Wednesday, 10 November 2021 10:55

Lab-grown fad

Written by Milking It

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

In a classic case of promising big and delivering little, lab-grown 'meat' startup, Upside Foods, formerly Memphis Meats, has lost two key employees in recent weeks - co-founder Nicholas Genovese and vice president KC Carswell - as skepticism about the business model grows.

This is a company whose investors include billionaires Bill Gates and Richard Branson and raised $200 million in 2016 on the promise of delivering lab-grown meat by 2021. It is still awaiting US regulatory approval.

Milking It suspects the hype around lab-grown protein may prove to have been a lot of hot air!

More like this

Plant-based bubble bursts

OPINION: Talking about plant-based food: “Chicken-free chicken” start-up Sunfed has had its valuation slashed to zero by major investor Blackbird Ventures, and its products are no longer available in supermarkets.

Poor investments backfire

OPINION: Synlait's financial woes won’t be going away anytime soon.

Exploited by one of their own

OPINION: Milking It believes a recent Employment Relations Authority ruling on the exploitation of three migrant workers from Indonesia highlights a trend in New Zealand – migrant workers being mistreated and oppressed by one of their own.

'Not our fault!'

OPINION: Milking It wasn’t too surprised to hear Kiwis’ trust in media has sunk to a new low.

Avian flu in cows

A lethal form of avian influenza has been confirmed in US dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas, the US Department of Agriculture says.

Featured

PGW revises earnings guidance as farmer spending drops

Rural trader PGG Wrightson has revised its operating earnings guidance, saying trading conditions have deteriorated since the last market update in February.

An 'amaizing' season

It's been a bumper season for maize and other supplements in the eastern Bay of Plenty.

Leaders connect to plan continued tree planting

Leading farmers from around New Zealand connected to share environmental stories and inspiration and build relationships at the Dairy Environment Leaders (DEL) national forum in Wellington last month.

AgriZeroNZ invests $5m on low emissions farm pasture

AgriZeroNZ, a joint venture fast-tracking emissions reduction tools for farmers, is pouring $5 million in a biotech company to develop a low emissions farm pasture with increased productivity gains.

Fonterra, Sharesies join to make share trading easier

Fonterra is teaming up with wealth app provider Sharesies to make it easier for its farmer shareholders to trade co-op shares among themselves.

Planting natives for the future

Te Awamutu dairy farmers Doug, Penny, Josh and Bayley Storey have planted more than 25,000 native trees on the family farm, adding to a generations-old native forest.

National

Protect productivity from red tape

Productive industries shouldn’t be strangled in red tape, they need to be able to operate and grow, using technology to…

Profit focus falls off the radar

The dairy industry has lost its mojo in the last six or seven years, according to a leading dairy farmer,…

Frontline biosecurity 'untouchable'

Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard has reiterated that 'frontline' biosecurity services within Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) will not be cut…