The writing on the wall: The coming collapse of the industrial livestock industry

From 2012 to 2023, the costs of protein in the U.S. from cows vs. precision-biology food technology will reach parity, says independent think tank RethinkX. It will be a tipping point after which acceptance of modern foods will accelerate quickly, leaving the cattle industry effectively bankrupt by 2030 and five years later down to 10 percent of its current size. This "protein disruption" will be followed by the collapse of a wide range of related and supporting industries by 2035, it will be, according to the researchers, "the deepest, fastest, most consequential disruption in food and agricultural production since the first domestication of plants and animals ten thousand years ago. "RethinkX's startling predictions are published in a report released September 16 titled "Rethinking Food and Agriculture 2020-2030 — The Second Domestication of Plants and Animals, the Disruption of the Cow, and the Collapse of Industrial Livestock Farming." The ramifications, the group says, will be profound, far-reaching, and overwhelmingly positive, affecting people everywhere. In sum, things are about to change. Big time...Moving food production to the molecular level promises a more efficient means of feeding ourselves and the delivery of superior, cleaner nutrients without the unhealthy chemical/antibiotic/insecticide additives required by current industrial means of production. RethinkX says, "Each ingredient will serve a specific purpose, allowing us to create foods with the exact attributes we desire in terms of nutritional profile, structure, taste, texture, and functional qualities." Even better, the report predicts that future food will be "more nutritious, tastier, and more convenient with much greater variety." RethinkX coins a term for a worldwide informational platform serving future food production: "Food-as-Software." It consists of databases of engineered molecules, molecular cookbooks, if you will, that allow for decentralized, stable, and resilient production anywhere — RethinkX cites "fermentation farms" even in densely populated areas. It will provide a means for the continual reiteration and perfection of food molecules. It will also signify a "move from a centralized system dependent on scarce resources to a distributed system based on abundant resources."...MORE 

The report looks at the economic, environmental, social and geopolitical impacts of such a transformation. Here are their predicted economic impacts:

• PF foods and products will be at least 50 percent, and as much as 80 percent, lower as current products. This will result in substantial savings for individuals. The average U.S. family will save $1,200 a year, adding up to $100 billion a year for the nation by 2030.

• The revenues of the U.S. beef and dairy industry and their suppliers will decline by at least 50 percent by 2030, and in 2035 by nearly 90 percent. The other livestock and fishery industries will follow.

• The volume of cattle feed crops required in the U.S. will fall by 50 percent by 2030. Revenues for cattle feed will therefore fall by more than 50 percent.

• Farmland values will collapse by 40–80 percent, with regional variations dependent upon alternate uses and other variables.

• Countries heavily invested in animal-product production will suffer significant economic shocks. An example would be Brazil, where 21 percent of GDP is derived from such industries.

• Oil demand from the agriculture industry in the U.S. for production and transportation will largely disappear.

You can download the report here.

The report doesn't say what will happen to all those enviro groups who spend most of their time and money attacking ag producers.

If all this were to become reality, and I was unfortunate enough to still be around, the name of this blog would change from THE WESTERNER to THE FERMENTER!...yuck