A just transition for cellular dairy?

Reflections from the Fraser Valley

Abstract

Food systems globally are under growing pressure to transition in response to climate change, ecological degradation, shifting consumer expectations, and persistent social inequities. Emerging biotechnologies, including cellular agriculture, are increasingly positioned as part of these transitions, yet their social and political implications remain unclear. This study examines the potential emergence of cellular dairy in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley, the centre of the province’s dairy industry and a region shaped by intensifying climate risks, entrenched supply management structures, and the colonial dispossession of unceded agricultural lands. Through twenty semi-structured interviews with farmers, processors, policymakers, technology developers, and members of non-governmental organizations, we analyze how key actors understand the challenges facing conventional dairy, their expectations for cellular dairy, and whether they see it as potentially part of a just transition in agriculture. Participants identified possible environmental and animal welfare benefits but raised concerns about farmer livelihoods, regulatory ambiguity, and the potential for increased corporate consolidation. Their transition imaginaries emphasized stability and the protection of existing food systems structures. Largely absent from participants’ discussions of a just transition were the perspectives of Indigenous nations and farmworkers. Using the 5R Framework for Reparative Just Transitions, we interpret these omissions as evidence of an understanding of a just transition that overlooks deeper land and labour relations. We argue that a reparative lens helps broaden the scope of transition planning by foregrounding recognition, representation, redistribution, settler responsibility, and resurgence. Such an approach is needed if debates about cellular dairy are to contribute to more equitable and ecologically grounded food system futures in the Fraser Valley.