Barley, Bioengineering, and the Future of Food

At first glance, the plants look absolutely ordinary. Outside a greenhouse, you might walk right past them. However, it is what is on the inside of these plants that really counts. These are Hordeum vulgare—a variety of barley plants—and they are not grown for food, but for something far more unexpected. Each grain carries a genetic blueprint that produces proteins telling cells how to grow. Thanks to Iceland’s clean energy, biosecurity, and scientific know-how, a humble grain is becoming a tool to help feed the world more sustainably.

Barley is one of the world’s oldest cultivated crops, but at ORF Genetics, it is being used in an entirely new way. Instead of brewing beer or baking bread, these barley plants are producing proteins called growth factors, molecules essential for cell development, repair, and regeneration.

Our bodies naturally produce growth factors, especially early in life, but this production tapers off with age. These proteins are crucial for stem cell research, biotech cosmetics, and now, with cultivated meat. ORF has developed an innovative method to produce them using barley.

Barley is a “closed-loop” pollinator, meaning its pollen will not spread to other plants, not even barley plants right next to it. This makes it ideal for growing a pure, controlled product. Therefore, in a single greenhouse, ORF can produce 25 different types of growth factors with no genetic interference.

In 2010, ORF launched BIOEFFECT, the world’s first skincare line made with barley-based growth factors. Its key ingredient, Barley EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor), supports the skin’s natural production of collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid. Today, BIOEFFECT is sold worldwide, with all products developed and manufactured in Iceland.

In 2021, ORF expanded its focus to include animal-specific growth factors for the emerging cultivated meat industry. As demand for protein rises and farmland becomes scarce, this technology offers a more sustainable, lower-impact way to feed the world.

Cultivated meat can replicate everything from texture to fat content while using far less land, water, and energy. ORF’s barley-based proteins eliminate the need for animal-derived ingredients, helping food innovators create ethical, affordable alternatives at scale.

Cultivated meat is real meat grown from animal cells, without raising or slaughtering animals. It offers a promising solution to the environmental toll of traditional farming. But producing it at scale requires growth factors—often expensive and sourced from animals, which creates cost and ethical challenges for foodtech companies.

That’s where ORF comes in. The company has developed scalable, species-specific growth factors using barley, helping cultivated meat producers move from lab prototypes to real products.

In February 2024, ORF partnered with Australian foodtech company Vow to host Europe’s first official cultivated meat tasting—serving gourmet dishes made from Japanese quail cells grown with ORF’s barley-derived proteins. Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir (2017-2024) attended the event and tasted cultivated meat for the first time.
In 2025, ORF partnered with South Korea’s Cellmeat to introduce cultivated shellfish, marking the first public tasting of its kind outside Asia. Once again, Icelandic barley played a starring role in a global innovation milestone.

Cultivated meat could drastically reduce emissions, land use, and animal suffering. But turning that promise into reality requires affordable, scalable inputs. According to a 2021 McKinsey report, the global cultivated protein market could reach $25 billion by 2030*, provided production costs come down.

ORF Genetics is helping make that future possible with its MESOkine line of low-cost, plant-based growth factors. By supporting scalability, ORF is positioning Iceland as an unexpected but powerful force in the global race to reinvent meat.

From a small team in a single greenhouse, ORF Genetics has evolved into a global biotech company with international clients, a diverse range of award-winning products, and a vision for sustainable impact. Its story shows what’s possible when clean energy, scientific research, and natural resources intersect.

Would you try meat grown from cells? Thanks to Icelandic barley, that question may be coming to your dinner table sooner than you think.

* McKinsey & Company. (2021). Cultivated meat: Out of the lab, into the frying pan. https://www.mckinsey.com