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Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

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Re: Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

#21

Post by zaroth »

gravypod wrote: post #19
VelNZ wrote: post #8

I am really really excited about lab grown meat making it into the mass market and ultimately becoming cheaper than traditional meat. The environmental benefits will be insane; how much of the earth is currently devoted to either raising animals or growing feed to feed animals? If we can centralise the production of meat, suddenly we have huge swathes of land that, perhaps naively, I hope can be reforested.

> how much of the earth is currently devoted to either raising animals or growing feed to feed animals Probably just as much of the Earth as will be needed to run this operation. Power, plant mass, and people aren't free resources.

The energy required to sustain and grow a life form (the cow) is orders of magnitude greater than the energy in the final product (steak). A lab can improve on that ratio.

Re: Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

#22

Post by dan1234 »

tootie wrote: post #12
xyzzy123 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, or just cook in butter.

Well, that's animal fat. Which is his complaint that this will still require raising cows.

Traditional butter is made by churning milk, so while a cow is still required, it doesn't need to be slaughtered to make the burger.

I wonder if it would be possible to cook it in soy butter?

Re: Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

#23

Post by charlesdm »

VelNZ wrote: post #8

I am really really excited about lab grown meat making it into the mass market and ultimately becoming cheaper than traditional meat. The environmental benefits will be insane; how much of the earth is currently devoted to either raising animals or growing feed to feed animals? If we can centralise the production of meat, suddenly we have huge swathes of land that, perhaps naively, I hope can be reforested.

Am I the only one here who probably wouldn't buy artificial meat? I'm not a massive meat eater, but when I go shopping, I tend to buy better quality stuff without caring too much for the price. I'd give it a try, but would probably still buy "the real deal".

> Suddenly we have huge swathes of land that, perhaps naively, I hope can be reforested.

Those plots would still be owned by farmers, and planting trees on them would bring in close to zero revenue.

Re: Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

#24

Post by jacalata »

charlesdm wrote: post #23
VelNZ wrote: post #8

I am really really excited about lab grown meat making it into the mass market and ultimately becoming cheaper than traditional meat. The environmental benefits will be insane; how much of the earth is currently devoted to either raising animals or growing feed to feed animals? If we can centralise the production of meat, suddenly we have huge swathes of land that, perhaps naively, I hope can be reforested.

Am I the only one here who probably wouldn't buy artificial meat? I'm not a massive meat eater, but when I go shopping, I tend to buy better quality stuff without caring too much for the price. I'd give it a try, but would probably still buy "the real deal". > Suddenly we have huge swathes of land that, perhaps naively, I hope can be reforested. Those plots would still be owned by farmers, and planting trees on them…

If there's a larger benefit to planting trees, then it would make sense for the government to offer incentives to plant trees, so they could make money.

Re: Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

#25

Post by Flammy »

charlesdm wrote: post #23
VelNZ wrote: post #8

I am really really excited about lab grown meat making it into the mass market and ultimately becoming cheaper than traditional meat. The environmental benefits will be insane; how much of the earth is currently devoted to either raising animals or growing feed to feed animals? If we can centralise the production of meat, suddenly we have huge swathes of land that, perhaps naively, I hope can be reforested.

Am I the only one here who probably wouldn't buy artificial meat? I'm not a massive meat eater, but when I go shopping, I tend to buy better quality stuff without caring too much for the price. I'd give it a try, but would probably still buy "the real deal". > Suddenly we have huge swathes of land that, perhaps naively, I hope can be reforested. Those plots would still be owned by farmers, and planting trees on them…

> Those plots would still be owned by farmers, and planting trees on them would bring in close to zero revenue.

There are lots of farming subsidies out there. Even subsidies for letting the land return to (and maintain it in) its "natural" state.

Source: Family members do this in Iowa.

Re: Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

#26

Post by jholman »

dan1234 wrote: post #22
tootie wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's animal fat. Which is his complaint that this will still require raising cows.

Traditional butter is made by churning milk, so while a cow is still required, it doesn't need to be slaughtered to make the burger. I wonder if it would be possible to cook it in soy butter?

Given that soy butter is marketed as similar to peanut butter, and has about 1/3 the fat of butter, I'm gonna go with "probably not and what were you thinking?"

(I mean, sure, it's possible to cook your lean beef in peanut butter, so fine, technically "yes it's possible")

Re: Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

#27

Post by api »

gravypod wrote: post #19
VelNZ wrote: post #8

I am really really excited about lab grown meat making it into the mass market and ultimately becoming cheaper than traditional meat. The environmental benefits will be insane; how much of the earth is currently devoted to either raising animals or growing feed to feed animals? If we can centralise the production of meat, suddenly we have huge swathes of land that, perhaps naively, I hope can be reforested.

> how much of the earth is currently devoted to either raising animals or growing feed to feed animals Probably just as much of the Earth as will be needed to run this operation. Power, plant mass, and people aren't free resources.

Not even close. Cattle are labor and space intensive as well as guzzling feed and water. All of the latter has to be shipped via trucks and pipes.

Re: Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

#28

Post by [deleted] »

MrQuincle wrote: post #15
x1798DE wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could see another angle in the meantime, which is exotic lab grown meats. I'd be interested in trying bald eagle meat or polar bear or any number of animal meats where it's either illegal or impractical to culture full animals. Presumably you can also make meats that scale disproportionately with the size of the animal, like sparrow burger or lobster steak.

Yes, or human.

[deleted]

Re: Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

#29

Post by artifaxx »

gravypod wrote: post #19
VelNZ wrote: post #8

I am really really excited about lab grown meat making it into the mass market and ultimately becoming cheaper than traditional meat. The environmental benefits will be insane; how much of the earth is currently devoted to either raising animals or growing feed to feed animals? If we can centralise the production of meat, suddenly we have huge swathes of land that, perhaps naively, I hope can be reforested.

> how much of the earth is currently devoted to either raising animals or growing feed to feed animals Probably just as much of the Earth as will be needed to run this operation. Power, plant mass, and people aren't free resources.

It feels that way, but estimates look quite promising. If lab grown meat ends up using 1% of the land needed for animal production that would make a huge difference! http://phys.org/news/2011-06-lab-grown-meat-emissions-energy...

Re: Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years (2015)

#30

Post by shshhdhs »

jacalata wrote: post #24
charlesdm wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I the only one here who probably wouldn't buy artificial meat? I'm not a massive meat eater, but when I go shopping, I tend to buy better quality stuff without caring too much for the price. I'd give it a try, but would probably still buy "the real deal". > Suddenly we have huge swathes of land that, perhaps naively, I hope can be reforested. Those plots would still be owned by farmers, and planting trees on them…

If there's a larger benefit to planting trees, then it would make sense for the government to offer incentives to plant trees, so they could make money.

I imagine that would be a one time subsidy, not annually?
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