Thank you for the thoughtful response Sarah.
I will begin by saying that there is certainly a future I can see that includes livestock. Hopefully producing expensive meat in mixed…
Thank you for the thoughtful response Sarah.
I will begin by saying that there is certainly a future I can see that includes livestock. Hopefully producing expensive meat in mixed cropping environments. My belief (perhaps until now) has been that the challenge is to make MORE FOOD not to replace existing sources.
I write this response having just prepared a slow cook beef casserole with delicious beef from the farm shop. So there is no missionary zeal from me here. I will never stop cooking this recipe.
This possible future came from imagining a few decades out and assuming continued exponential technology improvements . And then it really does provoke me to think whether we would continue to make meat in the way we do today.
I am also trying to have a proper debate because my balanced, collaborative view is not being considered by the loudest voices of the meat industry. The same people could be leaning into these new ways to massively increase their revenues.
On your comments:
- While humans can't eat grass, is it possible that we can process it more efficiently into protein sources for humans than converting it in a cow. I see technology already that does this.
- A factory with animals going through it feels like an altogether different proposition to a factory that is growing protein differently. e.g. compare my insulin example - pigs vs precision fermentation.
If the context was a 'meat industry' imagining a new future together with more sustainable production, less ethical questions and more money for all, what would we build?