Grows even in the desert

Robots harvest the pea shoots, which are then processed into pea protein. In addition, industrial customers can even use the complete biomass of the plant – including what might be considered plant waste – to further process it into protein raw materials. "There's simply nothing left at the end," says Bredack. Even the seed required for the pea plants is, according to Bredack, "much less complex than anything on the market today". 

One farm feeds about 250,000 people 

Another reason for Bredack’s confidence is the expected sharp increase in demand for these raw materials in the near future. Consulting firm "Future Market Insights" predicts that the sales volume of plant-based proteins will rise from 17 billion US dollars in 2024 to 600 billion US dollars in 2035. The reasons: materially higher demand for animal feed, changing eating habits and an ever growing world population. 

At the same time, however, yields from conventional agriculture are falling; the amount of available arable land is in continuous decline and the proportion of infertile soils and poor harvests due to difficult climatic conditions is steadily increasing. "Companies located in the Arab world have already bought land in Serbia, Hungary, Romania, and the Danube Delta to grow soybeans and peas," says Bredack. "They then import the harvest, make a protein mass from it and feed it to their animals." 

Bredack's answer to this development is OrbiFarm®. "You can feed 250,000 people with one of our farms – or provide enough feed to keep an animal farm self-sufficient."

To supply the same number of people with beef, you need an area of approximately 405 million square meters – that’s more than 11,000 times more than one of Bredack's OrbiFarm® plants. And then there’s the impact on the environment: you need about 15,000 litres of water to produce just one kilo of beef and it causes 27 kg of CO₂ emissions. For one kilo of pea protein, on the other hand, it’s only about 500 liters of water and 4 kg of CO₂ emissions. 

Other companies won't be able to do without us – they simply can't produce as efficiently as we can.

Attractive alternatives for vegan food

Those figures alone are enough to demonstrate the potential for plant-based proteins – also for the catering industry: "The convenience food industry is already beating down our door," says Bredack. What makes Veganz attractive is that their meat alternatives not only do without artificial additives but also without water.

This means the products take up less storage space, have a long shelf life and are very competitive in terms of price. This not only keeps the pure acquisition costs in check for potential customers, but it also simplifies logistics and effort in preparation compared to fresh meat produce. The product is perfect for an industry that must count every euro and is desperately looking for trained personnel.