How can we farm without plants?

Modern agriculture is focused on a tiny number of crops. New approaches could allow us to make use of plants that are difficult to grow and unsustainable to harvest from the wild.

Climate Change and Environment

Duration 00:00:59

Nature offers us a dazzling number of potential ingredients for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and nutritional products. However, producing these in a controlled, sustainable and economically feasible way is often not possible under existing agricultural practices.

The EU-funded InnCoCells project brought a range of plant-based products to market through innovative cellular agriculture. By growing fragments of scurvy grass, jasmine, hyssop, peony and juniper in a bioreactor, the researchers produced high-quality ingredients with minimal ecological impact. The project has now been featured in the CORDIS series of explanatory videos titled ‘Make the connection with EU science’.

“We exceeded our original expectations with regard to the stage of development, with four ingredients advancing to full product launch and more than 10 others reaching an advanced pre-commercial stage,” says project coordinator Heiko Rischer.

Keywords

• InnCoCells
• cellular
• agriculture
• bioreactor
• scurvy grass
• ingredient
• pharmaceuticals
• nutritional
• sustainable
• video

Countries

Finland