Non-traditional protein farming offers food for thought, CSIRO report suggests

Changing diet trends, a fast-growing population, and international trade opportunities could help Australia become “a global delicatessen” for protein, according to national science agency CSIRO.

The report titled Protein: A roadmap for unlocking technology-led growth opportunities for Australia found a $13 billion market opportunity for a variety of proteins on the global market, and outlined how investing in this sector could create up to 10,000 jobs.

Future Protein Mission lead Professor Michelle Colgrave said Australia’s strong history and global reputation in agriculture and food presented a big opportunity for future growth.

“We are seeing a growing global population and an emerging middle class in regions like Asia, but in Australia we are also seeing changing consumer preferences,” she said.

“Up to a third of Australians are now either seeking flexitarian or reducetarian diets.

“This means they still consume products like red meat or seafood, but they’re doing so less frequently or having a reduced portion size and in doing so they’re seeking alternatives.”

Economy and environment win

Investment in new technology to create plant-based proteins, better-tasting legume crops, cultivated meat and edible insects are just some of the market growth opportunities available, Professor Colgrave said.

“We already export about 70 per cent of the food we produce, and now we’re looking at new industries for Australia.

“We’re also looking at the environmental benefits that can come from diversifying our protein offerings – we can reduce our footprint for some of our systems.”

Professor Colgrave said scaling up industries already present in Australia would also aid the nation’s food security, as it was expected there would be an extra 2 billion people on the planet to feed by 2050.

“In the case of our aquaculture, we have a white-flesh fish industry that is relatively small but we’ve got the opportunity to grow it in three to five years,” she said.

“We’ll be able to reduce the reliance on imported white-flesh fish products, which we currently import around 90 per cent (of), so we’ve got an opportunity to change that right now.”

But developments in the plant protein space could take more time and investment, Professor Colgrave said.

“We need to scale up the infrastructure to really be able to on-shore some of our manufacturing,” she said.

“We grow all the crops here, but now we need to be able to turn those crops into ingredients that can go into food manufacturing – that’s a critical part.

“It will take a little bit of time to establish that.”

Traditional agriculture benefits

Professor Colgrave said the road map highlighted how protein demand could only be met by bringing together animal, plant and non-traditional protein production systems.

“There is a seat at the table for everyone, no one is going to miss out.” she said.

“Protein demand is going to exceed what we can currently possibly produce, it’s just a question of how do we access those additional export markets.

“There are opportunities to value-add red meat – for example, using the lesser cuts to produce protein powders and nutraceuticals.”