The renewable energy changes and policy

[DIY-HP-LED]

Can the world rely on renewable energy? | Future Earth | BBC News

What are the challenges the world faces in the transition to renewable energy – and what are the possible solutions?

The BBC's Carl Nasman learns about the US' first 100% renewable-powered city; the world’s largest solar farm; and the research project literally getting energy from thin air.

This is episode three of Future Earth, a series exploring today’s most important developments in climate science and sustainability.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

His opinion seems relevant...

Limits to Growth for Precision Fermentation

With concerns mounting about the biodiversity crisis, precision fermentation and cultured meats offer an enticing solution.

Proponents argue that culturing mammalian cells and fermenting macronutrients with gene edited yeast can decrease the land footprint of agriculture by 1000 times all while eliminating animal cruelty.

Skeptics like Dr. Paul Wood question whether the Moore’s law style expectations of cost reductions apply to biological systems and the scalability of these technologies.

Will precision fermentation feed billions of new hungry mouths in Africa and Asia or remain a niche product for eco-conscious wealthy elites?

 

[Fogdog]

I’m less skeptical despite my own preference. The younger generations are willing to go to further lengths, not bad is their like.

When are you going to join the foodie thread in TnT?

After having a visit, probably not. I'm not really a foodie, I'm just a student.

As I age, I find that my dietary needs and preferences change. What doesn't change is that what I eat must be delicious. What is delicious to me isn't the same as what other people consider delicious. I find that my preference for vegetarian meals that center on vegetables and grain is growing, though I like a good pot roast or steak as much as anybody my age does. Canna seems to find Indian food repugnant. That is his choice. I don't know what he finds so repulsive but there can be no argument if that is what he says. As they say, there is no accounting for taste.

Over time, what people eat and how it is prepared has changed too. The celebration of meat and fat found on the TNT foodie thread is notable. I'm guessing the people who post there are all over 40. The tastes of younger people aren't any less in quality or quantity, just different. Well-made not-from-package mac and cheese, for example, is the holiday meal of choice for many millennials. Pizza is the star of some meals. Indian take-out is a safe choice for an impromptu family meal because there one can find good vegan and meaty dishes. But I think the emphasis on meat is diminishing among the young in the US.

Getting back to how I went off on a tangent about the practicality of fungus instead of cow burgers. Or steaks. This thread says its about renewable energy changes and policy. Due to the expense in how they are made, fungus-made vegan steaks will never become important when it comes to feeding the world and so it will never be part of the answer to a green revolution that must include changes in how we eat. The report that DIY posted comes from efforts to drum up cash by entrepreneurs who are looking for start-up funding, not green solutions to the problems presented by so-called conventional farming practices that account for about a quarter of carbon emissions.

The answers to how to feed the world are not going to be found in Silicon Valley, where those fungus steaks are being grown. The answers are already out there and can be found in the third world. The problem with peasant food, including the shudder-inducing brown lentil is not that it tastes bad. The problem is that peasant food is monotonous. Or that it was not prepared well. I've found that from Mexico to China to India to the Middle East to Italy and the US deep south, from Russia to Brazil and yes, even in NL, there are answers to the problem of monotony in peasant food. Preparing food well is a not a technical or economic matter. Its a matter of time and inclination.

 

[cannabineer]

After having a visit, probably not. I'm not really a foodie, I'm just a student.

As I age, I find that my dietary needs and preferences change. What doesn't change is that what I eat must be delicious. What is delicious to me isn't the same as what other people consider delicious. I find that my preference for vegetarian meals that center on vegetables and grain is growing, though I like a good pot roast or steak as much as anybody my age does. Canna seems to find Indian food repugnant. That is his choice. I don't know what he finds so repulsive but there can be no argument if that is what he says. As they say, there is no accounting for taste.

