VIP Leaf (Vertical Indoor Protein from Leaf)

Current consumption of meat is unsustainable for the planet and public health. Alternative protein sources are essential and **demand for plant-based protein is increasing**. Plant proteins used in UK food are mainly from imported soy and pea. The market is shifting away from soy due to deforestation and allergy concerns, and UK pea protein production remains low (4% arable land) due to perceptions of high-risk, low-yield and unprofitability. **CEA offers an alternative production space** and the advantage of enabling **new crops** to be grown in the UK that are incompatible with our climate, allowing a better diversification of our food-protein-sources.

CEA systems are not yet commercially used in the production of plant-derived proteins, yet offer huge potential to **localise protein production** to food manufacturing sites, **reduce reliance on imports** and enable low water-use/agrochemical-free production. The economics of plant protein production and the uptake in the UK are significantly better than insect protein (nearest competitor) due to no feed-to-food conversion loss. A number of leafy crops including spinach, sunflower shoots and amaranth leaf **contain \>20% protein**. Amaranth has high lysine content (high-value amino acid to the vegan protein market), as well as health-promoting vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. CEA offers economically viable production with short time to harvest, reduced resource use and reduced land footprint.

Our project will access leaf-derived protein for the burgeoning alternative protein market. We will test new sources of leaf protein, as well as further develop varieties, production and downstream processing methods for amaranth to open up vertical farming to the alternative protein sector and enable localizing of protein production to sites of food manufacture. This work will help meet UK challenges of i) **Net Zero Carbon** by 2050 (landuse change - plant protein production requires far less land/kg than meat protein; CEA has high yield/m2 and doesn't require agricultural-quality land), ii) **tackling growing obesity** with associated NHS costs (consumption of plant protein is linked to improved health), and iii) **Green Recovery** (CEA enables reduced food-miles, low waste/environmental pollution).