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Global food prices have become increasingly unpredictable, driven by climate change, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions and economic instability. This volatility not only threatens food security but also exposes the deep vulnerabilities of conventional agriculture, which is heavily reliant on fossil fuels, synthetic fertilisers and long-distance trade. Jim Mellon, executive chairman of Agronomics, explains how clean agriculture practices can protect the environment, stablilise food supply and reduce dependency on volatile global markets.

Over the past few years, price volatility has affected some of our most popular consumer goods, including cacao, coffee, sunflower oil and eggs, to name a few.

These price spikes are becoming more frequent due to multiple global events. The war in Ukraine and a drought in Bulgaria have driven sunflower oil prices up by 56%. Meanwhile, the recent surge in cacao prices, the largest in over six years according to commodity analysts, is largely due to worsening weather conditions in West Africa – a major growing region and the primary supplier to the EU.

Similar weather events are hitting Vietnam and Brazil, the two biggest producers of coffee beans, leading to the price of Arabica coffee doubling in the last year. Meanwhile, in the US, we’re seeing rising cases of avian flu, driven by intensive factory farming, which is driving up the cost of a box of eggs by more than double compared to a year ago.

These issues are not just one-offs. With rising global temperatures, the further industrialisation of agriculture to feed a growing population and the threat of further global conflicts, the food supply chain will continue to become more insecure and prices increasingly volatile.

The clean food industry

It is clear the food industry is at a difficult crossroads. In an unstable world, conventional agriculture is no longer able to meet consumer demand on its own, and there is now an urgent need to change how we make our food.

Governments, brands and manufacturers working in FMCG must turn their attention to technologies that can produce food with a much smaller carbon footprint and in a way that shortens supply chains and controls costs. It’s time we welcomed the era of clean food.

Clean Food is the catch-all term we use for foods produced using biomanufacturing, which is food made in bioreactors in controlled conditions and facilities. This process is cleaner than industrial agriculture, removing the risk of diseases, such as salmonella and avian flu or the over-use of antibiotics, whilst also producing up to 95% fewer emissions and using less land and water.

The potential of this technology – from cultivated meat, fish, cacao and coffee, to precision fermentation for egg proteins, palm oil and dairy products – cannot be overstated.

This new way of producing food is also no longer a thing of science fiction. In Singapore and the US, we’ve seen companies such as Vow, Upside Foods and Good Meat given regulatory approval to sell cultivated meat, in the UK, we’ve seen cultivated chicken go on limited sale to pets through Meatly and Pets at Home, and in Germany, a company called Formo, which utilises micro-fermentation technology to produce dairy alternatives without cows, is already selling its products in German supermarkets.

The benefits for food security and price stability

As food regulators, such as the UK’s Food Standards Agency, prepare to give the regulatory green light to more novel foods, the question is no longer ‘should’ the food and beverage industry adopt these foods into their processes, but rather ‘when’.

Producing food this way means that the risk of external factors and the resulting price spikes, whether due to geopolitical conflicts, extreme weather events or zoonotic disease outbreaks, will be significantly reduced. This delivers benefits to manufacturers, can reduce contamination risks, shorten supply chains and provide greater cost controls.

In the US, for example, a Finnish-US company called Onego Bio, which Agronomics invests in, has already received self-GRAS status and now filed for approval with the FDA. Once approved, it could scale its precision fermentation process quickly and help with the egg price crisis. Its bioalbumin product is a like-for-like swap, meaning manufacturers can easily incorporate its product into existing ranges, such as baked goods and more.

The role of manufacturers and brands in boosting consumer trust

While governments worldwide are investing in start-ups and facilities to scale clean agriculture solutions, manufacturers and brands must now focus on building consumer trust and acceptance. Through these collaborations, innovative products will appear on local shop shelves, ensuring accessibility and encouraging engagement. Brands will benefit from the positive response of customers eager for more sustainable alternatives.

Consumers are often cautious with any new food, but encouragingly, once educated about the benefits – for both human health and the climate – as well as safety, they’re eager to give it a try. As soon as consumers realise these foods offer the same taste and nutrients as the ones they know and love, adoption will truly begin to grow.

 A competitive advantage

Over the next few years, we will soon see how price volatility isn't a temporary blip but the unfortunate new reality. Early adopters of clean food ingredients will secure a competitive edge by stabilising their supply and tapping into a growing consumer demand for sustainable, resilient food solutions.

The companies that invest in and champion these technologies now will be the ones that dominate the food industry of tomorrow. The opportunity isn't just to mitigate risk, it's to create a fundamentally more secure and profitable food ecosystem.