Can Canadian Food Technologies Drive the Next Green Revolution?

Canada has a rich history of producing groundbreaking research and development, a lively ecosystem of startups, and a deep talent pool that includes tech-savvy farmers, world-class scientists, and creative agricultural entrepreneurs. It’s this spirit of innovation that will be the key to the low carbon, sustainable food systems of the future. And this is Canada’s moment to unlock it.

In a special report, the Royal Bank of Canada identified Cellular Agriculture as one of the top technologies that will kickstart Canada’s transformation to a low carbon agricultural producer. At a time when our agriculture and food systems produce just over 10% of our national greenhouse gas emissions each year (the equivalent of 93 megatonnes), investment in a new generation of agricultural technologies may help reduce 2050 emissions from Canada’s agriculture sector by up to 40%.

Canada’s share of investment in these new technologies is not sufficient. Nationally private equity and VC investment in Canadian cellular agriculture is approximately $91M USD, as compared to the Global investment of more than $7B. This lack of investment limits our Canadian entrepreneurs with the ability to scale their innovations, gaining speed to market, and making cell-based products a part of our everyday life. 

Cellular agriculture is the future of food. And the time to invest is now.