Over time, what people eat and how it is prepared has changed too. The celebration of meat and fat found on the TNT foodie thread is quaint. I'm guessing the people who post there are all over 40. The tastes of younger people aren't any less in quality or quantity, just different. Well-made not-from-package mac and cheese, for example, is the holiday meal of choice for many millennials. Pizza is the star of some meals. Indian take-out is a safe choice for an impromptu family meal because there one can find good vegan and meaty dishes. But I think the emphasis on meat is diminishing among the young in the US.

Getting back to how I went off on a tangent about the practicality of fungus instead of cow burgers. Or steaks. This thread says its about renewable energy changes and policy. Due to the expense in how they are made, fungus-made vegan steaks will never become important when it comes to feeding the world and so it will never be part of the answer to a green revolution that must include changes in how we eat. The report that DIY posted comes from efforts to drum up cash by entrepreneurs who are looking for start-up funding, not green solutions to the problems presented by so-called conventional farming practices that account for about a third of carbon emissions.

The answers to how to feed the world are not going to be found in Silicon Valley, where those fungus steaks are being grown. The answers are already out there and can be found in the third world. The problem with peasant food, including the shudder-inducing brown lentil is not that it tastes bad. The problem is that peasant food is monotonous. Or that it was not prepared well. I've found that from Mexico to China to India to the Middle East to Italy and the US deep south, from Russia to Brazil and yes, even in NL, there are answers to the problem of monotony in peasant food. Preparing food well is a not a technical or economic matter. Its a matter of time and inclination.

I would choose otherwise. I cannot deny my peculiar tastes. Why shut myself off to an experience many love, without reason? My dislike of Indian flavors is not considered. It’s visceral and beyond my reasonable reach.

Please know I don’t disparage Indian or vegetarian cuisine. It’s just not for me. I won’t be a wrench in the works forever.

 

[Fogdog]

I would choose otherwise. I cannot deny my peculiar tastes. Why shut myself off to an experience many love, without reason? My dislike of Indian flavors is not considered. It’s visceral and beyond my reasonable reach.

Please know I don’t disparage Indian or vegetarian cuisine. It’s just not for me. I won’t be a wrench in the works forever.

That is why the saying "there is no accounting for taste" is spot on. It is not something one can account for. My choice in words was inaccurate. Either a person likes something or they don't or something in between but it's not a matter of choice. Taste, smell, texture, sensitivity to bitter or sour, they all are factors that do not reduce to simple solutions.

When I cook for a gathering, I want people to tell me what they like and dislike so that my food can be welcoming and inclusive. Depending on the Venn diagram for who likes or can eat what, there are often areas between people that do not intersect. I might have to make a few extra dishes but the goal is to please and to bring people together, because that is the heart of a good family meal.

 

[cannabineer]

That is why the saying "there is no accounting for taste" is spot on. It is not something one can account for. My choice in words was inaccurate. Either a person likes something or they don't or something in between but it's not a matter of choice. Taste, smell, texture, sensitivity to bitter or sour, they all are factors that do not reduce to simple solutions.

When I cook for a gathering, I want people to tell me what they like and dislike so that my food can be welcoming and inclusive. Depending on the Venn diagram for who likes or can eat what, there are often areas between people that do not intersect. I might have to make a few extra dishes but the goal is to please and to bring people together, because that is the heart of a good family meal.

Thank you.

 

[Sativied]

I appreciate the elaborate coherent post.

The report that DIY posted comes from efforts to drum up cash by entrepreneurs who are looking for start-up funding, not green solutions to the problems presented by so-called conventional farming practices that account for about a third of carbon emissions.

I mentioned something similar regarding the batter technologies in the climate change thread, so yeah. I don't understand they whole admiration for perceived prophetic abilities either. Anyway, regardless, that doesn't dismiss PF, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, considering the parties involved, it sure seems inevitable. The race is on and the demand is higher than the supply. Both will increase, the only question is how far and how fast.

