Confined in-field trial production of bioengineered barley

In May of this year ORF Genetics hf. sowed out bioengineered barley for experimental in-field cultivation at the site of The Soil Conservation Service of Iceland (SCSI) at Gunnarsholt in southern part of Iceland. The in-field cultivation trial at Gunnarsholt is being conducted in cooperation with SCSI and the Agricultural University of Iceland and in accordance with a permit by the Environment Agency of Iceland.

This trial cultivation is partially funded by the Icelandic National Technology Fund and is also a part of a project "Barley Biofarmed Growth Factors to Make Cell Cultured Meat an Affordable Reality", awarded by the EU Horizon 2020 funding program. The aim of the project is to develop a new product line, MESOkine animal-like growth factors, develop new production methods, scale-up its production, and lower its production cost. The MESOkine growth factors are essential for use as a production-aid in production of cell cultured meat (CCM), a production technology being developed by over 60 companies in the world at present.