CRAFT Consortium to build world’s first cultivated meat farm in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is set to host the world’s first cultivated meat farm after the launch of a pioneering project by the CRAFT Consortium, a group of leading food innovators and agricultural experts. The initiative, co-funded by EIT Food, aims to bring cellular agriculture directly onto farms, enabling farmers to diversify their businesses and contribute to a more sustainable food system.

The consortium includes RespectFarms, Wageningen University & Research, Mosa Meat, Aleph Farms, Multus, Kipster, and Royal Kuijpers. Together, they have begun designing and building the first facility where cultivated meat production and traditional farming will coexist. The project has secured the first €2 million (US$2.2 million) of a €4 million (US$4.4 million) grant request.

The model promises to reduce water consumption by 78%, land use by 95%, and societal cost by 56%, compared with conventional meat production. It marks a significant step toward embedding cultivated meat into mainstream agriculture.

René Wijffels, Professor of Bioprocess Engineering at Wageningen University, stressed the importance of aligning innovation with existing farming practices. “It is important for food innovations to stay as close as possible to primary food production, making use of local resources and waste streams,” he said.

For Mosa Meat, the project reflects years of involvement in advancing cultivated beef. “This represents the first effort globally to merge cellular and traditional farming and promises to deliver consumers the best of both worlds: the unrivalled experience of real meat, through products produced and sold locally,” said Peter Verstrate, Co-founder and COO at Mosa Meat. “The project will deliver a business model that is fundamentally new on one hand and centuries old on the other, and will add new perspective, also for farmers, to agriculture as we know it.”

At its core, the CRAFT project is designed to keep farmers central to food production, rather than sidelined by new technologies. The aim is to show that cultivated meat can sit alongside crops and livestock, creating more resilient farming systems.

“CRAFT involves farmers to create new ways of making food,” said Ralf Becks, Co-founder of RespectFarms. “We use what works in agriculture and combine that with new technology. This will accelerate the path to market and to impact. CRAFT boils down a world problem to farm size. So we can solve it. And once it works, we scale this out to the world to increase impact. Let’s export technology instead of meat and animals.”

Aleph Farms sees the project as a way to support farmers with practical solutions. “This grant enables us, together with RespectFarms and our partners, to pioneer farm-scale cultivated meat production, empowering farmers with viable, resilient, and sustainable models that align with Europe’s mission for healthier lives and fairer food systems,” said Neta Lavon, Co-founder and CTO.

The role of farmers is equally important to Kipster, a company known for animal-friendly agricultural concepts. “The consumption of the current amount of animal products is not sustainable within the planet’s capacity. So, we need to find other ways to provide for our food,” said Ruud Zanders, Co-founder of Kipster and RespectFarms. “Within the Earth's capacity and with as little impact as possible on animals, humans, the climate and with a future for the (livestock) farmer. Et voila: the cultured meat farm.”

The consortium brings together expertise across science, food innovation, and engineering. RespectFarms leads implementation on farms, while Wageningen University provides scientific leadership. Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms contribute product development and regulatory expertise, and Multus is responsible for developing efficient cell culture media. Kipster brings experience in sustainable farming, while Royal Kuijpers oversees facility design and operations.

“Together with RespectFarms, we are building a future where food production is smarter, more sustainable and fairer,” said Royal Kuijpers in a statement. “This collaboration within CRAFT empowers us to truly make an impact for the generations to come.”

For Multus, the project offers a chance to demonstrate how cell culture media can support real-world cultivated meat production. “I’m proud of Multus’ important role in CRAFT as the principal partner for cell culture media development within a highly collaborative consortium,” said Cai Linton, Co-founder and CEO. “CRAFT is a pioneering effort – bringing together leaders in agriculture and biomanufacturing to demonstrate the path towards a secure and resilient food system. Using our high throughput robotics and AI platform, the Multus team will create a series of novel high-performance and resource-efficient cell culture media to accelerate the transition of scientific breakthroughs to commercial production and real-world impact.”

By situating cultivated meat production directly on farms, CRAFT seeks to create a model that blends tradition with innovation. Farmers remain the stewards of food production, while benefitting from new technologies that reduce environmental impact and meet rising demand for sustainable protein.

“At RespectFarms we are pioneering a fast way to commercialize cultivated meat – decentrally and together with agricultural, tech and supply chain partners,” said Florentine Zieglowski, Co-founder of RespectFarms. “We are excited to bring farmers food collaboratively to the market.”

If successful, the project could provide a blueprint for cultivated meat farming not only in Europe but globally, showing how agriculture can adapt to meet the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity, and consumer expectations.