I said it before in this thread, can't speak for American millennials, but the ones here, and younger generation - aside from the ones who went nazi of course - will be all over it. It's not the quality and quantity difference, it whether it's green or involves murdering animals. I hope to live long enough till I order 'the dead animal version, please' and get a snarky comment or dissaproving look at least. Boomers had an excuse, their parents went through war. What excuse do we have for killing 2million cows a year, 16 million pigs, and over 600million barely-chickens in just NL. It's barbarous. Or will be at least. (Personally I'm not talking about hunting food, I'm talking about mega meat factories).

Obviously, this is from my perspective, which is from dairy country, and, after the US, NL is the largest exporter of agricultural product on the globe. That alone should tell you something about how much things needs to change (US is 237 larger than NL). We're effectively a single point of failure. If we flood, get nuked, produce more 'effective' bird flu or other virus strains, everyone dies it would have dramatic global effects. The little nature we have is dying because of nitrogen excess, because of cows and chicken and pigs and goats. Can't build houses for the same reason, can't house immigrants or children still living at their parents at 30 because of that, nazis getting elected because of that. On top of all that export, we import a shitload too. On top of that, the population is expected to grow with millions more.

After having a visit, probably not. I'm not really a foodie, I'm just a student.

It's true what you say about the appreciation of meat in the TnT thread but that's really just one aspect of it and the bacon is more a running joke sort of thing. The reason I started cooking and indirectly join the thread is what you covered in your post already, "peasant food is monotonous or not prepared well". Well that sums it up. I went on about how typical dutch food sucks and all... While I post a lot of meat and chicken and fish dishes myself, I don't come anywhere near the average of meat intake for NL. More than meat the thread in TnT appreciated food, recipes, history. I noticed you posting interesting recipes over the years, wouldn't not mind seeing pics.

Now one of the great things about PF: endless variety. It won't just match texture, it will be better. It won't just match taste, it will be much better. It won't be as nutritious, it'll be much better. It won't be as cheap as they predict, but it will be far more affordable than animal-based products by then. Even without any climate benefits it would end up being normalized.

It's only the resulting poo of that 'fungus' that matters, which "depends on its genetic makeup. They [for decades already] can be alcohols; also proteins, fats and enzymes are within this range. Like n-butanol (used in the production of artificial rubber), penicillin, citric acid, a number of amino acids and vitamins like C, B2, B12 and D2."

Genetically modified, it can and will serve us very well.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

The video interview I just posted is the best argument against cell-based meats I've seen and raises serious and legitimate concerns. Even for fermented proteins there are issues, but if there is a buck in it big food will do it at least for fermenting using yeast which seems to be cost effective. It adds perspective to the RethinkX food report and outlook in general that I call the gospel of green.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

I'm starting to come back to where I was originality at with RethinkX and what I call the Gospel of green. I think he got it largely right on solar and will be right on EVS and batteries. I largely agree with automation robotics and AI taking a lot of jobs over the next 20 years. However, I think they applied their analysis methodology to the wrong thing, and it is flawed when it comes to biotechnology and issues with scale, particularly of cultured meats. PF looks like a winner for simple proteins and lipids among other food ingredients and "fillers", it seems scalable. The food industry is its own animal as it were, and the lessons of other technology might not apply. We will see where it ends up in 2030 which is not too far away, Seba's predictions will be put to the test before then and they promise interim reports. Prophesy is risky business, but if you get it right, you can make a buck, more often you fall on your face!

Don't sell the farm just yet!

 

[Drop That Sound]

Brain implants & nano tech booster shots will eventually be able to alter your taste buds, and mask your senses from otherwise unappealing foods. Make ze bug burgers taste zupurb!

