Innovation in agribusiness: How alternative proteins are reshaping agribusiness

By adopting innovative protein sources, the Agribusiness sector is poised to contribute significantly to global food security, driving a more resilient, sustainable future in food production. The Kestria Agribusiness & Agrisciences Practice Group has gathered respected experts from diverse fields to explore this evolution.

Key takeaways:

1. Innovative Protein Production: Companies are developing alternative protein sources, such as cultivated meat, algae, insect proteins, and mushrooms, addressing challenges in scalability, ingredient efficiency, and consumer acceptance.
2. Consumer Education: Overcoming consumer resistance, especially to products resembling traditional meats, requires education. Companies are focusing on familiar ingredients and clear labeling to build trust and acceptance.
3. Partnerships and Funding: To scale, these companies are forming partnerships and securing private equity and government funding, helping overcome technical barriers and driving long-term growth in the alternative protein market.

Meet the innovators

Dr. Daniel Peters, Co-Founder and CEO at MarraBio, UK, leads a startup specialising in developing tools to enhance the economic viability of cultivated meat production. Cultivated Meat involves growing animal cells, specifically fat and muscle cells from various species, to create alternatives to traditional meat products. The aim is to produce products that closely resemble conventionally farmed meat but are cultivated in bioreactors instead of being derived from animals. The company, founded in February 2023, emerged from academic research on a specific protein, called Caf1. MarraBio has commercialized this research and built it into a platform technology, offering engineered alternatives to the reagents used in large-scale manufacture of mammalian cells, including for cultivated meat, that are more potent, free from animal material and at substantially lower cost and greater scale. MarraBio’s first products reached the market in June and they are now exploring approaches to expand further.

Ludovic d’Otreppe, CEO at Algama, Belgium, leads a French-based organisation specialising in the development of alternative proteins. ‚Currently, our focus is on creating algae-based alternative ingredients to replace eggs in bakery and pastry applications. This endeavour is particularly compelling, as algae are recognised as an exceptional source of alternative protein, though they remain a complex raw material to utilise effectively. Typically, algae are used as whole ingredients across various applications. Algama's goal is to break through algae cells and extract their valuable constituents.’

Jeroen van der Staay, CCO and Chief Growth Officer at Protix, The Netherlands, represents the world's leading insect ingredient producer. Protix, produces the black soldier fly, a highly versatile insect. Once reared, the insect is processed into two main ingredients: insect meal and insect oil, which are used in various types of animal feed, including for pets, aqua nutrition and livestock, as well as human nutrition, which is still pending regulatory approvals in the EU. We currently sell insect meals to the European pet food industryand since last year, Protix has also entered the aqua nutrition market for salmon and shrimp. Recently, Protix partnered with Ahold, the largest retailer in the Netherlands, to supply insect meal as a feed ingredient for their shrimp.’

Gavin Schneider, Co-Founder and CEO of Maia Farms, Canada, oversees a company that produces nutrient-dense, mushroom-based food ingredients for food manufacturers, offering exceptional taste and texture. Customers use these ingredients in products like alternative meats, soups, snacks, sushi, pet food, chocolate and ice cream. The lineup features mushroom powders, textured proteins and a tofu-like mycelium ingredient, all rooted in biomass fermentation.

‚Sustainability is at the core of Maia Farms' mission. The company has developed a climate-smart approach ensuring its production process leaves a minimal environmental footprint. By leveraging biomass fermentation, Maia Farms has created a sustainable process that prioritizes resource efficiency, providing food manufacturers with ingredients aligned with the urgent need for future-proofed solutions in global protein production. Their goal is not only to transform the protein landscape but also to protect the planet for future generations.‘

Founded three years ago as an offshoot of the Deep Space Food Challenge, where it secured first place earlier this year, Maia Farms has a skilled team advancing fermentation technology. Focused on building sustainable infrastructure, the company has attracted global interest. Based in Vancouver, it operates facilities across Canada, including Calgary, Saskatoon and Prince Edward Island, with plans to expand internationally by 2025.

Andrew Yip serves as the Head of Research and Development and Head for Future Food (NPD & Production) at Monde Nissin, Singapore. The company focuses on producing alternative proteins in the 'weaker space' by utilising a proprietary ingredient, mycoprotein, derived from a microorganism - Fusarium venenatum. In Singapore, the approach involves a unique process that incorporates secondary fermentation. Furthermore, the HO technology complex is employed to integrate mycoprotein into tempeh in combination with soy and mushrooms. This approach creates a texture closer to the meat while remaining distinct from traditional tempeh.

