Planters
Those who grow our food (farmers)

We exist to serve our 6 'P's

Producers
Those who make our food (food manufacturers)

People
We who eat the food (consumers)

Planet
The world we share

Partners
The people who work for
and with us

Patrons
The investors who allow us to deliver

Partnering with leading institutions in the field

The National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC) is the UK’s flagship capability for accelerating the development, scale-up and adoption of alternative proteins.

Bringing together world-leading academic expertise, industrial partners and translational infrastructure, NAPIC is designed to bridge the gap between discovery science and commercial deployment. Its Produce pillar, led by internationally recognised researchers, focuses on unlocking high-quality, functional and nutritious proteins from plants and other natural feedstocks, with sustainability, circularity and real-world impact at its core. NAPIC’s strength lies not only in scientific excellence, but in its ability to co-create solutions with industry that are aligned to market needs and food system transformation

Within the "Brotein" project, NAPIC – through its leadership and research capability at The James Hutton Institute – is playing a pivotal role in advancing broccoli biomass side streams as a viable, nutritious and sustainable protein source. The NAPIC team is supporting the optimisation of protein extraction processes from underutilised broccoli biomass, applying advanced plant and food chemistry, analytical science and life-cycle assessment to improve yield, functionality and environmental performance. This work is generating robust scientific evidence likely to lead to published papers, sustainability metrics and comparative data against established protein sources such as soy and pea, while simultaneously feeding into UPP's intellectual property development and roadmap for commercialisation.

What makes this collaboration unique is the way NAPIC’s deep scientific and sustainability expertise is tightly integrated with UPP’s decentralised harvesting and processing platform. Rather than treating alternative protein as a purely laboratory or factory-based innovation, Brotein combines NAPIC’s capability in protein quality, functionality and lifecycle assessment with UPP’s patented whole-crop harvesting and processing model. This creates a rare end-to-end system that captures value directly from existing food production, retains it within rural communities, and delivers credible, scalable alternative proteins with proven environmental benefits. The result is a distinctive, highly differentiated approach that exemplifies NAPIC’s mission: translating world-class science into commercially viable, sustainable protein solutions at scale.

The James Hutton Institute is internationally recognised for its excellence in crop science, food systems and sustainable agriculture, bringing decades of applied research experience to some of the most pressing challenges facing farming and food production.

Its strengths span crop quality, plant biochemistry, protein functionality, nutrition and environmental sustainability, underpinned by world-class laboratory infrastructure and translational expertise. The Institute has led and supported numerous UK and EU programmes focused on improving the value, resilience and sustainability of agricultural systems, with a proven track record of turning fundamental science into deployable, real-world solutions.

The James Hutton Institute is internationally recognised for its excellence in crop science, food systems and sustainable agriculture, bringing decades of applied research experience to some of the most pressing challenges facing farming and food production. Its strengths span crop quality, plant biochemistry, protein functionality, nutrition and environmental sustainability, underpinned by world-class laboratory infrastructure and translational expertise. The Institute has led and supported numerous UK and EU programmes focused on improving the value, resilience and sustainability of agricultural systems, with a proven track record of turning fundamental science into deployable, real-world solutions.

The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) is a scale-up and industrialisation partner that helped UPP turn pioneering field robotics into manufacturable, certifiable, deployable equipment.

In the AgriScale Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Programme, MTC applied its robotics and scale-up expertise to accelerate commercialisation - specifically supporting UPP with design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA) for its automated broccoli harvesting platform, so the technology can transition to a repeatable build and sustained real-world deployment, strengthening UK food supply chains through smarter, scalable solutions.

This project brought together MTC and UPP under Innovate UK’s AgriScale Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Programme, to fast-track this automation breakthrough for UK horticulture. The focus is on UPPs automated broccoli harvester which is designed to capture more of the plant (including nutritious stalk that is typically left in-field) during automated harvest — reducing labour intensity and unlocking additional value by allowing the recovered biomass to be converted into hypoallergenic plant-based protein and fibre ingredients. More details can be found here.

Partner with us

We are a system-level ingredient company that converts underutilised crop side-streams into specification-grade ingredients at scale.

By optimising the entire chain from harvest through processing, we unlock feedstocks others cannot economically use and convert natural variability into margin through multi-SKU outputs and defined blending pathways.

Rather than betting on capital-intensive monolithic production facilities, we will scale by replicating proven, standardised modules, reducing risk, shortening commissioning time, and improving capital efficiency.

With safety certification imminent and active commercial shipments, we are 'built to win' on system-level cost, regulatory simplicity, reliability, flexibility and optionality across ingredient applications.