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

In thinking about it, if cultured meat ever does break into the market it will probably be with some food that tastes like a dream and costs a fortune, dinoburger, endangered species or even Dodo bird. Like Tesla and the other auto makers they shoot for the luxury market first, the high end and those who can afford the bleeding edge and it will be expensive. There are many approaches to making this shit from fungus to cell culture and combinations of other things. You can't look at energy efficiencies of protein production in these things without taking a lot of factors into consideration. Market forces rule in this industry as in all others and production costs count when trying to outperform the basic cow for milk production. Your basic solar powered plant that grows on dirt is harder to beat, but easy to genetically modify and that is a whole other kettle of fish.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

Brain implants & nano tech booster shots will eventually be able to alter your taste buds, and mask your senses from otherwise unappealing foods. Make ze bug burgers taste zupurb!

Eat shit and smile, gimme more!

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

I think I can put that RethinkX report to bed for a spell, if it won't address industrial livestock farming and fisheries, then cell cultured meat won't have much of an environmental or economic impact by 2030 or even 2035. An engineering dive into the problems of contamination, scale and a host of other issues reveals there are serious problems with ending livestock agriculture using this methodology. Even in dairy there are issues in replacing cow's milk with individual proteins when there is a half dozen required with lipids to even come close. Still a kilogram of whey protein for body builders' costs $60 retail and casein for cheese would be useful to the industrial food folks. There are many possibilities to make a buck in the industry and replace certain natural products and 10 years is a very long time for technological evolution and iterative improvement these days. Biotechnology has a lot of promise though and self-replicating organisms hold much potential and hazard. Cell based culture might be hard to scale, but genetically modified macro-organisms like plants are not so hard to scale.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

Another possibility for scaling meat and fish production is to use macroscopic organisms, more complete, tougher organisms than just raw cells, they might even be microscopic. It would really be just farming something else, but it tastes like beef or pork when processed and contains a more complete protein profile and structures. Trying to use mammalian cells in a sterile culture means you only grow one kind of cell and meat is made from many different cell types. Going to something with an immune system of sorts like a basic animal or a yeast or variation of it can help with scaling and other issues by allowing a form of fermentation or aquaculture.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

Maybe a good place to start with cultured meat is a genetically modified sponge grown in an aquaculture like medium that is pumped through the organisms.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

Thinking about meat and fish production and scaling things, it might be useful to follow nature and have big organisms eat little organisms like plankton and have basically sea water as your medium though it might be sterilized. Raw solar and or PV with LEDs could power it and those things like cold or reasonable temps. The bigger organisms are genetically modified to taste the way you want when processed and most of them tastes the way you want, provides a high yield and provides structure. Life evolved in the sea and much of it is solar powered with big things eating little things for hundreds of millions of years. If we are ever to scale meat production and make those utopian dreams come true, it will likely not be by mammalian cell culture. The sea would be one possible approach simplifying the media and expanding the conditions for production by using aquacultural methodologies, or just grow fish, maybe ones that taste like cows!

 

[Fogdog]

Thinking about meat and fish production and scaling things, it might be useful to follow nature and have big organisms eat little organisms like plankton and have basically sea water as your medium though it might be sterilized. Raw solar and or PV with LEDs could power it and those things like cold or reasonable temps. The bigger organisms are genetically modified to taste the way you want when processed and most of them tastes the way you want, provides a high yield and provides structure. Life evolved in the sea and much of it is solar powered with big things eating little things for hundreds of millions of years. If we are ever to scale meat production and make those utopian dreams come true, it will likely not be by mammalian cell culture. The sea would be one possible approach simplifying the media and expanding the conditions for production by using aquacultural methodologies, or just grow fish, maybe ones that taste like cows!

So, let's turn this argument on its head. Instead of trying to explain how mushroom meat can solve food production issues, let's look at the food production crisis and ask how hyphae heifers can help?

How much land is needed for global food production under scenarios of dietary changes and livestock productivity increases in 2030?

Growing global population figures and per-capita incomes imply an increase in food demand and pressure to expand agricultural land. Agricultural expan…

www.sciencedirect.com

.

