Richani’s company is developing an animal-free cheese that mimics the texture of regular cheese. She knows that the carbon footprint of cheese can be dramatically reduced by making it without animals — but most customers will only buy Nobell’s cheese if it can compete on price and taste with cheese made with dairy.
That means getting prices way down — in her case, by developing a genetically modified version of soybeans that make casein, the protein that gives cheese its stretchy, melty quality.
That’s a challenge each company on the stage is hoping technology will help chip away at — and it’s especially hard given the massive economies of scale and subsidies of traditional agriculture.
Tesla received a half-billion-dollar loan from the Department of Energy to build a manufacturing facility in California, and some panelists hope the government will make similar moves to support green agriculture.
