From Chapter 7 (Farm Free) of Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet by George Monbiot
This was my favorite chapter in the book. It begins with Monbiot discussing the work of Pasi Vainikka, who is “building what might be the most important environmental technology ever developed” by simply brewing. His tool? Hydrogen-oxygenating bacterium.
During his visit to Pasi’s operation, Monbiot asks the team to make him a pancake, wanting “to be the first person outside the laboratory to eat one made from these bacteria.” Monbiot had tried various pancakes since switching to a plant-based diet but none were as satisfying as those with eggs. He was impressed with this one.
Monbiot, not accepting solutions lightly, feels very encourage by this process stating, “It represents, I believe, the beginning of the end of most agriculture.” I don’t believe there is a more powerful statement in the entire book. His reason for such strong feelings is that-
Comparing this protein process to the next most efficient agricultural method, soybean farming, one study estimated you’d need 1,700 times less land to grow it. The method does use electricity, “but while crops take months to grow, the bacteria in these tanks double every three hours. So, if you maintain good growth conditions, you can harvest half of them eight times a day, every day of the year.”
Also, with farm-free food, we could take agricultural land out of cultivation and rewild most of the land now used for farming. Another benefit would be that microbial flour can “be generated anywhere with an electricity supply, at roughly the same cost.’ This would make more protein accessible to those who often don’t get it due to poor distribution.
Monbiot sees many possibilities for the technology.
Referencing Bee Wilson’s book The Way We Eat Now, Monbiot points out that the reason for the massive global expansion of chicken production is because it is so bland it becomes a generic white protein that can be seasoned with an array of flavorings, crusts and sauces to create “an endless array of fast foods, ready made meals, stews, curries and stir fries.”
I’ve served plant based ‘chicken nuggets’ to friends without them noticing so I can attest this is true.
Imagine ending the suffering of the “66 billion chickens… slaughtered each year to produce this uniform protein.”
Also encouragingly, these bacterial production technologies could also replace palm oil, olive oil, and coconut oil.” That would be an incredible win for endangered ecosystems.
But how long will this ‘techno-ethical’ shift take to occur, away from livestock farming to bacterial proteins? “
I, for one, agree whole heartedly with Monbiot’s assertion that “in most respects, our response to the greatest crisis that humanity has ever faced has been narrow and timid. Where our thinking needs to be bold, complex, and holistic, it has been siloed, blinkered and incremental… our challenge is not to tinker with existing models, but to discover the feedback loops that push them past their tipping points.”
Of course, existing industries are not going to welcome this change. The meat industry has sought to hinder the plant based meat and milk industries in creative ways, “partly by banning any recognizable names for them…Vegan and vegetarian products would have to be. sold as ‘disks’ and ‘pucks.’
Sometimes those hindering change are gastronomes and environmental campaigners railing against ‘fake food.’
The speed of shift aside, the biggest issue I see is the danger Monbiot brings up — “that this revolution could be captured by big business, creating a system that replicates some of the faults and frailties of the Global Standard Farm. At the moment, corporations producing protein are consolidating and growing.” How can we assure that these technologies are used “fairly and openly?”
Monbiot proposed strong anti-trust laws and the restraint of intellectual property rights. “to the greatest extent possible, farm-free food should be open source. It’s a gift to the world, which arrives just as we need it most.”
By freeing up agricultural land, farm-free food could have tremendous effects. Age of Extinction make way for the the age of Regenesis!
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This post was previously published on Andrea O’Ferrall’s blog.
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