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We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

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101–110 of 164 posts

Re: We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

#101
post #83
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grandmother didn't live to 70.

Yes, but isn't it predicted that the average life expectancy of the current generation will be less than that of the prior generations?

Probably many factors involved, but a 5 second search yielded "Life Expectancy Drops Again As Opioid Deaths Surge In U.S."

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/12/21/5720803...

So maybe just stay away from the opiates when you eat your raw broccoli.

Re: We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No idea why you're getting downvoted - this is perfectly true. I guess because people secretly long for the world to end. Rapture, Climate Change, nuclear armageddon, AIDS, Y2K, Peak Oil, take your pick. It's been a constant of life in Western civilisation for the last 50 years at least. There has never been a period in my life when there hasn't been some impending catastrophe that was going to destroy life as we kno…

Maybe it's the function of development levels we've reached? It's only in the last 60 years that we've reached a level at which we can cause a man-made Armageddon. In the "boy crying wolf" story, the wolf eventually came. > Peak Oil , Climate Change Makes more sense if you consider this (and other related scares) as symptoms of the same phenomenon, which shows no sign of stopping. Let's talk about how we're going to…

Mostly agree. However:

>In the "boy crying wolf" story, the wolf eventually came.

... and what would have helped the boy was if he hadn't been crying wolf unnecessarily.

As marcus_holmes points out there always seems to be something.

Re: We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

#103

We already have the resources to feed the hungry. A third of all the food produced is thrown out. The problem is how we distribute it. Systemic change is the only thing that can address this problem in a meaningful way. Efficiency is great but producing more when we already have enough is completely missing the issue at hand.

I used to work in the food distribution system, and regularly witnessed entire dumpsters full of perfectly good food being destroyed. Consumers, as usual, are the key to changing this. We'd have to change the eating and shopping habits of an entire generation to change this. Changing the system won't work without changing the way we think about food and food shopping.

Can you write some detailed stories of what led to those dumpsters being destroyed? I think there's not a good understanding of what leads to larger-scale food waste.

For instance, I've seen a few people online pitching "ugly produce" startups. But what prevents Campbells Soup and Jamba Juice from buying all the ugly fruit/veggies?

Re: We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s wrong with oils though? And if canola is bad why can’t they switch it out for olive oil?

Olive oil is not that good for you, and most importantly, it burns at really low temperatures, and ends up tasting horrible when it happens.

They could use avocado oil. It has a smoke point of 500F. Should be fine for searing.

Re: We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond Meat has never claimed to be a healthier alternative to meat and it's a bit of a straw man to comment like they did. I also don't see many margarine induced illnesses or deaths. Everything is fine in moderation.

> Beyond Meat has never claimed to be a healthier alternative to meat and it's a bit of a straw man to comment like they did. Not sure why you'd think that's a straw man when they explicitly state it on their website. First sentence on their Products page: "Imagine your favorite meaty dishes like burgers and tacos delivering the juicy, delicious taste you know and love, while being better for you and the planet." [0]…

Marketing speak is almost always going to be dubiously credible. It definitely can be made more healthy than red meat in future revisions of the recipe. But it’s undoubtedly better for the planet than to be “raising” and killing cattle for red meat. You don’t need 660 gallons of water to make plants for 1 pound of beyond burger like you do for one pound ground chuck.

Re: We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

#106
post #42
post #30

Meh. The hippies were right. Eat food your grandmother would recognise. Eat it as unprocessed as practical. Eat a lot of it raw. But I bet where people have no choice (in prison, public hospitals, schools, on food stamps...) it will become compulsory.

Or how about the billions more people we will have in the coming decades? Population growth in the global south in addition to crop destabilization due to climate change will be a crisis. This is one possible solution. Eating "real" food may end up a luxury for most.

It sounds like the real solution is to stop making babies.

Re: We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is where I stopped reading. How can somebody claim to be on the cusp of disrupting a market when they evidently don't understand the consumer? Nutritional equivalence will not bankrupt the cattle industry.

I'm too lazy at the moment to look up a link but fast food restaurants are already adopting these faux-beef burgers and people love them.

That's not even technically an anecdote, let alone data, but here's a more accurate description of what's "already" happening: A vanishingly small fraction of fast-food restaurants are taking small steps to experiment with offering faux-beef burgers as an additional menu option for the small percentage of their customers who might want that.

Re: We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

#108
post #96

I guess we'll never learn from things like margarine and other lab invented foods. Beyond Meat is heavily dependent on seed oils which are terrible for us (expeller pressed canola oil is ingredient #2). Red Meat actually isn't unhealthy at the levels most people currently eat it. While it wouldn't surprise me if more people ate Beyond meat and its ilk in the future, it doesn't make it better for us and will likely ju…

What is your source that margarine is more unhealthy than red meat? And what do you mean by "healthy" anyway?

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-truth-abo...

The worst type of dietary fat is the kind known as trans fat. It is a byproduct of a process called hydrogenation that is used to turn healthy oils into solids and to prevent them from becoming rancid. Trans fats have no known health benefits and that there is no safe level of consumption.

There are trans fat free margarines now, but historically margarine have been a tub of trans fat.

Re: We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

#109
post #51

My first reaction was, "Wait - world food supply is about to be disrupted?" Then I realized "disruption" was meant in the marketing sense. This is why I read the comments first.

I almost didn't click on the link because I didn't care to read another depressing prediction of imminent doom —- so I was pleasantly surprised to see the report was about an optimistic disruption.

Re: We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s wrong with oils though? And if canola is bad why can’t they switch it out for olive oil?

Olive oil is not that good for you, and most importantly, it burns at really low temperatures, and ends up tasting horrible when it happens.

That's actually very incorrect and misleading. Olive oil, expecially extra virgin olive oil, can withstand higher temperatures than sunflower, peanut and the like. IIRC the smoke point for EVO is around 210C. You could literally fry in olive oil, it's just too expensive to do so.
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