When we talk about cellular agriculture, we picture scale: stainless steel, giant bioreactors, billion-euro facilities. But what if we’re asking the wrong question? Ira van Eelen is working on a different future — one where cultivated meat isn’t made in anonymous mega-plants, but on actual farms. Run by farmers. Embedded in rural communities. So here’s the real question: are we designing farmers out of the protein transition, or could they become its newest pioneers?

Instead of betting everything on centralized production, this session explores a radical alternative: decentralized, small-scale cultivated meat farms. What would that mean for ownership, resilience, and the economics of the countryside? Expect bold ideas, honest hurdles, and a serious rethink of who gets to produce protein in 2050. Because if we want a just transition, innovation shouldn’t replace farmers — it should reinvent their role.