Posted yesterday at 10:00 a.m.
Vegetable protein is taking up more space in our lives. A simple trip to the grocery store gives a good idea of what’s going on right now. Although sales of traditional meats are doing well, those of plant-based protein products grew twice as much as sales of all other categories combined in 2021. The success of plant-based protein as a meat or dairy substitute reacts to traditional sectors such as beef, poultry, eggs and milk. Some of them even feel threatened, but this is only the beginning of a tangent.
The first revolution was marked by the industrial expansion of our economy as well as our desire to produce more animal protein in Canada. Producing meat, eggs and milk consistently while keeping affordability at the heart of the strategy had been evident since the end of the Second World War in every industrialized country, including Canada. We have supply management to make sure we produce what we need. This period has been going on for decades.
During this time, certain groups such as vegetarians and vegans assumed themselves on the margins of society, without making too much noise. Little by little, science too offered us a new vision on our food choices and on the way in which they influence our ecosystems. Our ambitions for a more egalitarian world, all over the place, guide many people to review their habits, their values, and of course, their relationship with food.
Thus, the second revolution began about ten years ago with the arrival in force of vegetable proteins. This market, marginalized for years, has quietly taken its place in restaurants and retail, essentially driven by the company Beyond Meat. The Californian company has demonstrated to the world that the mass marketing of vegetable protein is possible. Beyond Meat has always positioned itself as an alternative to beef and other meats well known and loved by most of us. This polarizing rhetoric offended many, exposing the company’s founders to harsh criticism.
This may be one of the reasons the company is struggling these days, but plant-based proteins continue to be popular with the backing of several new products on the market. These proteins are at the heart of this second revolution. Capital invested in the sector often comes from sources diametrically opposed to agriculture. The agri-food sector is opening up to other ways of seeing the world and considering our plates.
The third revolution, that of cellular agriculture, is already well underway. This revolution is no more and no less at the intersection of medicine and agriculture.
In 2021, according to GFI Analysis, nearly $3.5 billion was invested in plant-based protein projects. Meanwhile, last year, the amount of capital to fund cellular agriculture projects, including precision fermentation that could one day replace milk, topped $1 billion for the first time. The number of research projects in the field is exploding. In Canada, there are already 13 for the moment, but everything suggests that this number will increase.
Credit Suisse estimates that 61% of the protein market in the world will come from cellular agriculture by 2050. AT Karney, another firm, estimates that the 60% threshold will be reached by 2040, in less than two decades.
Cellular agriculture that eliminates animal exploitation has the potential to change the way we feed the 9 billion people we will have on the planet by 2050. Tailor-made foods, complemented by better-orchestrated production, sheltered from climatic scourges, offering more stable prices are coming within our reach.
Better synchronization of supply will certainly reduce waste and help those less fortunate. In addition, some claim that we will run out of agricultural land. With cellular agriculture, the opposite problem risks hanging over our heads. The occupation of the territory in rural areas will become the main issue in the coming decades.
Cellular agriculture has already been around for a few years. But redefining the role of protein in our lives allows us to dream and see what science can offer us in the long term.
A dairy industry without cows, a cattle sector without slaughterhouses, imagine… quite a tour de force!
The technology is there, and it’s only a matter of time before we get to a different market. Some will believe that we are distorting agriculture with this third revolution. However, with the demographic and climatic challenges looming over us, we don’t really have a choice.
In addition, the minds of consumers are also opening up. According to some estimates, nearly 40% of Canadians would be willing to try a food that was made in whole or in part in a laboratory. Just five years ago, estimates were around 10%. So the third protein revolution is well underway and Canadian consumers seem to know it very well.