The global food system is increasingly under pressure as rising demand for the most resource-intensive products—meat and dairy—coincides with crop stress and extreme weather events associated with climate change. Emerging technologies to produce high-quality proteins from non-animal sources such as plants, microbes, fungi, and cell culture are gaining market share to address the demand gap. These production platforms also offer increased resilience and reduced vulnerability to global shocks like animal disease outbreaks, such as the H5N1 bird flu outbreak that is currently decimating global poultry and egg supplies. However, there remain technological, scaling, and manufacturing challenges that must be overcome for these alternative protein sources to become more widely available and affordable. There is also a nuanced landscape of consumer sentiment, incumbent industry pressure, and political will to navigate within the transition toward more sustainable and resilient protein production systems. Within the context of a highly globalized agricultural system, there is also the potential for substantial food security and national security risks that may arise for countries that do not orient themselves to be on the leading edge of this protein transition. This session will explore the opportunities and challenges that will arise along the way.
