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Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

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Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#131

Animal agriculture seems to me like one of those things that in 50 to 100 years people will look back on with bewilderment. "You mean you birthed whole animals, let them grow for two years, fed them all the while, just to kill them, chop up their remains, and ship that to people?" Plant based protein and maybe even more so cultured/clean meat (e.g. http://www.memphismeats.com/ ) seem likely to totally replace how we…

How long something has been around is often a good way to determine how much longer it will be around in the future. I'd be willing to bet that humans will stop driving cars much sooner than they stop farming. Humans have been practicing animal agriculture for a long time...

> How long something has been around is often a good way to determine how much longer it will be around in the future.

Might be some correlation there, but probably it's mostly unrelated. We did many things for a super-long time then stopped, because we found something better. For example, we used horses to get around for millennia.

We've done animal agriculture for a long time, but once something better comes around, we'll switch - and food technology is getting very close, and has other benefits too (helps against global warming, etc.).

But just like riding horses, eating animal products will never go away completely, of course.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#132
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question here is whether that "modern, high quality meat-replacement" is equally as affordable as meat (within reason). If so, show me where I can get it. If not, I likely won't reallocate my budget.

Gardein Breakfast Patties[1][2] retail for $3 at my grocery store and regularly have $1-off in-store coupons. Even the macros are solid. Everything else I've tried from Gardein has been excellent as well, and this is far from the best stuff out there. [1] https://gardein.com/products/breakfast-patties/ [2] http://imgur.com/XUodQQv

I'd be willing to give this a try. Out of curiosity, what would you consider the best (or at least respectably high)?

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#133

This is just shareholder value. Scaling meat has so many problems, but if you can sell fake meat at meat prices suddenly there is so much more profit margin to be returned to shareholders. I do not believe for 1 second that Tyson cares about health, environments, farmers or the well being of animals. > "We just got to the point last year where the consumer is demanding [the elimination of antibiotics in the food chai…

>"I do not believe for 1 second that Tyson cares about health, environments, farmers or the well being of animals." I haven't followed Tyson - is there something they've done in recent history that has particularly contributed to the skepticism? Or is this more general "all corporations-are-evil" skepticism?

As i remember it there was much negativity around them in Michael Pollan's books and the documentary Food Inc.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certain lands cannot support human edible plants, but can be used for grazing. Suddenly non-productive land can be producing meat.

Genetically Engineer the plants to grow in those conditions, boom.

"Genetically engineer plants to grow in unideal conditions, and then formulate those into recipes that taste like cows" sounds more difficult than "Grow cows, eat cows"

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#135

Animal agriculture seems to me like one of those things that in 50 to 100 years people will look back on with bewilderment. "You mean you birthed whole animals, let them grow for two years, fed them all the while, just to kill them, chop up their remains, and ship that to people?" Plant based protein and maybe even more so cultured/clean meat (e.g. http://www.memphismeats.com/ ) seem likely to totally replace how we…

Why the name Memphis Meats? I do not think that you are in Memphis.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#136
post #116
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Animal agriculture seems to me like one of those things that in 50 to 100 years people will look back on with bewilderment. Really? It's not like we've been doing that for 5,000 years or something. But in 50 years they'll be like "What were you doing for the last 5,000 years?" Animal agriculture is not going to be one of those things. In fact I can guarantee you that even if we figure out a meat replacement people…

> Something that's been done for 5,000 years doesn't get stopped that quickly. Doesn't this prove too much?[1] Plenty of things were common for millennia before they suddenly weren't. Eg: Monarchies, slavery, beasts of burden, and diseases such as smallpox. 1. https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/13/proving-too-much/

> they suddenly weren't. Eg: Monarchies, slavery, beasts of burden, and diseases such as smallpox.

Except that every one of those things still exists! Smallpox doesn't exist, but other diseases such as syphilis do.

So that actually demonstrates exactly the opposite of the point you were trying to make.

Monarchies is an especially bad example because they still exist precisely because people are unwilling to stop a tradition that has gone on that long.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You mean you planted that whole acreage with seed, let them grow, watered and fertilized them all the while, just to cut them down, chop them up and ship that to people?"

Hydroponics is actually a ton easier (at scale): http://www.epicgardening.com/hydroponics-vs-soil/ Seems like a good argument.

How about energy consumption and material requirements?

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#138
post #120
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Animal agriculture seems to me like one of those things that in 50 to 100 years people will look back on with bewilderment. Really? It's not like we've been doing that for 5,000 years or something. But in 50 years they'll be like "What were you doing for the last 5,000 years?" Animal agriculture is not going to be one of those things. In fact I can guarantee you that even if we figure out a meat replacement people…

> As evidence look at how many people want to "go back to the farm", and raise their own animals. On the surface, why? It's harder and more expensive. Yet, people want that anyway. No one is "going back to the farm" to raise their own cattle, which they slaughter themselves, for a steak. It also doesn't scale to the "buy cheap steaks and grill a steak for lunch every day" level that some people do. Just the reduction…

> No one is "going back to the farm" to raise their own cattle, which they slaughter themselves, for a steak. It also doesn't scale to the "buy cheap steaks and grill a steak for lunch every day" level that some people do.

I'm sorry, but you are quite wrong.

There are mobile slaughterhouses that cater to this exact market: A farmer raises a couple cows, the mobile butcher slaughters the animal and process the meat into individually wrapped packages. Then they freeze it all and it lasts them a full year till they repeat this process.

Do you need me to find you some youtube videos to prove it?[1] It's common enough that they custom outfit vans specifically to make this job easier (add a power hoist, and pull-out work tables). The butcher drives the van from customer to customer.

You need to meet some more rural friends to see other ways that people live. And BTW I'm not convinced that this is a cheaper way to get meat, instead they do it for the "back to basics" feel, and for the quality of the meat. That's not going to change just because some lab can make some meat.

> Do you think that the majority of people 100 years go could afford the variety and quantity of meats available to them today?

Depends where you live. Some places could, some could not. Especially warrior cultures ate a lot of meat.

[1]Edit: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mobile+meat+sla...

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#139
post #101
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

plants have higher protein and less sodium than meat on avg. Although they do have a lower amino acid count and calorie count, that just means a more diverse plant based diet is in order. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you...

Less sodium, yes. More protein? Of course not. Lean meat contains around 20-25% of protein. Do you know of any plant that could compare?

Hemp seeds are around 31%. Spirulina is 60% though not a plant.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#140

Animal agriculture seems to me like one of those things that in 50 to 100 years people will look back on with bewilderment. "You mean you birthed whole animals, let them grow for two years, fed them all the while, just to kill them, chop up their remains, and ship that to people?" Plant based protein and maybe even more so cultured/clean meat (e.g. http://www.memphismeats.com/ ) seem likely to totally replace how we…

Why the name Memphis Meats? I do not think that you are in Memphis.

They're not in Memphis. They're in San Francisco.

My guess for why they're named Memphis Meats is ”[a founder's] family also owns a chain of 43 BBQ restaurants based out of Memphis, Tennessee"

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