AI Platform for Sustainable Protein from Agri-Food Waste

Start date: 1 January 2026
End date: 31 December 2027
Funder: Bezos Earth Fund
Value: $1,998,000
Partners and collaborators: CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australian Government)
Primary investigator: Professor Nicholas Watson
Co-investigators: Célia Ferreira, Dr. Darren Greetham, Alex Bowler
External co-investigators: Kai Knoerzer, Jordan Pennells, Carol Hartley, Stephen Wan, Necva Bolucu, Pablo Juliano (CSIRO )

Nearly 29% of the world’s population faces food insecurity, yet millions of tonnes of nutrient-rich agri-food waste is generated globally each day. This waste can be upcycled into sustainable, high-quality microbial protein (e.g. yeast, fungi, bacteria and algae) via fermentation for use as ingredients in existing foods or to produce novel meat and dairy alternatives. However, microbial fermentation processes are difficult to design, optimise and scale up, especially for complex, perishable and highly variable waste streams. This limits their investment attractiveness and economic viability, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and ultimately their global adoption.