Who Says Cows Aren't Making Meat Better?

According to Impossible Foods' 2019 Impact Report,  "Cows aren’t getting any better at making meat". I beg to differ.

For instance, consider Brad Johnson's work at Texas Tech related to increasing marbling and healthy fats without increasing unhealthy backfat while also reducing time on feed. Or like the research in beef genetics and air quality and emissions at U.C. Davis.

Its not just theory. In 2007 compared to 1977 we were able to produce the same amount of beef using roughly 30% fewer cattle and 30% less land. Feed and and water usage were down between 15-20% with a 16% lower carbon footprint (Capper, 2007). All in all, based on full lifecycle analysis, U.S. beef consumption accounts for less than .5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Cows are making meat better across a number of dimensions including taste, health, and the environment. And these technologies don't require scaling up 100 fold or doubling every year for the next 16 years.


See also the BEEF and LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY posts at my companion blog, Economic Sense.

References: 

Texas Tech University. "Increasing marbling in beef without increasing overall fatness." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 May 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160505223115.htm>.

J. L. Capper, The environmental impact of beef production in the United States: 1977 compared with 2007, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 89, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 4249–4261, https://doi.org/10.2527/jas.2010-3784