We have arrived at Cop 27 and problems from Cops 1 to 26 are still standing. It is incredible to see endless summits, endless buffets for lunch breaks, endless declarations that do not lead to cancellations. Incredible and frustrating, to the point that one hopes to see bigger and bigger protests.
We need a truly massive critical mass to turn this situation around. And while we patiently try to make it grow gradually, we have a duty to keep our eyes peeled for technologies that can change the future. One above all: precision fermentation.
Let's focus on technology for a moment. In particular, what may be the most important environmental technology ever developed: precision fermentation.
What is precision fermentation?
Precision brewing is a refined form of brewing, a means of multiplying microbes to create specific products. For years it has been used to produce medicines and food additives.
But today, in some factories and laboratories around the world, scientists are developing a whole new generation of foods with basic fermentation.
What kind of foods? Quickly said. Some microbes feed on hydrogen or methanol (potentially also obtainable with the use of renewable energy) and produce a flour which contains about 60% protein. That's far more than soybeans (37%) or chickpeas (20%).
When bred to produce specific proteins and fats, these bacteria can create substitutes for meat, fish, milk, cheese and eggs much better than vegetable ones. And do at least two miracles for the planet.
First: hugely reduce the footprint of food production.
Estimates say that precision brewing with methanol requires 1.700 times less surface area than soy.
In other words? 138.000 times less than what is needed for beef, 157.000 times less than what is needed for lamb. And it also allows for a radical cut in water and greenhouse gas emissions.
The massive adoption of this technology may be perhaps the last chance we have to avoid the collapse of our systems, and restore a lot of nature.
How? By reforesting the vast areas now occupied by livestock (by far the largest of all human land uses) or the crops used to feed them. Restoring forests, wetlands, savannas, natural pastures, mangroves, coral reefs and seabeds.
Second, free many countries from the need to depend on food imports.
All the nations most vulnerable to food insecurity are rich in something else: sunlight. Precisely the raw material needed to support food production based on hydrogen and methanol.
Precision brewing is at the top of its price curve – they can only go down. If production were well distributed (which I think is essential), every city could have a stand-alone microbial brewery, producing low-cost, protein-rich foods suitable for local markets.
This technology could, in many nations, ensure food security more effectively than agriculture can.
“How disgusting, bacteria!” and other objections.
It is the first objection which often receives precision fermentation. Where is the problem? We eat bacteria with every meal! We put many of them on purpose, and alive, in foods like cheese and yogurt.
The second objection is that these flours could be used to produce ultra-processed foods. And what is the difference with wheat flour? But they can also be used to radically reduce the manufacturing processes needed to produce substitute products for animal products, especially if microbes are genetically modified to produce specific proteins.
This brings us to the third objection. There are big problems with some genetically modified crops. The infamous “Roundup Ready” corn was born in Italy only to expand the market for a proprietary herbicide (containing glyphosate) and the dominance of the manufacturing company. But genetically modified microbes have been used in precision fermentation since the 70s to produce insulin, rennet substitute, chymosin and vitamins.
Precision fermentation: for all or for a few? The “neophobic” risk
The risk that these new technologies are the preserve of a few multinationals is real and we should face it now. We need to expect a new food economy that is radically different from the current one, which is well established.
The real sticking point, I think, is neophobia. I know people who don't want a microwave oven because they think it's bad for their health (it doesn't), but who own a wood stove, (which it does!).
Communication and awareness campaigns are needed to advocate precision fermentation and other new technologies that could help us get out of our disastrous spiral.
We hope to do it in many, and soon.
