The report, Emerging Proteins in Aotearoa New Zealand: What will it take for the sector to thrive?, was prepared by FoodHQ and released as part of NZ AgriFood Week.
It was the culmination of a three-month project in late 2020 to gather insights and perspectives from more than 185 people across the emerging protein sector.
Recent surveys in NZ have indicated more than 30% of consumers are changing their eating patterns in response to health and environmental concerns.
In the US, the market value for plant protein was estimated at $US10.3 billion in 2020. There has been 68% growth during the past five years in US launches of products with a plant-based claim.
The report identifies significant and diverse activity throughout NZ, particularly with plant-based food development.
Report co-author Dr Abby Thompson says while all those operating in the sector are universally passionate about the potential to meet global demand for emerging proteins, there are significant challenges.
“These innovative – and brave – entrepreneurs often have a low profile and many are not yet working at a scale that enables their products to be easily accessible for the general public,” Thompson said.
The report recommends a suite of NZ-Inc initiatives to drive the sector ahead, faster. These include:
•Forming collaborative syndicates of companies working in similar areas to speed up business development and commercialisation;
•Establishing a talent attraction package that brings the smartest international experts and entrepreneurs to NZ to accelerate capability and value creation;
•Government funding for a collaborative, independent national network that brings industry, researchers, investors and government together.
Late last year FoodHQ established Emerging Proteins NZ, a network open to all individuals and businesses involved in the alternative protein sector from growers and producers through to manufacturers, retailers and exporters.
Thompson says there is evidence of a marked increase in sales of plant-based foods since covid 19.
“US retail sales data released last month showed that grocery sales of plant-based foods that directly replace animal products have grown 27% in the past year to $US7b,” she said.
“That is twice the growth of overall food sales.”
She describes emerging proteins as a diversification opportunity that could complement NZ’s traditional animal-based protein sectors.
“NZ has a proud history of pioneering new technologies to produce food that the world wants,” she said.
“While our dairy products, meat, wine, apples and kiwifruit will underpin NZ’s food exports for many years to come, we must explore the opportunities to continue adding diversity to our food product offering in order to meet global demand.”
The report emphasises that diversification does not mean replacing all of NZ’s traditional agricultural systems and products.
It says traditional meat and dairy remain strong export sectors for NZ and demand for these products is still growing rather than slowing.
However, it says there is an increasingly broad range of possibilities for future food production being developed by some of the world’s smartest thinkers.
“It doesn’t benefit our existing industry to deny the potential for serious disruption, nor is it necessary to abandon traditional proteins in order to take advantage of emerging ones,” she said.
“The sooner this becomes an ‘and/both’ discussion rather than an ‘either/or’, then the sooner we can work together to identify how NZ can best move forward.”
Although there is much interest and activity in emerging proteins within NZ, it is important to put this into an international context. Many of the more advanced international economies we tend to compare ourselves with – the Netherlands, Singapore and Israel – are investing significantly more, moving much more rapidly and doing it at scale.
They have deep engagement between industry, government (especially regulators) and research providers, and ambitious targets for the role that emerging proteins will play in their future agri-food sectors.
The report warns that at the moment, NZ is being left behind by its peers within this increasingly competitive sector.