Still-growing global population figures and per-capita incomes and the need to decrease undernourishment imply increased pressure on the global food supply system. This amplifies the risk of further expansion of agricultural land into forests and other land with high biodiversity values. In addition, if stringent policies aimed at curbing climatic change are implemented – by substantially increasing the cost of emitting carbon dioxide (CO2) through taxes or emissions cap and trade schemes – demand for biomass for energy purposes is likely to increase dramatically (Gielen et al., 2003, van Vuuren et al., 2004).

Put otherwise, in order to decrease undernourishment that is a problem today and will get worse as the world population grows, more land will be needed to be converted from carbon sequestering land (e.g. forests, peat bogs, wetlands) and into carbon emitting purposes -- agriculture. What does this have to do with myco-moo cows?

https://humaneherald.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/production-of-foods-per-acre.pdf

How many pounds of grain can one acre produce? - Good in Every Grain

How many pounds of grain can one acre produce? Grain is typically measured in tonnage not pounds due to the largest amount grown each year!

goodineverygrain.ca

Land that is used to produce beef does so at a rate of 150 lb/acre.
Land that is used to produce vegetables does so at a rate of 32,000 lb/acre.
Land that is used to produce grain does so at a rate of about 4,000 lb/acre.

So, every 150 lb of fungus based fake beef (assuming it's of acceptable quality) frees up an acre that can produce 20 times more weight in grain or 200 times more weight in vegetables. Of course it's more complicated than this but to me it makes more sense when put this way. Poor people of the world don't eat beef mainly because they can't afford it. So, I can see now why this tech fills a need. Feed beef eaters with this stuff and free land up for more productive uses. US Americans ate 50 Billion pounds of beef last year. Even a 10% bite of this number equal 5 B pounds of beef

that frees up 33 million acres for growing 1,560 Billion pounds of vegetables
or 132 million pounds of grain.
and leaves 33 million acres in trust for preserving wildlife and sequestering carbon.

So, go forth, Silicon Valley Vulture Capitalist. Figure out how to feed the frat boys their corn dogs or whatever other use you can find for mushroom meat.

Free the land.

You've probably been saying this all along and I just didn't get it. But I do now. I'm a believer, DIY.

 

[Fogdog]

I appreciate the elaborate coherent post.


I mentioned something similar regarding the batter technologies in the climate change thread, so yeah. I don't understand they whole admiration for perceived prophetic abilities either. Anyway, regardless, that doesn't dismiss PF, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, considering the parties involved, it sure seems inevitable. The race is on and the demand is higher than the supply. Both will increase, the only question is how far and how fast.

I said it before in this thread, can't speak for American millennials, but the ones here, and younger generation - aside from the ones who went nazi of course - will be all over it. It's not the quality and quantity difference, it whether it's green or involves murdering animals. I hope to live long enough till I order 'the dead animal version, please' and get a snarky comment or dissaproving look at least. Boomers had an excuse, their parents went through war. What excuse do we have for killing 2million cows a year, 16 million pigs, and over 600million barely-chickens in just NL. It's barbarous. Or will be at least. (Personally I'm not talking about hunting food, I'm talking about mega meat factories).

Obviously, this is from my perspective, which is from dairy country, and, after the US, NL is the largest exporter of agricultural product on the globe. That alone should tell you something about how much things needs to change (US is 237 larger than NL). We're effectively a single point of failure. If we flood, get nuked, produce more 'effective' bird flu or other virus strains, everyone dies it would have dramatic global effects. The little nature we have is dying because of nitrogen excess, because of cows and chicken and pigs and goats. Can't build houses for the same reason, can't house immigrants or children still living at their parents at 30 because of that, nazis getting elected because of that. On top of all that export, we import a shitload too. On top of that, the population is expected to grow with millions more.


