Call it ‘fake meat’ or ‘alternative protein’… but here’s why you shouldn’t ignore it.
Author: Kirsten Diprose
The idea of sitting down to a soy-protein veggie burger is pretty unappealing to most people (including vegans and vegetarians).
So, if you’re in the business of meat production, you may feel safe in the knowledge that the steak continues to reign supreme and most people still like their burger to be made with real meat.
But there have been huge advancements in biotechnology, including being able to grow meat, made from animal cells, in laboratories (it’s called, “cultured meat”). The groups at the forefront of this, believe that in 10–15 years it will completely change the food market… and even the cow will become obsolete.
Can this really be true?
There’s certainly a lot more that needs to happen in terms of bringing the cost of production down and making sure the lab-grown meat actually tastes, well, like meat.
But, we shouldn’t be dismissing the whole idea either. Whether you are a farmer or part of an agribusiness– you are in the business of agriculture. And a good business person, knows that looking ahead into what the market may do in the future — is the key to success.
So here are three reasons why, you shouldn’t be ignoring what’s happening in the alternative protein sector.
1. “Disruption” is not just a modern-day buzz word associated with Uber and Netflix. It could apply to you.
Market “disruption” has been happening since humans invented the wheel, or perhaps when we learnt how to make fire. Anyway, there are plenty of everyday items that when they were invented, people thought would never really take off. The refrigerator, the car and the mobile phone had plenty of naysayers at the time — but now we couldn’t live without them.
These products were all “disrupters” because they didn’t just improve one aspect of our lives — they changed how we lived altogether.
Catherine Tubb, from Rethink X, an independent think tank which analyses technology-driven disruptions, believes the world’s food system will be completely transformed by 2030.
“No technology in history has been adopted in a linear fashion. Technology gets adopted as ‘s’ curves,” she said.
“Adoption happens seemingly slowly then reaches a critical mass or tipping point which is usually around 10–20 per cent and then they explode, before slowing down again.”
She said while alternative proteins may only be a small percentage of the market now, once the cost of production is lowered, things change very rapidly.
Ms Tubb said when the car was introduced, the people manufacturing horse-drawn carriages weren’t worried at all.
“In 1912, the car was received only as a threat to the top end of the carriage market. But, approximately 10 years later the [carriage market] didn’t exist,” she said.
“Although you might take comfort that it [alternative protein] might be this niche product now, disruption happens in such a way that everything comes toppling down, and it won’t be.”
2. Whether you like it or not, lab-grown meat and milk will be hitting the supermarket shelves soon enough.
There is no point in debating whether it should or shouldn’t be happening — it is. So start thinking about what it might mean for you.
The agtech and broader agriculture community is divided about whether these products will just be for niche consumers or end up completely disrupting the agriculture market as we know it.
George Peppou is a chef and co-founder of Australian cultured meat company, VOW. His company grows meat from the cells of an animal.
This is done through taking a biopsy from the muscle of the animal and extracting the cells that are responsible for creating muscle, fat and connective tissue.
“We can store those cells indefinitely and then at any point go to our freezer, take these cells out and place them in an environment that convinces them they’re still in the animal,” Mr Peppou said.
“So cultured meat is a way of making exactly the same thing we eat today. It is biologically identical but made without the rest of the animal.”
But at the moment, this meat is rather expensive. In fact the first cultured meat burger, made in 2013, cost $300,000 (US). The lab-grown pattie was made by Mark Post and his team at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, in the hope that this type of meat would one day feed the world.
George Peppou said the industry has grown since then, with now more than 40 companies globally, working on growing cultured meat and bringing it to store shelves.
“The costs have dropped rapidly… It has gone all the way down to just a couple of hundred dollars a kilo, depending on the company you ask,” he said.
So, it has reduced dramatically in price…but it’s still very pricey. And according to the critics– it’s not as tasty as farm-grown meat and needs a higher fat content,” Mr Peppou said.
3. Sure, alternative protein could be all hype…but what if it’s not?
If there is a more efficient way of farming — then you’d want to hear about it right? That’s just good business.
According to Catherine Tubb from Rethink X, as well as lab grown meat, a new technology, known as precision fermentation, will soon be offering an alternative to cow’s milk.
Precision fermentation is a process where microorganisms are programmed to produce complex molecules, such as protein.
“The cow will simply not be able to compete,” Ms Tubb said.
She said precision fermentation will be a far more efficient way of producing a milk alternative when you factor in energy, water and time.
“We forecast precision fermentation to grow rapidly… by 2030 it will have 70 percent of the [US] market, with just 30 percent of protein coming from cows.”
“By 2035 we expect industrial cattle farming to be obsolete in the U.S”
But this is a controversial view, disputed by others in the meat and dairy industry.
Paul Wood, Chairman of AusBiotech, veterinary immunologist and board member at Dairy Australia argues there is a place for alternative proteins, but they will remain a niche product.
Even with the prospect of growing meat in a lab, Mr Wood said that it will ultimately be very hard to make it economically viable.
“You are competing with a burger -with mince meat… which is $6 a kilo in the US and about $10 here in Australia. It’s a tough space to be in,” he said.
“When you go out with a new technology you want to be in high value spaces where you are going to get a return on your investment.”
Mr Wood also doesn’t think alternative proteins will be the panacea that will feed the world. He said most of the world’s growing population will be in Africa and Asia.
“If you look at Africa alone, we have over a billion smallholder farmers. So the definition of that is, they earn less than $2 a day,” Mr Wood said.
“Alternative proteins are not going to solve their problems. Price alone is an issue. These proteins are really for people that can afford choice.”
In terms of making food production more efficient, Mr Wood argues there are plenty of ways agriculture is doing this through genetics, other technological advancements and sustainability.
Even simply grazing livestock can be efficient on its own.
“86% of what livestock eat is not digestible by humans,” Paul Wood said.
“So livestock are actually very good at converting pasture that is not arable land into a product that you can eat. So they are actually very efficient and that’s why they are very popular in places like Africa.”
Then, there’s the issue of taste. Like lab grown meat, some believe fermented milk still has a long way to go before it tastes like cow’s milk.
“One of things that people have forgotten about is that taste and texture is king,” Mr Wood said.
So, where to now?
There is no simple answer to who is right and who isn’t. But being armed with knowledge about an emerging sector will certainly help you to make the right decisions for the future of your farm or agribusiness.
Listen to our podcast “Agtech…So What?” to hear Catherine Tubb, George Peppou and Paul Wood in a live debate over the future of alternative proteins (and a warning — it gets heated!)
