The Royal Agricultural University, based in Cirencester, is appealing to farmers who might be able to help build a clearer picture of the risks and opportunities surrounding cultured meat.
The UKRI funded team has identified the types of farm most likely to be affected by this new technology, often seen as controversial, and is now looking for farmers who might be interested in playing a funded part to help locate the winners and losers.
Cultured Meat & Farmers is a two-year study looking to investigate what farmers really think of cultured meat and how it could affect UK farm businesses.
The team has already held focus groups with famers across the UK where concerns were raised not only about how the technology could displace livestock farming, with the risk that carcase imbalances could amplify this effect, but also about its wider effects on nutrition, health, and corporate power in the food industry.
The team is keen to partner with farms that falls into each of the following categories:
- pig
- poultry
- conventional beef or lamb – particularly hill farms
- pasture fed or organic livestock
- rare breed livestock
- dairy
- fruit or vegetables
- arable
- protein growers e.g. peas, beans, quinoa
- and a farm with an on-farm food processing or brewing enterprise.
If you are a farmer who would be interested in taking part in this project, please email Dr Morgans at Lisa.Morgans@rau.ac.uk.