Sustainable Food: How to Fix the Animal Problem
As an ex-vegan, confused vegetarian and very occasional meat eater (I guess that officially makes me a flexitarian?), I spend a lot of time thinking about animal farming and whether it has a place in a sustainable food system.
I’m more confused than ever. And so, with the help of Fast Forward 2030, last night I had the honour of gathering a group of entrepreneurs, academics and policy experts to help answer my question and discuss solutions around how we can continue to consume meat/protein without destroying the planet.
Image 1: Andy Shovel, co-founder of A Bit Weird and THIS™ - Grace Regan, founder of SpiceBox Organic (chair)- David Edwards, Deputy Chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission - Bryce Cunningham, Managing Director of Mossgiel Organic Dairy - Alicia Graham, PhD Graham, CEO of MadeSweetly - Ben King, founder of Herd Market and Pesky Fish
Fast Forward 2030 exists to help accelerate the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through impact entrepreneurship - a mission that is close to my heart. I, therefore, structured the debate around some of the key SDGs linked to animal farming and the future protein debate.
In the first half we focused on goals #15 Life on Land, #13 Climate Action and #6 Clean Water and Sanitation. These are vast topics when it comes to animal farming and there was no way we could cover everything in 30 minutes, but we gave it a good go!
Figure 1: 15, 13 & 6 SDG short descriptions
This intensive land use, whether for grazing or growing feed crops like soy, destroys ecosystems and biodiversity. For instance, grazing sheep have a particular appetite for tree saplings, preventing trees from maturing. This means that some areas of inner London boast more trees per hectare than the “wild” British fields where sheep graze.
Then there’s the question of what we could achieve with this land if it wasn’t producing such a small share of our calories.
Climate change is one of the most contentious topics surrounding animal farming. The sector contributes 14%–18% of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than the entire transportation sector. In the UK, ruminant animals (like cows and sheep) account for two-thirds of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. On top of this, it could be argued that grazing pastures represent a missed opportunity for rewilding and carbon storage.
Finally, let’s talk about water. Farming is now the largest polluter of rivers in the UK, surpassing both industry and sewage. According to a 2017 DEFRA report, dairy cows are the worst offenders. The UK has some of the most polluted waters in Europe.
David Edwards from the FFCC kicked off the discussion by arguing that animals weren’t the problem but intensive animal farming was. He said the inefficiency of land-use with conventional animal agriculture was predominantly due to the land used to grow feed crops and that we need to work towards an almost total elimination of land being used to grow animal feed. This means a relatively consistent number of pasture-fed cows but a dramatic reduction in pig and poultry production (both of which rely heavily on feed made from soy and cereals). He passionately advocated for land sharing over land sparing and livestock’s essential role in an agroecological system.
Image 2: World Land Use - Our World in Data
Bryce Cunningham, founder and head farmer at Mossgiel Dairy sent shivers through the room with a quote from Robbie Burns: ‘I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion/ Has broken Nature’s social union’, explaining how it compelled him to return to his family’s dairy farm and rebuild its connection with the natural world. Bryce painted a picture of how his transition to organic farming had led to the return of wildlife and soil health to his farm and convinced us that nature restoration and animal farming can go hand in hand.
Despite the panel being split between advocates of sustainable animal farming and change makers in the alternative protein space, there was a lot of consensus, especially on the fact that we need to drastically reduce our meat consumption in order to bring greenhouse gas emissions down to a safe level (and at the same time restoring biodiversity). We touched on the fact that intensively reared pigs and poultry were the biggest problem and we have a consumption epidemic in the UK - think highstreet chicken shops, ham sandwiches at lunch, cocktail sausages in the park and eggs in all those supermarket cakes we buy. Alicia Graham proposed that these are the kind of products that should be made in fermenting vats (not the premium cuts of meat we eat occasionally on special occasions).
Alicia provided a clear explanation of how precision fermentation works—a concept that was new to many in the room. In simple terms, microorganisms like yeast or bacteria are engineered with the DNA instructions to produce specific proteins found in meat or dairy, such as those in chicken or milk. These microorganisms are then cultivated in large fermentation tanks, where they multiply and produce the desired proteins. These proteins can serve as the foundation for highly realistic meat and dairy alternatives. Alicia also highlighted significant progress in markets like the US and Singapore, while noting that the UK still has substantial ground to cover in advancing this technology.
Image 3: Precision Fermentation - Planet A Ventures
Andy Shovel so vividly and viscerally described the unnecessary abuse of animals that happens in our farming system. He explained the need to lift the iron curtain on what goes on in industrial animal farming - from overfeeding chickens until they are on the verge of literally exploding, cutting off their beaks (which are essentially nerve-filled noses) in egg production, gassing pigs and hearing them squeal as they die and castrating lambs with elastic bands until their balls fall off (with no anaesthetic). Andy passionately argued that meat consumption was unnecessary and cruel and, whilst the other panelists did not necessarily agree with this point, they were all as horrified by these unnecessary practices as he was. It was so important to have Andy representing this perspective as it is far too easy for the horrific realities behind much of the meat that is consumed in this country to be disguised by clever marketing, clean plastic packaging and golden breadcrumbs.
