In April 2019, food innovator and TED Fellow Bruce Friedrich brought up noteworthy points in his talk "The Next Global Agricultural Revolution" about conventional meat production and its effect on the environment.

“In 2019, humanity received a warning: 30 of the world's leading scientists released the results of a massive three-year study into global agriculture and declared that meat production is destroying our planet and jeopardizing global health. One of the study's authors explained that ‘humanity now poses a threat to the stability of the planet ... [This requires] nothing less than a new global agricultural revolution.’”

With the ever-growing population, meat consumption is at an all-time high. It is predicted that by 2050, “we’re going to need to be producing 70 to 100 percent more meat,” says Friedrich. With the current unsustainable conventional meat production methods, he addresses the challenge before us—transforming the meat production system.

In this talk, Friedrich discusses his solutions to this problem, and how plant- and cell-based products could be the transformation the meat industry has been waiting for.

Watch the full TED Talk here.

On June 28, learn more about this topic by attending the FLFPC June Policy Committee Meeting where Tom Pellizzetti will be presenting observations and shared learnings about "Food Processing for Small Producers: Local and Regional Niche Meat Systems, Selling Channels, and Consumer Trends Driving Transformation." To learn more and register for the event, click here.