‚In Asia, a different methodology is applied, using soy as a key ingredient, reflecting its cultural and culinary importance in the region,‘ says Andrew Yip. ‚Soy is prominently featured in alternative proteins, complemented by the nutritional fibre and protein of mycoprotein, and fermented using the HO fermentation technique to create tempeh. Mushrooms are added to enhance the umami profile. The range also includes tempeh-based items like patties and nuggets.‘

Alternative proteins market acceptance

Andrew Yip also explains that cultured meat is being utilised in Singapore, but it is often not widely accepted. ‚Traditional meat is often used with plant-based ingredients on labels, and hybrid meat is part of our introductory offerings. However, resistance to these products underscores the need for consumer education. Without it, adaptation may be slow. Our goal is dedicated supermarket shelves for plant-based and cultured meats, but we have one chance to win consumers—an unsatisfactory first experience means they are unlikely to return.‘

Building on Andrew's remark, Ludovic d’Otreppe explained that the challenges of consumer and industry acceptance are even greater for them because they aim to integrate their ingredients into bakery and pastry applications -products people choose to consume not out of necessity but desire. ‚Consumers are highly protective of the specific qualities of products, known as "organoleptic properties", such as taste, texture, appearance and aroma - elements that consumers are hesitant to see altered,‘ says Ludovic d’Otreppe. ‘To overcome this resistance, our goal is to ensure that egg replacements yield products indistinguishable from the originals. Achieving this is a top priority.

The second resistance arises from consumers' aversion to unfamiliar ingredients. The term "clean label" highlights the need for recognisable alternatives. Although over-processed ingredients face skepticism, they are often healthier than meat from poor agricultural practices. Consumers distrust over-processed ingredients and unfamiliar terminology, despite these processes often being healthier than meat from poor agricultural practices. 

We are often asked whether consumers should be convinced to change, and our response is consistently that this approach is unlikely to succeed. Instead, it is essential to develop products and ingredients that align with their expectations.

Contrary to Andrew’s remarks, the vegetarian market in Europe remains niche despite growth. Partners often opt for partial rather than full egg replacement in bakery and pastry applications. This cost-effective and sustainable approach uses five plant-based ingredients, including algae, ensuring a concise ingredient list,’ explains Ludovic d'Otreppe.

Gavin Schneider shares Andrew’s and Ludovic’s concerns about consumer perceptions of novel proteins. ‚We avoid the term ‘alternative protein,’ as it connotes inferiority. Instead, we use ‘complementary protein’ to suggest enhancement to meat or vegetable products. Staple crops like rice and beans, which sustain much of the global population, are not called alternative proteins. Our approach focuses on offering familiar ingredients to avoid consumer apprehension. This is why we emphasise mushrooms—simple, familiar, and widely enjoyed—over terms like mycelium or mycoprotein.‘

‚Being a back-end ingredient provider, we have to do a lot of customer education,‘ adds Gavin Schneider. ‚We target high-profile corporations to amplify the message, requiring cooperation between ingredient providers and public-facing influencers. Globally, similar trends are emerging, with customers in Israel, Germany and the Netherlands reflecting those in Canada. The key is to offer ingredients that feel familiar and don’t scare consumers.‘

Alternative protein partnerships: Collaboration and contribution

Taste and texture are crucial for cultivated meat’s acceptance. Plant-based alternatives vary in quality, with fats posing key challenges. While environmental benefits drive alternative foods, cultivated meat attracts consumers seeking authentic meat without ethical or environmental concerns. Its goal is to replicate conventional meat’s taste and texture, but the sector still lags behind other alternative proteins.

Consumer education is key, as many are wary of lab-grown meat despite recognising issues with traditional farming. Education boosts acceptance, and terms like "cultivated meat" are preferred for their neutrality, unlike "lab-grown," which often triggers negative reactions. While some resist unfamiliar foods, curiosity about sustainable and ethical options is growing especially given current environmental challenges.‘

Maia Farms raised its first fundraising round in 2023, extending into early 2024, securing nearly three million dollars through private equity and non-dilutive government funding. The Canadian government’s strong support for startups has been a significant advantage. Programs for hiring technical talent enabled building a food science department at a fraction of the usual cost. Market expansion funding supported entry into Singapore, Thailand, and Japan. Canada’s accelerator programs, mirrored in Europe, bring together policymakers, scientists, and business leaders to de-risk opportunities and validate technology, teams and markets for investors.

