The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

[Vakanai]

I'm part of the problem not the solution as far as that chart goes - I will never give up beef, or even attempt to reduce my consumption of beef. I don't want to eat less beef, because beef is far and beyond my absolute favorite food. Nothing else on earth satisfies quite like beef food-wise. So while I understand the solution is for people to eat less beef, it's going to have to be other beef eaters not me. And in the frightening possibility I'm not the minority but the majority on this? Let's hope there's a second harder and more complex option to help cover up the emissions caused by beef consumption.

[caltrek]

Chickens are Taking Over the Planet
by Kenny Torrella
August 4, 2023

Introduction:

(Vox) In the century since the modern chicken industry was born, chicken has overtaken beef and pork as the most popular meat in the world. According to a report published last month by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), that trend is expected to rapidly accelerate in the decade ahead — and it’s one that will have enormous implications for climate change, animal welfare, and economic development.

Humanity currently raises and slaughters a staggering 74 billion chickens each year, which will jump to around 85 billion annually by 2032, a 15 percent increase, the report predicts. By comparison, the number of beef cattle and pigs raised for meat will rise to around 365 million and 1.5 billion, respectively, by 2032.

High-income countries account for just 16 percent of the world’s population and 33 percent of its meat intake. But that’s quickly changing: while meat consumption is stagnating in high-income countries and expected to decline in Europe over the next decade, it’s growing rapidly in middle-income regions like much of Asia and Latin America.

Chalk it up to what economists call Bennett’s Law, which predicts that as people climb out of poverty, they tend to shift away from largely plant-based, low-emissions diets heavy in grains and starches, to a more diverse, high-emissions diet heavy in meat and dairy, as well as fruits and vegetables. As hundreds of millions more people enter the global middle class, the world’s population of chickens is expected to surge to unfathomable levels.

Conclusion:

Only the people in low- and middle-income countries can determine the right level of meat production and intensification to balance their food supply needs against public health, environmental, and animal welfare concerns. But the 100-year experiment in American-style factory farming has proven to be an environmental and moral disaster we’re just now waking up to. Hopefully, it’s one that other parts of the world can learn to avoid.

Read more here: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/202 ... oecd-fao

[caltrek]

Making Plant-based Meat Alternatives More Palatable
August 14, 2023

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) One of the biggest obstacles to the uptake of plant-based alternatives to meat is their very dry and astringent feel when they are eaten.

Scientists, led by Professor Anwesha Sarkar at the University of Leeds, are revolutionising the sensation of plant proteins, transforming them from a substance that can be experienced as gloopy and dry to one that is juicy and fat like.

And the only substance they are adding to the plant proteins is water.

Plant protein microgels

To bring about this change, the scientists created plant protein microgels, through a process called microgeletion.
Plant proteins - which start off as dry with a rough texture - are placed in water and subjected to heating. This alters the structure of the protein molecules which come together to form an interconnected network or gel which traps water around the plant proteins.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/998346

caltrek’s comment: To me, a lot of this research into ensuring a high protein intake through plant- based foods is a solution in search of a problem. Nutrition researcher T. Colin Campbell argues quite persuasively that our protein needs are not nearly as high as many suppose. Even government guidelines in this regard overstate the need for protein. Put another way, a varied diet of plant-based foods can result in receiving more than enough protein to meet your needs. As always, I suppose I should caution the reader to consult their physician before making radical changes in their diet. Individuals do vary in their needs. More importantly, adopting a radically new diet is arguably a rather complicated affair. I should also note that in my case my wife does prepare a lot of “plant-based meat alternatives” for inclusion in my meals. She is more of the old school in regards to protein needs.

[caltrek]

How the Radical History of Plant-based Eating Illuminates Our Future
by Julieta Cardenas
August 17, 2023

Introduction:

(Vox) There has never been a better time to ditch meat. Climate change, health, and animal cruelty are among the many reasons why some leave animals (partially or entirely) off their plates.

Luckily, folks seem to be catching on. Vegetable-forward dishes are taking over food magazines, TikTok, and the restaurant scene. Along with some greater cultural acceptance of plant-based diets, there has been a growing recognition that animal-free cuisine can taste great; it doesn’t have to mean compromising on flavor.

“There is so much possibility of just feeding people a good dish,” food writer Alicia Kennedy told me in a recent conversation. “That can be an overlooked strategy of changing people’s minds. A lot of people never even notice if something is vegan or vegetarian until you tell them it is. They never even think about the fact that there’s no meat in it. They just ate it and it was good.”

