Smart money goes vegan. Veganism is teetering on the edge – dare we say it? – mainstream. Al Gore recently went vegan, Bill Clinton eats mostly plant-based foods, and references to veganism are almost ubiquitous in movies and TV shows.
Today, many companies are trying to create more sustainable products that do not use animal products. Public demand for such food is growing. But more importantly, the future of the planet may depend on such food.
Well-known high-profile investors such as Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams don’t just throw money around. If they’re giving money to budding companies, it’s worth looking into. They have recently invested a fair amount of money in a couple of new companies producing artificial meat and artificial eggs.
These influencers love to support start-ups with attractive potential, great ideals, and big ambitions. The promotion of plant-based nutrition provides all this and more.
Why we should switch to a sustainable plant-based diet
These investors understand that the planet cannot sustain the current level of factory farming for long. The problem is our addiction to meat, dairy and eggs, and it’s only going to get worse.
If you love animals, you must be disgusted by the terrible cruelty of today’s factory farms. Beautiful pastures, where animals roam, remained only in the memory of our grandfathers and grandmothers. Farmers simply cannot meet the huge demand for meat, eggs and milk with the old methods.
To make livestock profitable, chickens are caged so close together that they can’t spread their wings or even walk – ever. The piglets are placed in special cradles in which they cannot even turn around, their teeth and tails are removed without anesthesia so that they do not bite each other in a fit of rage or boredom. Cows are forced to become pregnant time after time to keep their milk flowing, and their newborn calves are taken away to be turned into veal.
If the plight of animals is not enough for you to switch to a plant-based diet, take a look at the statistics on the impact of animal husbandry on the environment. Statistics brings to life:
• 76 percent of all US farmland is used for livestock pasture. That’s 614 million acres of grassland, 157 million acres of public land, and 127 million acres of forest. • In addition, if you count the land on which animal feed is grown, it turns out that 97% of US farmland is used for livestock and poultry. • Animals raised for food produce 40000 kg of manure per second, causing severe groundwater pollution. • 30 percent of the entire surface of the Earth is used by animals. • 70 percent of the deforestation in the Amazon is due to land being cleared for pasture. • 33 percent of the world’s arable land is used solely for growing livestock feed. • More than 70% of the crop grown in the US is given to beef cattle. • 70% of the available water is used to grow crops, most of which goes to livestock, not people. • It takes 13 kilograms of grain to produce one kilogram of meat.
Despite all of the above, world meat production will skyrocket from 229 million tons in 2001 to 465 million tons by 2050, while milk production will increase from 580 million tons in 2001 to 1043 million tons by 2050.
“If we continue to follow current trends in the diet of Western countries, by 2050 there will not be enough water to grow food for a projected population of 9 billion people,” according to a 2012 report from the Stockholm International Water Institute.
Our current system simply cannot feed 9 billion people if we continue to eat meat, eggs and milk. Calculate and you will see: something needs to be changed, and very soon.
That’s why smart and wealthy investors are looking to companies that understand the impending crisis and offer solutions. They lead the way, paving the way for a plant-based future. Just look at these two examples.
Time to start a life Meatless (literal translation of the name of the company “Beyond Meat”) Beyond Meat aims to create an alternative protein that can compete with – and eventually, perhaps replace – animal protein. They are now producing realistic “chicken fingers” and will soon offer “beef”.
Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, was very impressed with the potential for alternative protein he saw in Beyond Meat, which is why he became an investor. “These guys didn’t approach the meat substitute business as something new or stupid,” says Stone at Fast Company Co. Exist. “They came from big science, very practical, with clear plans. They said, “We want to enter the multi-billion dollar meat industry with plant-based ‘meat.’
Once a few good, sustainable meat substitutes have a strong foothold in the market, perhaps the next step is to remove cows, chickens and pigs from the food chain? Yes please.
Incredible Edible Egg (Substitute)
Hampton Creek Foods wants to revolutionize egg production by making eggs unnecessary. At an early stage, it is clear that the development of a product that, by a strange coincidence, is called “Beyond Eggs” (“Without eggs”) is quite successful.
Interest in Hampton Creek Foods has skyrocketed since the 2012 investment conference. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Microsoft founder Bill Gates tasted two blueberry muffins. None of them could tell the difference between a normal cupcake and a cupcake made with Beyond Eggs. This fact bribed Gates, a fan of sustainable food. Now he is their investor.
Other major financial players are also betting on Hampton Creek Foods. The venture capital fund of Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla has invested a considerable amount of $ 3 million in the company. Another investor is Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal. The message is clear: the transition from animal to plant foods has begun, and the biggest investors know it. The egg industry is so concerned about the success of Beyond Eggs that it’s buying up Google ads that will show up when you search for Hampton Creek Foods, its products, or its employees. Scared? Correctly.
The future is plant-based if we are to have any chance of feeding everyone. Let’s hope people understand this in time.