The Future of Food: Bringing Cellular Agriculture to College Students
Elon sophomore Samantha Schwamberger is dedicated to educating individuals about cellular agriculture through her work with Follow the Future.
Samantha Schwamberger brings her love of anthropology and the environment to her work of making cellular agriculture more accessible to college students and the public.
Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Schwamberger is studying anthropology and environmental studies at Elon. Outside of the classroom, she brings her passion for environmentalism to cellular agriculture.
Schwamberger first heard about cellular agriculture as a senior in high school. During her first semester at Elon, she took an Introduction to Anthropology course with Dr. Muriel Vernon. The final project for the class was based on student perceptions of cellular agriculture. Following the class, Schwamberger continued to work with Dr. Vernon, ultimately creating the website Follow the Future, a space dedicated to educating individuals about cellular agriculture. It is particularly aimed at encouraging young students, women, and people of color to get involved with the emerging field.
Also known as clean meat, cultivated meat, in vitro meat, and cell-based meat, cellular agriculture involves harvesting stem or muscle cells from an animal and growing the rest of meat outside of the animal from those original cells. The cells then grow as they would in a living body, creating muscle strands that are then combined to produce a familiar food, explains the Follow the Future website.
“There's always a misunderstanding at first of what it is and it takes a while for people to understand that it's real meat,” explains Schwamberger. Unlike plant-based meat options that have grown in popularity, like the Beyond Burger, cellular agriculture is not made from plant-based sources.
As part of her work with Follow the Future, Schwamberger holds interviews and creates blog posts related to perceptions of cellular agriculture.
“Anthropology is really wonderful because the research methods of conducting interviews and surveys to see what people's perceptions are and see what they're hesitant about and what they question the most… is really important for consumer knowledge and consumer acceptance,” says Schwambereger, discussing how her love of anthropology meets her work in cellular agriculture.
“I think it's so important to be able to understand how to work with people of all different cultures and backgrounds, especially when you're trying to create something new, especially when it’s food, and especially when it's a food replacement. People like their traditions… this is going to be something that is challenging to get widespread support.”
Schwamberger is particularly interested in the reaction of the animal rights movement to cultivated meat. Based on her research so far, she believes that the majority of leaders in the animal rights movement are in support of it.
“There is no animal slaughter. There's very little animal harm. It kind of depends on whether or not you think taking that original biopsy is considered animal harm,” says Schwamberger, who personally follows a vegan lifestyle, in reference to cellular agriculture.
Compared to current industrial agriculture, cellular agriculture is also estimated to use 90% less water, 99% less land and 40 to 50% less energy, according to Follow the Future. Cultivated meat is also free of hormone supplements, antibiotics, viruses, and fecal contaminants which are often issues within traditional large scale agriculture. Because of this, Follow the Future and similar organizations view cellular agriculture as “a viable solution to the current problems with our food system” and advantageous to animal agriculture.
“As college students, most of us are aware and somewhat educated on the issue of climate change, which is, I think, the main reason why cellular agriculture is so important… it's a vast improvement from what we currently have in meat production,” says Schwamberger.
Though cultivated meat is not yet mass produced or sold in the United States, Schwamberger is hopeful that it will be on the market in the next five to ten years at a cost that is similar, if not lower, than traditional meat.
“That's one choice that you can make that can have a big impact. It's an easy switch and you're not having to sacrifice anything,” says Schwamberger of her hopes surrounding consumer response to cultivated meat.
For students interested in learning more about cellular agriculture, Schwamberger suggests staying connected to companies on social media and attending symposium events. Follow the Future also aids in advising students that may be looking for a mentor that relates cellular agriculture to their field of study.
As the field of cellular agriculture continues to grow in both production and accessibility, so does the future of food.