This uncomfortable section was followed with Ben King’s more positive picture of poultry farming. He used their chicken supplier Sutton Hoo as an example of a different form of chicken husbandry, where birds are free to roam the fields and peck at worms and chestnuts. And most importantly, are left to live and grow for twice as long whilst not being overfed to the point of explosion. Bryce then talked us through his ‘cow with calf’ program that allows calves to stay with their mothers until they’re fully weaned (essentially humans share the mother’s milk with her baby) - it’s hard to argue compellingly why it should be any other way.
In the second half of the evening, our attention turned to SDGs #3 Good Health and Wellbeing, #2 Zero Hunger, and #10 Reduced Inequalities.
Figure 2: 3, 2 & 10 SDG short descriptions
Health is central to the future protein debate. While the WHO classifies processed meats as a class 1 carcinogen, meat alternatives have also come under scrutiny for their reliance on ultra-processed ingredients to mimic meat’s flavor and texture.
There’s also the argument that ‘real’ animal protein is vital for human health. It provides essential nutrients like vitamin B12, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids, many of which are challenging to replicate in alternative protein sources.
Globally, more than 600 million people are projected to face hunger by 2030. Climate change is driving crop failures, creating severe food shortages in some regions. As fertile land becomes increasingly scarce, tensions will rise between using it to grow crops for direct human consumption versus crops for animal feed.
But hunger isn’t an issue here in the UK, right? Wrong!
The average 5-year-old in the UK is shorter than their peers in nearly all other high-income countries. Women in the poorest areas of Britain live 8 years shorter than women in the richest areas. Meanwhile, food bank usage has risen significantly over the past decade.
In the UK, health, malnutrition, and inequality are deeply interconnected. The most affordable foods are often the most destructive to our health, and the rise of ultra-processed foods has created a paradox: a growing number of people who are both morbidly obese and severely malnourished.
I asked Andy whether it was possible to create ‘fake meat’ products without using ultra processed ingredients. The short answer was ‘no’ but he did highlight that, like animal agriculture, the UPF debate was in need of nuance. He argued that a low fat, low salt, high-protein meat alternative should not be compared to a McDonald’s Happy Meal.
Alicia explained how precision fermentation could help make alternative proteins such as Andy’s products healthier by engineering ingredients that would negate the need for emulsifiers and refined oils etc. She also claimed that fermented meat alternatives could provide the same nutritional value as real meat.
Our final area of discussion was the uncomfortable link between regeneratively farmed meat and dairy and food inequality. I quoted George Monbiot to Ben, Bryce and David: ‘We preach slow, regenerative food without recognizing that it might be impossible to universalize.’ and asked them how we can make responsibly farmed, sustainable meat and dairy available to everyone in society. David raised the fact that we spend £268 billion on food related disease in the UK and that it would cost only £67 billion to fix this. He hypothesised that perhaps the government should consider giving financial support to the poorest in society to buy sustainable and healthy food (a proportion of which would be high quality meat and dairy). Ben suggested that, by creating a supply chain fit for purpose and directing consumer demand to regenerative suppliers, market economics would work to bring the price of these products down. Bryce explained that by working with other local dairy farmers, he was able to bring the price of his milk down and that it was currently only 25% higher than conventionally farmed dairy.
I wish we’d had more time to explore this issue further as it’s a subject that I find difficult to resolve. None of the panellists’ answers fully convinced me that we can live in a world where scarce meat and dairy products (because we all agreed that production needs to be dramatically reduced) will be equally and fairly distributed throughout society. I am concerned that high welfare, sustainable and healthy animal products will end up in the hands and stomachs of the rich whilst the poor are left with processed meat alternatives that (until proven otherwise) lack the essential nutrients that are so key for many.
There was SO much we didn’t get to discuss. Below is a summary of what I would have raised if we had more time. Perhaps a part 2 is in order….
The use of feed additives such as Bovaer
The carbon load of precision fermentation
Mitigating water pollution on dairy and chicken farms
The reality that it may be impossible to convert our nation of fried chicken addicts to lentil fritters and whether processed meat alternatives are the lesser of 2 evils
Who will ‘own’ precision fermentation - the same handful of conglomerates who control the global meat and grain market (and have created so much instability and inequality in our food system) or can it be diversified into the small-holder, solar powered, micro brewery utopia painted by George Monbiot in his book Regenesis?
We finished with a delicious bowl of SpiceBox Tarka Dal and rice, and the discussion continued late into the evening!
A huge thank you to our amazing panelists, Fast Forward 2030, and Mission Kitchen for helping to make this event happen and to all of our attendees for making it a sell-out event!
Written by: Grace Regan, Founder and CEO at SpiceBox
Supported by: Sundas Gull and Sofia Mendzebrovska