Cultivated meat on the farm? How this technology could benefit farmers
As culture wars rage over cultivated meat, with Florida, Alabama, and Italy implementing bans, a new report shows how this technology - often seen as competition to animal agriculture - could actually create new opportunities for farmers.
Ever since its rise into public discourse, cultivated meat has typically been seen as a challenge and a threat to traditional farming, or depicted as at odds with it. But a recent report published by the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in July shows otherwise. It brings a great deal of promise to the idea of openness and collaboration between farmers that feel at-risk and other concerned groups including supporters of cell-cultured meat. It reveals that amongst farmers, the reluctance to view cultivated meat positively is broadly fueled by lack of unbiased evidence and lack transparency regarding this alternative meat. And their fears that its commercialisation would spell the increased dominance of already-large food corporations are not exactly unwarranted.
Also known as cell-cultured meat or lab-grown meat, cultivated meat is produced from the cells of the same animals currently being farmed and slaughtered for meat. It is the closest and most authentic thing we have to the taste and texture of the real thing, providing a viable alternative to killing animals to satisfy our tastebuds. The cell meat is fortified in a vat of nutritionally rich broth. Recent research shows that many consumers feel cultivated meat only slightly differs in taste and texture to traditional meat, has the potential to be more nutritious than it, and is incontrovertibly better for the environment than it.
Some farmers express love for the animals they raise, but critics of animal agriculture argue that this care is only given to make them more profitable (e.g.,grass-fed). Compassion ends when the animals are ready for the slaughterhouse. By using animal cells instead of killing them, the care need not be conditional – animals can live a good and full life.
With cell-based meat, there will be fewer captive animals for farmers to care for, allowing for better quality care for those remaining. This would benefit farmers, as they wouldn’t face the emotional burden of knowing their animals will soon die. Fewer animals would also free up land for growing ingredients for cell culture and setting up machinery for on-site cultivated meat production.
A gradual transition from slaughter-based meat to cultivated meat should help farmers to navigate the transition without it being overwhelming or crippling. There will be bargaining, there will be innovation, there will be varying, ongoing ideas of the form in which both animal and cell-cultured meat can exist in the short term. Throughout all this, it is important to understand that farmers’ presence, skill, and knowledge will be vital to an informed furthering of cultivated meat.
Just transition, already
Here’s the thing: a leading agriculture body like the RAU was never going to commission a report based on the idea of completely replacing the entire animal meat industry with cultivated and alternative meats. While the idea of a world without animal slaughter is a strong motivation for many animal-lovers, it’s not what will drive most animal farmers to embrace cultivated meat with enthusiasm.
“The National Food Strategy called for a 30% cut in meat consumption over 10 years, and argued that developing better and cheaper alternative proteins could help. While the jury is out on whether cultured meat will fit the bill, we’ve found that it needn’t spell disaster for farmers. The farmers who spoke to us for this study had lots of concerns about the technology but, for the most part, had many bigger challenges on their plates. Some were also interested in its opportunities, from supplying raw materials to even producing it on their farms.
“Some places around the world have banned cultured meat in the name of protecting farming. But instead of seeing this as ‘all or nothing’, we explored where there could be win-wins. Building bridges with farmers is certainly in the cultured meat companies’ interests, as some are starting to see. More surprisingly, we found that keeping the door open may serve farmers better too.”
It is what animal rights activists are advocating for though (I myself held a sign at a march not too long ago with the words ‘End Animal Agriculture’ and was approached by a disconcerted pair of farmers – defending such an absolutist position was not an easy thing), and this is why farmers will perceive the argument for cultivated meat as one-sided and consider it a threat, Indeed, one of the concerns that farmers raise is that they cannot rely on the information and data on cultivated meat because it is too biased. In terms of qualitative insight, the RAU report gave the opinions of farmers, not of the proponents of cultivated meat, by way of interviews. By doing this, the report is already helping to break down concerns on bias regarding this nascent industry. A ‘just transition’ emphasizes that farmers’ voices on the matter are not just insightful, they must and will be heard.
Both traditional and need to co-exist for at least decades to come – the more common ground and agreement that can be found amongst farmers, animal activists, etc., in that time, the greater that research and progress can flourish to adequately prepare us for commercialisation of cultivated meat and its reaching price parity with traditional meat, which BCG estimates will happen sometime in the early 2030s.
Cultivated chicken meat. Credit: UPSIDE Foods
Granted, this seems an optimistic timeline and it is best to view it as the absolute earliest at a minimum. BCG explains that, to get to parity, the calorific value of the final cultivated meat product must be optimised, In addition, the cost of the medium and machinery needed to grow the cells must go down whilst its efficiency must go up. Once this is done, not only will animal rights activist have a more tempting alternative to meat to point to when they are outreaching the public, farmers too will be able to turn one of their more significant concerns about cultivated meat an opportunity as we go on to explore.
Farmers are worried about unfairness as a result of further consolidation of large food corporations. One arable farmer in East Midlands said: ‘I do wonder if [with] the production of more…cultured protein there are going to be much larger companies that are going to…be pushing for this and they will own the intellectual property, they will own the rights to that, they will own the formulations, and that’s something which reinforces a sort of a hegemonic position.’
Harnessing government support and private investment to ensure this doesn’t happen, and that this transition involves ‘putting famers back at the centre of the cultivated meat industry.” But how? By realising the possibility that cultivated meat can be produced on farms rather than elsewhere in corporate plants, meaning greater control for farmers. Also, that farmers can generate income from their crops – as amino acid sources, they are the very ingredients to use for producing cultivated meat. Nobody says it will be easy, but when we are hearing wins such as that cell production time has been reduced by 50% as of Q1 2024, and agreement that radically increasing meat consumption is posing a threat to the meat industry itself, not only the environment, stars are aligning.
Cultivated pork sausages. Credit: New Age Meats
Meat in the middle
The RAU report brings promise and potential for openness and collaboration amongst the two groups. That higher-end meat such as steak will remain whilst cell-based alternatives are worked on is one thing, using bovine serum as an ingredient for cultivated meat is another, completely at odds with the suggestion of cell-based meat as a clean break from any form of animal suffering or killing. There will be negotiation, there will be scientific and technological innovation, there will be varying ideas of the form in which both traditional and cultivated meat can and should exist in the long and short term.
Rather than an either-or approach, particularly at the early stages, it seems what broadly needs to be applied in excellent measure is two things: data and patience. As the influence of ethics, compassion, and social identity continue to shape society’s views on the rise of cultivated meat, collaborative and transparent dialogue between animal farmers and cultivated meat experts is crucial for progress.
In 2024 and beyond, Species Unite will continue to champion solutions, including cultivated meat, that can help transition the world away from animal products entirely. Join our community by becoming a member today and check out our Future of Food podcast episodes to learn more about cellular agriculture.
Although cultivated meat still has a way to go before it’s on supermarket shelves, you don’t have to support animal suffering. Sign up to Species Unite’s 30-Day Plant-Powered Challenge to discover how to make cruelty-free choices when it comes to your food and fashion.
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