That said, there’s still a lot of progress left to be made. The share of Americans who call themselves vegetarian or vegan is still very small. And US meat consumption has only increased over the last few decades. How we think about and make progress, of course, is still richly debated among different groups, from vegans to conscientious omnivores, with distinct perspectives on how to build the future of food.

Kennedy’s new book — No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating — gives a historical overview of the diverse movements that have decided to leave meat off the plate, and critiques our industrialized food system.

Read more here: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/238 ... ant-based

caltrek’s comment: A glaring weakness of this article is that it ignores the most import reason for moving to a plant based diet – that it is healthier than a meat based diet.

[caltrek]

Climate Disasters are Fueling the Rise of "Doomsday" Seed Vaults
by Ayurella Horn-Muller
September 1, 2023

Introduction:

(Axios)"Doomsday" seed vaults are becoming an increasingly popular tool in the race to insure global crop and agricultural production against the damaging impacts of climate change.

Why it matters: In an era of simultaneous climate disasters, long-term solutions that bolster the future of food supply are gaining momentum among governments, scientists and small-scale farmers.

• The goal is to make sure crops that might get wiped out in one region can be revived somewhere else.

Catch up quick: One prominent example is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault — a "doomsday" reserve buried deep within a Norwegian mountain storing over 1.2 million duplicates of seed samples.

• The vault was created in 2008 to protect seed supplies for future growing needs against threats like climate change, extreme weather events and wars.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2023/09/01/seed- ... -change

[caltrek]

Potato Pangenome Could Lead to New Superspud
August 31, 2023

Introduction:

(Futurity) Scientists have assembled genome sequences of nearly 300 varieties of potato and its wild relatives to develop a more nutritious, disease-free, and weather-proof crop.

As climate change continues to pose severe challenges to ensuring sustainable food supplies around the world, scientists are looking for ways to improve the resilience and nutritional quality of potatoes.

Martina Strömvik, professor at McGill University, and colleagues have created a potato super pangenome to identify genetic traits that can help produce the next super spud.

“Our super pangenome sheds light on the potato’s genetic diversity and what kinds of genetic traits could potentially be bred into our modern-day crop to make it better,” Strömvik says. “It represents 60 species and is the most extensive collection of genome sequence data for the potato and its relatives to date,” she adds.

A genome is an organism’s complete set of genetic instructions known as the DNA sequence, while a pangenome aims to capture the complete genetic diversity within a species, and a super pangenome also includes multiple species.

Read more of the Futurity article here: https://www.futurity.org/potato-pangen ... -2968602

For a somewhat technical presentation of the results of the original study as published in PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2211117120 :

[caltrek]

Can Eating Seaweed Help the Climate Crisis?
by Jackie Flynn Mogensen
September – October Issue , 2023

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Seaweed is having a moment. Once relegated to sushi rolls, kelp and other “sea greens” are now appearing in an array of American foods and beverages, including pasta, chips, burgers, butter, bread, beer, salsa, tea, muffins, and even ice cream.

When I started looking into it, I too was eager to join the seaweed hype. After all, what’s not to like? Enthusiasts love seaweed for its subtle umami taste and plentiful vitamin and mineral content. It also brings to the table several environmental benefits: As they grow underwater, kelp forests can suck up nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the ocean and absorb carbon dioxide; by doing so, they raise the pH of coastal waters and help reduce ocean acidification. And when introduced in small amounts as a feed additive for cattle, some seaweed may even dramatically cut down on the methane—a potent greenhouse gas—emitted by cattle through their burps and farts. “It’s good for the body and good for the planet,” says Vincent Doumeizel, a senior adviser on oceans at the United Nations and author of the new book The Seaweed Revolution. “And it’s delicious.” (His personal recommendation is French food writer Clotilde Dusoulier’s seaweed tartare.)

As demand has grown, seaweed farming across the world has flourished. In the last two decades, as the harvesting of wild seaweed has stayed flat, global seaweed cultivation has tripled to 38 million tons per year, largely led by Asia, where seaweed has been consumed for centuries.

Further Extract:

And it’s unclear whether human-made seaweed farms, whose crops are eventually harvested and eaten, can permanently pull a significant amount of CO2 out of the atmosphere, meaning our new obsession with eating seaweed may not come with that environmental perk. Some academics and entrepreneurs have proposed sinking seaweed to the deep ocean, where they believe it would remain for centuries, to help pull carbon from the atmosphere. But several of the experts with whom I spoke are skeptical. “There is hope that it will be a sink for carbon,” says Scott Spillias, a researcher affiliated with the University of Queensland in Australia whose work has focused on seaweed farming. “But I don’t think anybody has shown that definitively.”

