Agriculture has defined society. It allowed us to settle, form cities, and exponentially grow our population. From 8000 B.C.E to today, the world population has increased more than 1000-fold – from 6 million to over 8 billion people.
"The Columbian exchange in the 15th century was a big turning point for civilisation since it introduced staple crops to Europe, Asia, and Africa," Adnan says, the founder of fermentation startup Farmless. "Before then, agriculture was extremely labour-intensive. By swapping crops like barley for potato we could increase the efficiency of land by 4x and free up labour – enabling the industrial revolution."
The baby boom after the Second World War in the 1950s fuelled another wave of food innovation. "There was a big fear that agriculture couldn't sustain Earth's growing population." Adnan continues. Suddenly, we faced the threat of mass starvation. This set the stage for the third revolution: synthetic fertilisers. These increased the carrying capacity of the Earth. In essence, it allowed us to yield more harvest per crop by making plants produce food quicker. Today, it's estimated that over 50% of the population is fed thanks to nitrogen fertilisers.
A new model of food production
While agriculture fuelled human progress, it came at a great cost. The downsides of farming are many: deforestation, biodiversity loss, emissions, and a vulnerability to climate extremes, to mention a few. Fast forward to today, and we're not just facing the challenge of a growing population but floods, droughts, and fires brought by the climate crisis threatening supply.
According to Net Zero Insights, over 5000 agritech startups are currently working on solutions globally. UK-based CroBio, for example, uses biotechnology to prevent crop loss from drought conditions. But iterating our current food systems alone won't be enough. As Adnan puts it: "We're at an important crossroad. We can either increase our yields, which means more pesticides and intensive land usage or find new ways of feeding the population."
Leading this fourth food revolution is exactly what Adnan has set out to do with Farmless. The company uses microbes to ferment a new, planet-friendly, protein. Farmless uses renewable energy to convert hydrogen and CO2 into alcohol, which is then used to brew proteins. This allows them to return vast amounts of land to rewild our planet, reduce carbon emissions, and liberate animals from the food system.
Existing in tandem with agriculture
As the world’s population approaches 10 billion, this kind of reinvention might be just what we need. But Adnan's vision isn't to entirely replace agriculture: "It’s impossible, and I don't think we should either. I believe in a diverse palette of food." Tackling protein production though, is a good start. Currently, 50% of all habitable land is used for agriculture – three-quarters of that for animal proteins. "We need a much more efficient way to grow protein from a land point of view," Adnan says. By decoupling food production from agriculture Farmless could produce an equal amount of proteins using 500x less land. The team is set to have a big impact. If all goes to plan, Farmless could reforest and rewild 1 gigaton of emissions annually – a significant slice of the 5 gigatons needed to reach net zero.
No playbook for scaling food-tech
Reinventing food production doesn’t come without challenges. Beyond the technical complexities of scaling production, Farmless must pass food regulations before bringing its proteins to market. The company is currently pursuing approvals in the US, Europe, and Singapore. The regulatory process is time-consuming, lengthy, and differs widely between regions. "Regulation is a good thing because it validates that our food is safe, but the process is slow and painful," Adnan notes. "Better dialogue is needed between regulatory bodies and startups to help entrepreneurs anticipate questions to keep things moving". In Europe, the process can take 2-5 years, significantly slowing down innovation.
Getting the stamp of approval is just one of many hurdles to overcome on the path to 'planetary scale'. Adnan also faces many common challenges that come with being a climate tech founder: building a team culture, raising capital, and scaling a physical product. "Building a B2B SaaS startup would have been easier," Adnan acknowledges, "but not half as fun."
In terms of the future of food, Adnan would love to see a world where people have access to a diverse mix of flavours and ingredients. "Food is sacred. It's about sharing bread and coming together as a civilisation. When introducing new food, it needs to be tasty, fun, and engaging. That's exactly what we're trying to do at Farmless."
Karin Killander covers the intersection between technology and climate change. She's a brand-builder who's s worked in tech for over a decade, both in VC and for venture-backed startups. She currently works for Net Zero Insights and runs B2B content studio Momentum.
