Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA) has released a white paper in collaboration with the Australian National University (ANU) and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) highlighting the role of emerging biotechnologies in the future of Australia’s food system – Made & Grown: The future of food biotechnology & biomanufacturing in Australia.
The Made & Grown report situates biotechnology within the dual contexts of food and national security, bringing together expertise from the ANU Agrifood Innovation Institute (AFII) and National Security College (NSC), as well as CAA and ASPI.
Australia stands at a pivotal moment in the future of food. Mounting climate, biosecurity, and geopolitical risks are converging to expose the vulnerability of the country’s food and agricultural systems and globalised supply chains.
To meet these challenges, Australia has an opportunity to build sovereign capability in food biotechnology, either as part of conventional agricultural production and/or through new food manufacturing processes.
Drawing directly on insights captured from Made & Grown: The Future of Food, a conference jointly hosted by CAA, AFII, and NSC in August, the report aims to continue accelerating industry momentum and strengthening collaboration between government and key stakeholders to build the future of food biomanufacturing in Australia.
Through careful evaluation of the sector’s current progress, the report outlines 25 recommendations for the government and food biotechnology and biomanufacturing sectors, across five priority areas – national security, policy alignment, research and innovation, regulation, and infrastructure
National security
The report states it is essential to recognise food security within national security priorities to address vulnerabilities in Australia’s food system.
- Food security should be formally recognised by the Australian Government as a core domain of national security, to ensure that national security policies, capabilities, and risk assessments explicitly address vulnerabilities in Australia’s agricultural systems and food supply chains.
- Each node in the food security ecosystem should engage in a coordinated process to identify key drivers, risks, threats, and vulnerabilities, guided by a structured risk and threat assessment methodology.
Policy alignment
Current settings are fragmented, outdated, and fail to recognise the role of emerging food biotechnologies. The report states Australia needs both incremental reform and purpose-built policies that position biotechnology as a driver of food and national security.
It recommends a unified Feeding Australia strategy and a national bioeconomy strategy must explicitly prioritise, and set actionable targets around building sovereign capability in food biotechnology and biomanufacturing in order to drive investment and elevate the industry as a cross-portfolio priority.
- The Department of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries’ (DAFF’s) Feeding Australia plan should acknowledge that the future of food will be underpinned by the adoption of biotechnologies and biomanufacturing from paddock to plate.
- Existing R&D policy frameworks should be tasked with supporting the emergence of new technologies, products or industries through explicit funding programs or simple changes to purpose and definitions.
- DISR should prioritise the prompt development of a bioeconomy strategy that explicitly includes food biotechnologies & biomanufacturing as a core pillar.
- Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA) will establish an Industry Working Group to develop policy solutions that are grounded in industry needs and opportunities.
Research and innovation
Despite significant cost reductions achieved by local companies, further cross-disciplinary, open-access foundational research is essential to close the gap to cost parity with conventionally produced products. The report states increased R&D funding allocations and increased eligibility in existing programs is critical.
- The government should commit to additional National Collaborative Research Infrastructure (NCRIS) funding for research infrastructure beyond the current 2024-2028 period, particularly through investment in agrifood-related facilities.
- State and federal governments should expand support for cross-disciplinary, open access research in critical areas linked to the advancement of food biotechnology and biomanufacturing.
- DISR should review current CRC allocations to determine whether existing Cooperative Research Centres could expand their mandates to include biotechnology and biomanufacturing in food production, or whether a new CRC is required.
- The sector should clearly identify and document high-priority research areas and technical innovations needed to support the transition to large-scale production and commercialisation in Australia.
Regulation
The report stated Australia’s regulatory system is robust and trusted, but under-resourced and reactive. FSANZ requires additional funding, as well as a clear and forward-looking mandate to streamline approvals and maintain global competitiveness.
- DAFF should add ‘regulatory and policy agility’ as a key guiding principle in the formation of Feeding Australia.
- The next Federal Budget should allocate additional funding to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to enable it to accelerate assessment timelines.
- Government departments should provide earmarked funding to FSANZ to raise a Proposal to review and update the Food Standards Code to ensure it keeps pace with new and emerging industries and technologies.
- The FSANZ Act should be amended to introduce a comparable overseas regulator (COR) regime.
- The FSANZ workplan should be amended to include a formal Proposal related to the use of biotechnologies in food production,
- FSANZ should promptly develop clear guidance documents to inform companies of what must be included in regulatory dossiers for novel food products
- A cross-agency working group between FSANZ, Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) should be established, tasked with improving domestic harmonisation between regulators to reduce overlap and inconsistency.
- CAA’s Regulatory Industry Working Group should continue to identify industry challenges and advocate for reform through submissions to public consultations and direct engagement with regulators.
Infrastructure
Access to fit-for-purpose infrastructure is the most immediate barrier facing Australia’s food biotechnology and biomanufacturing industry. Shared pilotscale facilities are scarce and costly to access, and there are no large-scale commercial facilities, forcing Australian companies to seek scale-up opportunities offshore.
- DISR should endorse and implement CAA’s proposal for a Co-Pilot Manufacturing Scheme (CPMS).
- State and federal co-funding should be administered to develop shared scale-up facilities for food biotechnology and biomanufacturing.
- The federal government should commit to extending the Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) funding beyond 2026.
- Direct the Treasury, under the Future Made in Australia framework, to undertake a sector assessment of the food biotechnology and biomanufacturing sector.
- DISR should establish a dedicated ARENAstyle agency for the Australian biomanufacturing industries
- Ministers should work with the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) Board to ensure the risk tolerance and investment guidelines of the NRF are aligned with the catalytic nature of funding required to support nascent food biotechnologies and biomanufacturing industries.
- Sector representatives should undertake robust economic modelling to quantify the commercial, employment, and export potential of Australia’s food and agricultural biomanufacturing sector.
For more information, the full Made & Grown paper can be found online at cellularagricultureaustralia.org. The report outlines evidence driving the recommendations outlined, as well as expansion on their specific and actions that could be taken to achieve them.
