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

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

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

> Global food loss and waste[1] amount to between one-third[2] and one-half[3] of all food produced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_waste Start here? https://duckduckgo.com/?q=food+waste+story

None of those sources tell me what marcus_holmes has personally witnessed.

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

#152

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…

> It's been a constant of life in Western civilisation for the last 50 years at least. A little longer than that. E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse The difference is we didn't have nuclear weapons, genetic engineering, chemistry (for chem weapons), etc. We could actually do it now. "We are as gods and might as well get good at it."

It's interesting that the psychology remains the same, even when there was no actual danger.

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

#155

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…

This report has a absolutely nothing to do with Beyond Meat or Beyond Meat's technology, but this irrelevant rehash still manages to rank on HN.

Even, even if it was the same technology, which it isn't if you bother to read the article and report, it's still irrelevant since the report is about the impact of the technology to industry not about health.

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

#156

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

Canola is super cheap which is one way they can keep prices low.

Most seed oils in the Western diet come from fast food and the fryer which increases the chance of lipid oxidation.

We need both omega 3 and omega 6 but the Western diet is so heavily skewed towards omega 6 that it's killing us.

https://chriskresser.com/an-update-on-omega-6-pufas/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808858/

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

#157

The author had me till they said "This is the result of rapid advances in precision biology that have allowed us to make huge strides in precision fermentation, a process that allows us to program microorganisms to produce almost any complex organic molecule." Is there anything on the market now that uses this technique?

Yes.

https://www.perfectdayfoods.com/how-it-works/

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

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Global food loss and waste[1] amount to between one-third[2] and one-half[3] of all food produced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_waste Start here? https://duckduckgo.com/?q=food+waste+story

None of those sources tell me what marcus_holmes has personally witnessed.

No, but they speak to your statement, "I think there's not a good understanding of what leads to larger-scale food waste."

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

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's been a constant of life in Western civilisation for the last 50 years at least. A little longer than that. E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse The difference is we didn't have nuclear weapons, genetic engineering, chemistry (for chem weapons), etc. We could actually do it now. "We are as gods and might as well get good at it."

It's interesting that the psychology remains the same, even when there was no actual danger.

I think it's a concomitant aspect of civilization itself. I mean, it's only what? 12K years since we started living in towns, right? Despite it's advantages civilized life kinda sucks in general. I think people long for the pre-civilized "Golden Age" and that's the underlying root of the apocalyptic longing for the world to end.

(I'm not saying that pre-civilized life was an actual Golden Age, just that it satisfied us on a deep biological level in a way that urban/civil life doesn't.)

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

#160

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…

Fast food has never been a cornerstone of healthy living, and I reckon few people eat hamburgers at home. The real benefit, in my mind, is not removing the staple treat of fast food from the market, while vastly reducing our need to farm red meat. I would posit adoption of plant based diets "under the hood" of fast food (and hopefully restaurants) is one of the easiest, most effective ways of dramatically reducing re…

"I reckon few people eat hamburgers at home."

There are a lot of choices for hamburger in the grocery stores I go to. Both fresh ground meat, and frozen preformed hamburgers. Have you looked? Someone must be buying them.

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