It's true what you say about the appreciation of meat in the TnT thread but that's really just one aspect of it and the bacon is more a running joke sort of thing. The reason I started cooking and indirectly join the thread is what you covered in your post already, "peasant food is monotonous or not prepared well". Well that sums it up. I went on about how typical dutch food sucks and all... While I post a lot of meat and chicken and fish dishes myself, I don't come anywhere near the average of meat intake for NL. More than meat the thread in TnT appreciated food, recipes, history. I noticed you posting interesting recipes over the years, wouldn't not mind seeing pics.

Now one of the great things about PF: endless variety. It won't just match texture, it will be better. It won't just match taste, it will be much better. It won't be as nutritious, it'll be much better. It won't be as cheap as they predict, but it will be far more affordable than animal-based products by then. Even without any climate benefits it would end up being normalized.

It's only the resulting poo of that 'fungus' that matters, which "depends on its genetic makeup. They [for decades already] can be alcohols; also proteins, fats and enzymes are within this range. Like n-butanol (used in the production of artificial rubber), penicillin, citric acid, a number of amino acids and vitamins like C, B2, B12 and D2."

Genetically modified, it can and will serve us very well.

I'll take another look at TNT. Food and food history are topics of interest for me.

You pose an interesting idea that fungus tanks might be useful for making new flavors or other food additives that are better than the ones we use today. As I said in an earlier post, another way to view fungus meat (if it's accepted on a wider scale), it puts land into more productive uses, such as growing grain or vegetables. Every 150 pounds of PF frees up one acre of land for producing more of something other than beef. Of course, the devil is in the details but with more people coming into this world over the next ten years comes more demand for nutrition and there are already too many people experiencing undernourishment at this time.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

So, let's turn this argument on its head. Instead of trying to explain how mushroom meat can solve food production issues, let's look at the food production crisis and ask how hyphae heifers can help?

How much land is needed for global food production under scenarios of dietary changes and livestock productivity increases in 2030?

Growing global population figures and per-capita incomes imply an increase in food demand and pressure to expand agricultural land. Agricultural expan…

www.sciencedirect.com

.

Still-growing global population figures and per-capita incomes and the need to decrease undernourishment imply increased pressure on the global food supply system. This amplifies the risk of further expansion of agricultural land into forests and other land with high biodiversity values. In addition, if stringent policies aimed at curbing climatic change are implemented – by substantially increasing the cost of emitting carbon dioxide (CO2) through taxes or emissions cap and trade schemes – demand for biomass for energy purposes is likely to increase dramatically (Gielen et al., 2003, van Vuuren et al., 2004).

Put otherwise, in order to decrease undernourishment that is a problem today and will get worse as the world population grows, more land will be needed to be converted from carbon sequestering land (e.g. forests, peat bogs, wetlands) and into carbon emitting purposes -- agriculture. What does this have to do with myco-moo cows?

https://humaneherald.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/production-of-foods-per-acre.pdf

How many pounds of grain can one acre produce? - Good in Every Grain

How many pounds of grain can one acre produce? Grain is typically measured in tonnage not pounds due to the largest amount grown each year!

goodineverygrain.ca

Land that is used to produce beef does so at a rate of 150 lb/acre.
Land that is used to produce vegetables does so at a rate of 32,000 lb/acre.
Land that is used to produce grain does so at a rate of about 4,000 lb/acre.

So, every 150 lb of fungus based fake beef (assuming it's of acceptable quality) frees up an acre that can produce 20 times more weight in grain or 200 times more weight in vegetables. Of course it's more complicated than this but to me it makes more sense when put this way. Poor people of the world don't eat beef mainly because they can't afford it. So, I can see now why this tech fills a need. Feed beef eaters with this stuff and free land up for more productive uses. US Americans ate 50 Billion pounds of beef last year. Even a 10% bite of this number equal 5 B pounds of beef

that frees up 33 million acres for growing 1,560 Billion pounds of vegetables
or 132 million pounds of grain.
and leaves 33 million acres in trust for preserving wildlife and sequestering carbon.

