“By 2050, it is expected that our global population will be close to 10 billion people,” says Thomas King, CEO of Food Frontier. “We literally can’t feed the world using the methods that we’re using,'' he continues.
“There is a public opinion being raised against a lot of farming practices. That’s a good thing,” states Mark Post, a professor of physiology. “But those changes in practices will lead to more expensive meats. That’s where solutions like cultured meat come in, and offer [the] best of both worlds.”
You see, we need a large amount of crops to feed the animals. According to Post, for each kilo of cow, we need 8 kilos of crops. For each kilo of chicken, around 2.5 kilos. For each kilo of pig, somewhere in between. They also use 30% of the freshwater. In other words, before we get to eat their meat, we have to take care of them for a very long time. This is why scientists push for cultured meat, which they believe would be very much cheaper.
“This technology is extremely promising,” states Post. “If we really can reduce the amount of land we need for agriculture by 90%, freshwater by 90%, energy by about 60%, and probably elimination of 20% contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. This technology is going to change the world.”
Know more about this by reading the article and watching the video over at Nautil.us.
(Image Credit: Robert-Owen-Wahl/ Pixabay)