Happy new year to you all. May this find you thriving, inspired and ready to unleash your creativity in 2025! We are looking forward at bringing you news of the work we have been doing behind the scenes over the last few months. Thanks to all of your lovely Christmas customers, we are very grateful for your custom and really excited to announce we have an amazing cull-cow beef ready to be boxed up and some amazing pasture fed pigs if you fancy a highly nutritious and delicious pork box delivered to your door.
The Farm is in proper winter mode with most livestock in the barn, a small out-wintering project with 30 cattle and TB freedom, phewww! However we have had to deal with the difficult news that our legend of a farm manager Mike Hurford who has not missed a days work since 1968, has been taken ill, we await his official news but obviously like to wish him all the best and fast recovery to fitness and health.
During my time off this holiday season I have tried to not eat and drink too much, which is obviously hard and a complete lie as I can already remember moments of gluttony and inability to move. I also started listening to podcasts, one I particularly wanted to was, The Future Is Faster Than You Think by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler (on audiobook), mainly to hear what Diamandis had to say about lab-grown meat.
On the surface, it sounds great.
If it can replicate the nutritional qualities of well-raised meat, compete on price and ecological footprint, and support economic opportunities and social justice in the developing world, then I’m all for it…
But it doesn’t provide some of the far-reaching benefits of regenerative livestock management.
One reason I say this is that while lab-grown meat could theoretically develop to the point that it would have a low carbon footprint, a low cost to consumers, and the scalability necessary to replace conventional animal agriculture, as far as I know lab-grown meat cannot go beyond that to sequester massive amounts of atmospheric carbon, build healthy soils, regenerate grassland ecosystems and wildlife populations, restore healthy water cycles, and provide wholesome livelihoods to pastoral people around the world.
Another reason I believe that lab-grown meat’s potential may be overrated is that the meat cells are grown with nutrients derived from animals, which of course largely defeats the purpose of lab-grown meat.
Diamandis believes that lab-grown meat will get past the point of needing nutrients derived from animals, but he doesn’t provide any reason for believing that.
Even Zach Bush, MD, who is an ardent advocate for a plant-based diet says, “lab-grown meat is ridiculous.”
My impression is that Diamandis believes that meat stem cells will eventually be grown on nutrients from plant-based crops (probably genetically modified) and/or completely synthetic nutrients (e.g. derived from petroleum like synthetic vitamins).
Diamandis also believes that GM foods haven’t harmed anybody, so he would not be my go-to authority on the potential nutritional value of novel foods.
Nevertheless, if lab-grown meat eventually provides a safe, nutritionally-equivalent alternative to meat from livestock animals, it would certainly reduce “food miles” and animal suffering and generate a much lower ecological footprint than conventional animal agriculture.
But again, it can never replace the ecological benefits of regeneratively managed livestock. While lab-grown meat would be much “less bad” than conventional animal agriculture, aside from potentially freeing up land for better uses, it will not be a direcly regenerative influence on the biosphere if it does not restore grasslands in “brittle” environments, soils, biodiversity, and water cycles while sequestering massive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere for free.
A potential downside of lab-grown meat is that it challenges food sovereignty.
As venture capital involvement grows and the narrative that all animal agriculture is inefficient becomes entrenched, lab-grown meat starts to look like another attempt of business interests to use intellectual capital to capture a swath of the food industry via engineered or synthetic biology.
In other words, isn’t replacing livestock (that can be raised by anybody) with lab-grown meat technology (owned by a few companies) a bit like replacing plant seeds (that can be saved, shared, and sold by anybody) with genetically modified seeds owned by a few companies (e.g. companies like Bayer/Monsanto)?
Is lab-grown meat going to become a “Moosanto” following in the footsteps of Monsanto?
What are your thoughts about lab-grown meat?
Is lab-grown meat the solution for replacing conventional animal agriculture?
Or, just one of multiple solutions?
Or, should we focus more on transitioning to regenerative models that restore soils and grassland ecosystems, help rebalance climate and ocean health, and provide regenerative economic opportunities for many populations around the world?
Reply, comment or get in touch and let me know what you think!
Deal of the week:-
Look no further than to purchase your next Meat Box from us and get your 10% discount code here – JAN25MEATBOX.
We have amazing beef this month – the best protein in the world is grass fed beef, so why not treat yourself this month with a beef box of the highest nutritional value that you can possibly buy, high quality protein is the right new year resolution. The good news about this type of high quality protein is that it can make your bones stronger, make you leaner, give you much better skin, better hair, make you much more energetic and the good news is when you eat enough of these type of proteins you get far less food cravings, so when ever you can choose Pasture For Life Beef.
Article of the week:-
Could 2025 be the year of the cow?
Quote of the week:-
“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”
— Wayne W. Dyer