Zero Acre Farms seeks to bring an end to the era of destructive vegetable oils, which have been linked to widespread chronic disease and deforestation. To usher in the day when food around the world is prepared with healthy, more sustainable oils and fats, the company has raised $37 million in funding from leading climate and food investors.
Vegetable oils—including soybean, sunflower, canola, and palm oil—are now the most consumed food in the world after rice and wheat, the fastest-growing sub-sector of global agriculture, and present in nearly all restaurant meals and packaged foods, making them difficult for most people to avoid.
The increase in vegetable oil consumption is the single largest dietary change of the last hundred years and is linked to increased rates of obesity and chronic disease, including heart disease—now the leading cause of death in the world.
Vegetable oils also take a massive toll on the environment. More vegetable oils are produced globally than all beef, chicken, shrimp, and cheese combined, contributing to record rates of deforestation and carbon emissions. In fact, two of the top three drivers of global deforestation are vegetable oil crops, soybean and palm oil.
Zero Acre Farms is brewing up a new category of healthy oils and fats, made by fermentation, not deforestation.
“Fermentation is the original culinary art, after fire,” says co-founder and CEO Jeff Nobbs. “We use this ancient technique to produce oils and fats with significantly lower levels of the bad fats that have been linked to inflammation and disease while having a fraction of the environmental footprint. We’re proud to be the first company stepping up with the mission to completely remove industrial ‘vegetable’ oils from our food system.”
