Cultured Meat: Feeding the Masses

By the end of 2011, the world’s population is estimated to reach 7 billion people. According to the U.S Census Bureau and the United Nations Population Division, there will be 9.4 billion people by the year 2050. As the world population reaches these new heights, there will be an increasing demand for food production. With only a finite amount of agricultural land, there will be a point where it is no longer economically viable to raise cattle for meat. Instead, it may become cheaper to grow our future meat products in the laboratory under sterile conditions. While it might sound unsettling at first, there are many advantages to laboratory grown meat over conventionally farm-raised and slaughtered cattle.

For those who have been bitten by the “living green” bug, you might be interested to know that cultured meat may significantly reduce the energy requirements for meat production. Conventionally raised cattle require a massive amount of resources and produce significant environmental waste.

‘What our study found was that the environmental impacts of cultured meat could be substantially lower than those of meat produced in the conventional way,’ said Hanna Tuomisto of Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, who led the research. ‘Cultured meat could potentially be produced with up to 96% lower greenhouse gas emissions, 45% less energy, 99% lower land use, and 96% lower water use than conventional meat.’

Currently, the technology is still in its infancy and is therefore quite expensive. However, the price will undoubtedly decrease as the methods are honed. For those of us who are ethical carnivores, cultured meat solves many of the ethical issues associated with raising cattle for slaughter — like whether the cattle was pasture-raised, how the animal is killed, and how animals are treated throughout the entire life cycle.

Perhaps one of the most compelling reasons to pursue the development of this technology is the ability to produce food for populations in which other forms of agriculture are not viable. In drought and famine stricken areas, cultured meat could make a difference in the lives of people who are wasting away from starvation. Don’t forget — the world’s population is only 7 billion right now. How bad will it be when it’s 10 billion?

Update 9/12/2011: Interdisciplinary scientist organize in Gothenburg, Sweden in an effort to attract the attention of investors and others interested in advancing the technology.

Tagged in: agriculture, food production, food security, food shortage, public health, sustainability, urban agriculture