricultural producer to establish a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral cellular agriculture ecosystem.
2019 - Ongoing
Cellular Agriculture Canada, an initiative of New Harvest Canada, is uniting stakeholders across the country to build a thriving cellular agriculture ecosystem. In May 2023, leaders from 30 organizations came together to chart a bold, collaborative vision for the next five to twenty years. With the goal of positioning Canada as a global leader in sustainable agricultural innovation, this initiative calls on innovators, researchers, companies, government, and nonprofits to join forces.
Visit Cell Ag Canada’s website to learn more, get involved, and help shape the future of food and biomanufacturing in Canada.
Overview
“Momentum in cellular agriculture is advancing globally; now is the time for Canada to capitalize on this potential $12.5 billion a year economic opportunity that can create up to 142,000 jobs across the country.*”
Canada has a unique role in the global food system, often as a resource provider. The Canadian prairies are a rich source of sustainably grown proteins, sugars, and fibres, which will be needed as cellular agriculture’s production begins to scale.
Given the alignment with Canada’s desire to advance biomanufacturing, value-added agriculture products, diversify its economy sustainably, and build resiliency in a climate-changing world, there is an incredible opportunity to build a Canadian innovation ecosystem for cellular agriculture.
Drawing upon New Harvest's proven track record of successful field building in the United States, we aim to establish an innovation ecosystem for cellular agriculture in Canada. This ecosystem will span the entire innovation process, from research to commercialization and from farm to fork. Guided by our principles of open research and responsible research and innovation, our aim is to create an accessible, accountable and applicable ecosystem tailored to the unique needs of Canada.
*As stated in Ontario Genomics’ 2021 report, Cellular Agriculture; Canada’s $12.5 Billion Opportunity in Food Innovation
CELLULAR AGRICULTURE CANADA (CAC)
Impact
CAC authors Cellular Agriculture & The Canadian Regulatory Framework
2021
CAC develops a Blueprint for developing the Cellular Agriculture sector in Canada and presents this to a diverse group of government stakeholders.
2024
CELLULAR AGRICULTURE CANADA (CAC)
Progress Timeline
2019 - Cellular Agriculture Canada was co-founded by Dr. Yadira Tejeda-Saldana, Ahmed Khan, Lejjy Gafour, Valentin and Netta Fulga, and Joshua Errett.
Sep 2020 - First Steps Towards a Regulatory Framework for Cultured Food Products in Canada, the first of two reports mapping out policy and regulatory considerations in a Canadian context was written by Netta Fulga and Yadira Tejeda Saldana from CAC. with support and valuable feedback provided by Ahmed Khan, Jalene Anderson-Baron, Erika Bergeron-Drolet, and government officers from the different regulatory agencies who provided information about current regulatory requirements and approaches.
Dec 2021 –The second report, Cellular Agriculture & The Canadian Regulatory Framework provides a clear summary of key insights shared during the “Cellular Agriculture and the Canadian Regulatory Framework” event held on March 4, 2021. Featuring presentations from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Health Canada, and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), the event brought together regulators and technical experts from across the Canadian government. The report captures the main takeaways from each presentation and highlights key themes from the concluding panel discussion, which addressed questions raised in the CAC white paper.
Aug 2022 – New Harvest Canada Inc. is launched, sharing what we believe is Canada’s unique value proposition for cellular agriculture.
Nov 2022 – New Harvest absorbs Cellular Agriculture Canada (CAC), elevating and carrying on CAC’s legacy through our work in Canada and beyond.August
Dec 2022 – New Harvest announces the launch of a new Institute of Cellular Agriculture at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Jul 2023 – New Harvest (re) launches Cellular Agriculture Canada as a multistakeholder coalition.
March 2023 – New Harvest’s Executive Director Isha Datar is named one of 100 Canadians Shaping the Country in 2023 in Maclean’s.
May 2023 – New Harvest and Transition Accelerator co-host the 1st gathering of the Canadian Cell Ag Ecosystem at La Cité College in Ottawa. This was the first-of-its-kind workshop focused on addressing Canada’s unique value proposition in this emerging space and was attended by 34 individuals from 30 different organizations across the cellular agriculture ecosystem in Canada. The participants agreed to collaboratively work on six action areas to help support Canada becoming a global leader in field.
Sep 2024 - 2nd Gathering of the Canadian Cell Ag Ecosystem hosted by New Harvest on the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton. The participants develop a blueprint for Cell Ag in Canada and present this to
February 2024 - In collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and District3, we launched the virtual series “Landscape of Canadian Science and Technology in Cellular Agriculture” | “Panorama de la science et de la technologie canadiennes dans le domaine de l’agriculture cellulaire” with the goal to provide a platform for disseminating valuable information and to facilitate the building of meaningful connections among key players in the field.
Fall 2025 - New Harvest is planning on hosting a 3rd Canadian Cell Ag Ecosystem Meeting this Fall. If you are interested in becoming a member and learning more about the event please complete this form.
CELLULAR AGRICULTURE CANADA (CAC)
Funders
This work was generously funded by Transition Accelerator, Consecon Foundation and through unrestricted donations from our giving community.
CELLULAR AGRICULTURE CANADA (CAC)
Contact
If you have questions or would like to get in touch regarding Cellular Agriculture Canada (CAC), please contact Dr. Yadira Tejeda-Saldana at yadira@new-harvest.org. If you are interested in becoming a member please complete this form.