The First Ever Cultivated Meat Farm - Ira Van Eelen - Respect Farms
From Future of Foods Interviews - Alt Proteins, Cell Agriculture, an End to Factory Farming. by Alex Crisp
June 2, 2026 · 43 min · Season 1 · Episode 84
About this episode
Ira van Eelen discusses the world's first cultivated meat farm and the vision of her father, Willem van Eelen, for a farmer-led protein transition.
What happens when the daughter of the man who first imagined cultivated meat decides to bring that vision back to the farm? In this conversation, Ira van Eelen, co-founder of RespectFarms and daughter of cultivated meat pioneer Willem van Eelen, shares the story behind one of the most ambitious projects in food innovation today: the world’s first cultivated meat farm. Built in collaboration with the farmer, the project integrates cultivated meat production directly into a working farm, creating a new model that keeps farmers at the centre of the protein transition. We explore the legacy of Willem van Eelen’s groundbreaking work, the challenges of turning a decades-old vision into reality, and why Ira believes the future of food should be farmer-led rather than factory-driven. The discussion also covers the opening of the RespectFarms Experience Centre, designed to bring together farmers, scientists, policymakers, and the public to explore what food production could look like in the decades ahead. This is a conversation about reimagining agriculture, and building the future of meat from the farm up.
People in this episode
Host: Alex Crisp
Guest: Ira van Eelen
Topics covered
- cultivated meat
- food innovation
- sustainable agriculture
- protein transition
- farmer-led initiatives
Keywords
- cultivated meat
- RespectFarms
- Willem van Eelen
- food production
- sustainable farming
- agriculture innovation
- protein transition
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: RespectFarms
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