Zero Acre Farms poised to disrupt “destructive vegetable oils” with fermentation-based ingredients

03 Feb 2022 --- Zero Acre Farms has netted US$37 million from climate and food investors, including Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition Ventures, as the food-tech player brews up a new category of healthy oils and fats.

The company positions itself as a disruptor to traditionally farmed vegetable oils, pegged as using next-gen ingredients and made by “fermentation, not deforestation.” Its alternative oils and fats are produced as byproducts from its cultivated microbes, which are created when these organisms store energy.

“Fermentation is the original culinary art, after fire,” remarks co-founder and CEO Jeff Nobbs.

“We use this ancient technique to produce oils and fats with significantly lower levels of the bad fats that have been linked to inflammation and disease while having a fraction of the environmental footprint. We’re proud to be the first company stepping up with the mission to completely remove industrial ‘vegetable’ oils from our food system,” he explains.

Vegetable oils are now the most consumed food in the world, yet are flagged as an impediment to health and the environment.Mitigating massive tolls on health and planet
Zero Acre Farms outlines that vegetable oils – including soybean, sunflower, canola and palm oil – are now the most consumed food in the world after rice and wheat, the fastest-growing sub-sector of global agriculture.

These ingredients are present in nearly all restaurant meals and packaged foods, making them difficult for most people to avoid.

“Eliminating vegetable oils is a critical step in preventing chronic disease,” says Dr. Cate Shanahan, author of Deep Nutrition and a Zero Acre Farms advisor who is presenting at the company’s upcoming “Future of Fat” summit.

“I hope that by spreading awareness about the devastating effects of vegetable oils, more people will find healthier and more sustainable alternatives.”

The increase in vegetable oil consumption has been flagged as the single largest dietary change of the last hundred years and is linked to increased rates of obesity and chronic disease, including heart disease.

Vegetable oils also take a massive toll on the environment. As Zero Acre Farms points out, more vegetable oils are produced globally than all beef, chicken, shrimp, and cheese combined, contributing to record rates of deforestation and carbon emissions.

Notably, Zero Acre Farms pinpoints that two of the top three drivers of global deforestation are vegetable oil crops, soybean and palm oil.

“Shared Planet” currently leads Innova Market Insights’ Top Ten Trends for 2022. Consumers today are more ethically and environmentally conscious, so food brands need to work alongside the public to breed confidence in the claims attached to products.  

The company’s Series A round was co-led by Lowercarbon Capital and Fifty Years., for a total of US$37 million in funding to date. Other investors include S2G Ventures, Virgin Group, Collaborative Fund and celebrity Chef Dan Barber.

On the global market, supply-side constraints for vegetable oils largely catalyzed a recent surge in world food prices.

Vegetable oil prices are surging globally
On the global market, supply-side constraints for vegetable oils largely catalyzed a recent surge in world food prices – further evidencing the necessity for alternative solutions.

“Reduced export availabilities on top of other supply-side constraints, especially labor shortages and unfavorable weather, largely pushed vegetable oil prices up to an all-time high,” comments Boubaker Ben-Belhassen, director of FAO’s Markets and Trade Division.

“There is a concern that the impacts of these constraints will not ease quickly.”

The FAO Vegetable Oils Price Index led the rebound in January, increasing by 4.2 percent month-on-month and reversing its December decline to reach an all-time high.

According to the latest FAO figures, quotations for all major oils rose, also supported by rising crude oil prices.

Palm oil prices were largely underpinned by concerns over a possible reduction in export availabilities from Indonesia, the world’s leading exporter, while soy oil prices were supported by robust import purchases, particularly from India.

Rapeseed oil prices were pushed up by lingering supply tightness, and sunflower seed oil quotations were impacted by supply tightness and surging global import demand..

For 2021 as a whole, the FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index reached an all-time high, increasing 65.8% from 2020. 

By Benjamin Ferrer