So, go forth, Silicon Valley Vulture Capitalist. Figure out how to feed the frat boys their corn dogs or whatever other use you can find for mushroom meat.

Free the land.

You've probably been saying this all along and I just didn't get it. But I do now. I'm a believer, DIY.

I was looking for skepticism of the rethinkx food report and found a good source, but it was strangely hard to find. It seemed a fantastical idea to me, and I casually checked it out. I was looking for specific professional criticism of why cell-based culture would not scale, and I agree with it. There may be alternative production methods possible, however. This tech will be big and the larger it becomes the faster the pace of change and the more unpredictable it becomes. I think Seba might have gone a model too far, this is not like other high tech, but I'll still keep an eye on it and see if they have an interim report where they pull their horns in a bit on cultured meat. The implications were so profound for the environment and politics I had to check it out and make sure!

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

So, let's turn this argument on its head. Instead of trying to explain how mushroom meat can solve food production issues, let's look at the food production crisis and ask how hyphae heifers can help?

How much land is needed for global food production under scenarios of dietary changes and livestock productivity increases in 2030?

Growing global population figures and per-capita incomes imply an increase in food demand and pressure to expand agricultural land. Agricultural expan…

www.sciencedirect.com

.

Still-growing global population figures and per-capita incomes and the need to decrease undernourishment imply increased pressure on the global food supply system. This amplifies the risk of further expansion of agricultural land into forests and other land with high biodiversity values. In addition, if stringent policies aimed at curbing climatic change are implemented – by substantially increasing the cost of emitting carbon dioxide (CO2) through taxes or emissions cap and trade schemes – demand for biomass for energy purposes is likely to increase dramatically (Gielen et al., 2003, van Vuuren et al., 2004).

Put otherwise, in order to decrease undernourishment that is a problem today and will get worse as the world population grows, more land will be needed to be converted from carbon sequestering land (e.g. forests, peat bogs, wetlands) and into carbon emitting purposes -- agriculture. What does this have to do with myco-moo cows?

https://humaneherald.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/production-of-foods-per-acre.pdf

How many pounds of grain can one acre produce? - Good in Every Grain

How many pounds of grain can one acre produce? Grain is typically measured in tonnage not pounds due to the largest amount grown each year!

goodineverygrain.ca

Land that is used to produce beef does so at a rate of 150 lb/acre.
Land that is used to produce vegetables does so at a rate of 32,000 lb/acre.
Land that is used to produce grain does so at a rate of about 4,000 lb/acre.

So, every 150 lb of fungus based fake beef (assuming it's of acceptable quality) frees up an acre that can produce 20 times more weight in grain or 200 times more weight in vegetables. Of course it's more complicated than this but to me it makes more sense when put this way. Poor people of the world don't eat beef mainly because they can't afford it. So, I can see now why this tech fills a need. Feed beef eaters with this stuff and free land up for more productive uses. US Americans ate 50 Billion pounds of beef last year. Even a 10% bite of this number equal 5 B pounds of beef

that frees up 33 million acres for growing 1,560 Billion pounds of vegetables
or 132 million pounds of grain.
and leaves 33 million acres in trust for preserving wildlife and sequestering carbon.

So, go forth, Silicon Valley Vulture Capitalist. Figure out how to feed the frat boys their corn dogs or whatever other use you can find for mushroom meat.

Free the land.

You've probably been saying this all along and I just didn't get it. But I do now. I'm a believer, DIY.

With the global standard of living rising and people's taste's evolving and their taste for meat increasing, we must find an alternative for livestock agriculture and fisherman are the last of the hunter gathers. The fellows in the recent video I posted who reviewed the topic mentioned the Silicon Vally attitude and I noticed it myself in some of the interviews with the people involved in the industry. Because of the accuracy of his past technological predictions, he apparently has fans (for now) in the tech industry, but in this case his crystal ball may be clouded. His ideas on energy Evs and batteries should not be ignored and while robotaxis might catch on, people will still want to own their own car.