Gavin Schneider points out that Maia Farms is part of The Creative Destruction Lab, a global network that played a key role in positioning Maia as an investable company. ‚This week, we were named one of Canada’s Top 50 Most Investable Clean Tech Companies, a significant milestone for a young company. With strong support from the National Research Council of Canada, much of our scale-up R&D is conducted in partnership with government facilities, including Prince Edward Island’s top-tier fermentation platform. This collaboration has de-risked high-cost, high-risk endeavors in scaling to ten-thousand-liter fermentation levels, enabling us to launch our latest fermentation products commercially. There is growing interest in the mycelium space, particularly in Europe, where a record $165 million was invested in mycelium fermentation in 2024 alone.‘

According to Gavin Schneider, the model of matching government funding with private equity is essential for every company, particularly when building large-scale infrastructure. ‚We have gained support from agricultural family offices that view our work as part of a long-term shift in protein production. Investors are increasingly adopting this broader perspective, which differs from the traditional venture capital thesis. However, when presented with 50% matching government funding, most investors see it as a key factor for investment. We have been successful in securing these funds and bringing stakeholders together.‘

Agreeing with Gavin, Ludovic d’Otreppe acknowledges that public authorities recognise the need to support innovation at the European, national and regional levels. ‚Europe should look to North America and Asia, where public authorities excel in driving economic development through innovation investments. We seek opportunities from the private sector through non-dilutive financing, complemented by non-dilutive support from the public sector. Public funding is also integrated into our cap table.

Last August, Protix successfully raised $200 million, funded by Tyson Foods, a leading player in the traditional protein industry. Jeroen van der Staay shared that in the early phase of the company, support from both venture capital firms and a robust regulatory framework provided by the country of origin was critical for enabling experimentation. A key challenge remains entering the food business by providing ingredients for human nutrition. Despite many years of effort, approval to enter the has not yet been secured in Europe due to the classification of insect-based ingredients as novel ingredients, requiring a lengthy approval process exceeding one year. The European Union continues to enforce this classification, imposing delays.

European funding agencies, such as those in the Netherlands, have significant resources but could improve by focusing on areas like algae, insect ingredients and cultivated meat. Funding should be seen as a cost to foster an ecosystem for long-term industry growth, rather than driven by immediate ROI, which encourages short-term strategies.’

Protix's partnership process has evolved from relying on angel investors and local and national government support, to attracting venture capital, private equity, and now strategic investors. Corporates are increasingly engaging earlier in these partnerships, recognizing them as critical for their long-term survival rather than merely a source of additional revenue.

Protix has adopted a global strategy, targeting growth in Asia and the US Eastern Europe is also being explored because of its lower production costs. In Asia, the focus extends beyond Singapore to South Korea, which offers efficient waste disposal systems providing sustainable feed for insects. Insects are also culturally significant and consumed daily in many other Asian countries,‘ adds Jeroen van der Staay.

Challenges in attracting the right talent

‚Company culture is one of the most crucial aspects,‘ highlights Dr. Daniel Peters. Over the past two years, their greatest achievement has been building a highly enthusiastic and motivated team. This reflects the effort they have invested in the hiring process, with most hires being local graduates at various levels.

‚You can always teach technical skills, but you can't teach mindset, which makes it the primary criterion in the selection process. CVs often provide limited insight into a candidate's personality, so decisions have largely been based on conversations and assessing their enthusiasm for the business. To date, hiring decisions have been guided almost entirely by how passionate and excited candidates are about the concept. This approach will likely evolve as the company grows, the organisation expands, and management becomes more complex, but it has been effective at this early stage.‘

Apart from mindset and motivation, what I always look for in new hires is multi-talented people,‘ says Jeroen van der Staay. They are often required to take on diverse tasks, many of which may not be predictable in advance. The more varied talents an individual possesses, the better suited they are for the role.

Additionally, candidates need to remain resilient in the face of uncertainty, as it is a common and prolonged aspect of the work environment. Not everyone is equipped to manage such conditions without the risk of burnout. These two qualities, combined with drive, are essential considerations when evaluating potential hires.‘

Summary

Agribusiness is embracing innovation to navigate a changing landscape, with a focus on developing solutions that address both environmental and food security challenges. As the sector evolves, companies are exploring new methods and technologies to improve production efficiency, while also adapting to consumer preferences for more sustainable and ethical options. By fostering collaboration and securing the necessary funding, the industry is positioning itself for long-term growth, driven by a commitment to sustainability and resilience in food systems.

The Kestria Agribusiness and Agriscience Practice Group understands the industry’s dynamics and provides clients with local market knowledge on a global and region-specific basis. Search mandates are executed in every functional area of agriculture, agribusiness, and agriscience. Agri leaders that understand innovation are placed all over the world. The group connects with industry leaders to stay tuned with the fast-paced innovations in agribusiness. As industries serving these sectors prepare for a future marked by both promise and complexity, expertise within the group ensures effective navigation of challenges and harnessing of opportunities.