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/environmen ... seaweed/

[caltrek]

The results of the study discussed below are largely redundant with points already made in this thread. I am presenting this article by way of corroboration of those earlier points for those who remain skeptical or otherwise would like additional supportive information.

Plant-based Food Alternatives Could Support a Shift to Global Sustainability
September 12, 2023

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Replacing 50% of meat and milk products with plant-based alternatives by 2050 can reduce agriculture and land use related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 31% and halt the degradation of forest and natural land, according to new research.

According to the study just published in Nature Communications, additional climate and biodiversity benefits could accrue from reforesting land spared from livestock production when meat and milk products are substituted by plant-based alternatives, more than doubling the climate benefits and halving future declines of ecosystem integrity by 2050. The restored area could contribute up to 25% of the estimated global land restoration needs under Target 2 of the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 2030.

The study is the first to look at the global food security and environmental impacts of plant-based meat and milk consumption at large scales that considers the complexity of food systems. The research was conducted independently by IIASA in partnership with the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, as well as USAID, and solicited input from Impossible Foods – a company that develops plant-based substitutes for meat products – as a potential user of the data to ensure relevance. The company also provided generic recipes for the plant-based meat substitute products used in the analysis. The data are, however, not specific to Impossible Foods and the science team had complete control over decision making.

“Understanding the impacts of dietary shifts expands our options for reducing GHG emissions. Shifting diets could also yield huge improvements for biodiversity,” notes study lead author Marta Kozicka, a researcher in the IIASA Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1001106

For a presentation of the results of the study as presented in Nature Communications:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40899-2

[caltrek]

Disease-resistant Rice and Wheat Plants May Modulate Disease Susceptibility in Their Neighbors
September 12, 2023

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Growing several plant varieties in the same field for disease resistance is a longstanding agricultural practice, but can have unpredictable results. A study publishing September 12th in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Jean-Benoit Morel at Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Montpellier, France, and colleagues suggests that plant-to-plant interactions may confer disease immunity in both wheat and rice.

Neighbor-Modulated Susceptibility (NMS) occurs when healthy, same-species neighbor plants modulate basal immunity and susceptibility to pathogens. However, NMS is not well understood. In order to evaluate NMS’ potential to reduce the spread of plant pathogens, researchers measured disease susceptibility in 200 pairs of rice and durum wheat varieties. They selected one set of genotypes composed of selectively bred varieties and one from populations that had not undergone modern selection. The pairs of same-species variety mixtures grown in pots under controlled greenhouse conditions were inoculated with fungal foliar pathogens, and disease susceptibility was monitored before any possible pathogen dispersal. Using a statistical model, the authors were able to quantify the relevance of NMS and the relative contribution of neighbor effect on pathogen susceptibility in varietal mixtures.

The researchers identified 23 same-species mixtures (~11%) where plant-to-plant interactions modulated disease susceptibility, suggesting that Neighbor-Modulated Susceptibility is a relatively frequent phenomenon. They observed both positive and negative effects of the neighbors, indicating that the consequences of plant-to-plant interactions can be variable. The study had several limitations, for example, only two crops, rice and wheat, were tested. Additional future studies may include field trials, where plants are subjected to a range of outdoor conditions, rather than grown in a greenhouse.

According to the authors, “These findings open new avenues to develop more sustainable agricultural practices by engineering less susceptible crop mixtures thanks to emergent, but now predictable properties of mixtures. Our study suggests that the indirect effects of plant-plant interactions on pathogen susceptibility could be used to design varietal mixtures with embedded crop protection.”

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1000571

[caltrek]

Nestlé USA in Legal Battle Over Staple Latino Products Sold in the U.S.
by Russell Contreras
September 14, 2023

Introduction:

(Axios) A trademark dispute between Nestlé USA and two Mexican distributors could affect the types of staple products found in many Latino pantries.

Why it matters: The fight, headed to trial in federal court this November, comes as all kinds of companies try to tap into the growing, multi-trillion-dollar U.S. Latino market.

Details: In 2020, Nestlé USA filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Western Texas against Ultra Distribuciones Internacionales and Ultra Distribuciones Mundiales for importing and selling Nestlé Mexico products.

• Nestlé USA claims those Mexican products — Nescafe, Abuelita, Nido, Media Crema, Carnation and La Lechera — were meant to be sold only in Mexico and are different from products it approved for U.S. consumers.

• The "parallel imports" are confusing consumers and have harmed Nestle USA's business, the complaint said.

The other side: Lawyers for Ultra Distribuciones Internacionales say the company has openly exported Nestle Mexico products into the U.S. for years.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2023/09/14/nest ... a-latino