We propose ‘cultured fruit’ as a sustainable technology for industrial fruit production. Cultured fruit = growing botanical fruits (fruits, seeds, nuts) without a plant. By fuelling fruit growth with carbohydrates instead of light, it fundamentally disconnects agriculture from land-use. We've designed a process through which we can grow (small, but physiologically normal) tomato fruits from the plant "stem cells". Several challenges remain: - Understanding what drives growth of in-vitro fruits - Gene/protein engineering for an efficient and universally applicable flower-from-stem-cell pipeline - Understanding the role of light - Testing sustainable feedstocks - Investigating and optimizing flavour & health benefits
Ensuring a steady supply of high-quality products has always been one of the core challenges of horticulture. Climate change and freshwater shortages seriously aggravate this problem. Our ‘cultured fruit’ technology aims to establish proof-of-concept for a method to grow a wide variety of fruits (fruits, nuts, seeds) in industrial bioreactors instead of fields and greenhouses. Cultured fruit ensures supply-chain security in the face of climate change. Moreover, water and nutrient use are greatly reduced since only the harvestable organs of the plant are produced. Energy use can be minimized since a smaller volume of space needs to be heated in comparison to greenhouse production. The carbohydrate-rich medium used to fuel fruit growth will have near-zero or slight environmental impact depending on how ingredients are sourced; if cane sugar is used, land-use requirements increase, while water use, and global warming potential strongly decrease relative to fruit production in a modern Dutch greenhouse. If, on the other hand, carbohydrates are sourced from food- and lignocellulosic waste, environmental impact of the growth medium is fully prevented. Finally, the project will look at sustainable methods and business models for scaling this production technology; the benefits of the cultured fruit technology should go towards the (non-) human inhabitants of this world and not just venture capitalists.
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