How will a post-animal food system include the farmers that helped fuel human progress to date?
When I try to envision the world after animal farming, I often ponder the transitions and stakeholders involved and question what is the most equitable and inclusive path. Below, I highlight three organizations that are thinking critically about the role of farmers as we shift away from animal agriculture.
Each organization is quite different, and I find their approaches thought-provoking for anyone interested in the alt-protein and dairy space.
Plant Based Cheese
After transitioning to a plant-based diet, Brad Vanstone did not have much trouble finding alternatives to products like meat and milk. To his surprise, Brad could not find plant-based cheese that held up to the dairy cheese he loved.
So, he started making plant-based cheese as a hobby. After rave reviews from friends in Amsterdam, Brad realized this fun side project had the potential for something much bigger.
Thus, Plant Based Cheese was born. The products have been so popular that Plant Based Cheese is launching in grocery stores this year, and the team has already received requests from all over the world. Plant Based Cheese’s products include fondue, parmesan, and cheese sauce with gorgonzola, ricotta and goat cheese in development.
Here are a few reasons I’m excited about Plant Based Cheese’s work (besides its delicious products) :
- Plant Based Cheese hopes to team up with dairy farmers to make the transition to a plant-based food system inclusive and accessible.
- Ethical and sustainable supply chains are Plant Based Cheese’s priority. The team is working with a network of farmers that use regenerative practices.
- We know that cutting out cheese from cows can be one of the most challenging aspects of veganism. So, Plant Based Cheese is working on a cheese that is a blend of cow and plant-based dairy to help customers transition or consume fewer animal products.
- Action requires awareness. Plant Based Cheese wants to educate people that not all plant-based diets are created equally! Plant Based Cheese is working to shine a light on the importance of sourcing products like nuts sustainably. On its website, Plant Based Cheese calls out the cashew industry on sending cashews from East Africa to Vietnam just to be shelled (???) then back to East Africa for sales and distribution.
- Plant Based Cheese wants to do what Oatly did with alternative dairy! Which means better products and better branding.
- On its website, Plant Based Cheese describes plans to lobby for subsidies for plant-based goods and the use of dairy wording and phrases.
When Brad and I spoke, he shared that the philosophy driving the Plant Based Cheese is “not to do less harm, but more good.”
The Protein Farm
Another Netherlands-based project!
Ira Van Eelen is the daughter of William Van Eelen, the godfather of cultivated meat, and she has also forged a significant path in this space. I worked with her to organize the most recent Alternative Protein and Dairy Show in Amsterdam.
Ira is passionate about including farmers in the conversation. She’s creating The Protein Farm to give animal farmers the tools transition to other forms of protein production. TPF will challenge people to consider how traditional knowledge and high tech can be blended. Ira is teaming up with Ruud Zanders, founder of Kipster, a Dutch egg farm that has achieved carbon neutrality, and Claudia Deken, founder of Plant Based Sushi.
A description of The Protein Farm that Claudia shared with me:
“ At The Protein Farm(TPF) we intend on putting farmers in the driving seat, allowing them the possibility to be a part of the future of food and educating them on how they can stay relevant in this changing industry. TPF will be located on a farm in the Netherlands, where we will host not only a research centre where we will answer the questions that farmers have with respect to cultivated meat but also culture our own meat. Next to this, we will have a restaurant which will offer cooking classes, tastings and events for the promotion of cultivated meat. Our goal is to encourage farmers to start refinding their skills to be apart of the future, we are looking for farmers who identify as food producers in society not as just farmers.”
TPF is a way for us to envision multiple futures of protein and to further this dialogue outside of just the food tech circles.
The Farm Transformation Institute
The Farm Transformation Institute (FTI) is a Farm Information Hub that incentivizes farmers to shift away from industrial animal agriculture, assisting them throughout the transition, toward a healthy and sustainable future for all.
Janabai Owens, the founder of FTI is building an ecosystem. The Farm Transformation Institute recognizes that when creating a plant-based food system, we want to engage as many stakeholders as possible. FTI focuses on providing farmers with research, solutions and financial support so that they have a support system when shifting away from animal agriculture.
FTI’s initial projects will be in the United States and Asia-Pacific, but it plans to expand globally.
When Janabai and I talked, she compared the vision for FTI to that of the Good Food Institute’s. If you are unfamiliar with GFI, it is a non-profit advancing plant-based and cultivated meat around the world through policy advocacy, research, public awareness, informational resources, and company partnerships (among numerous other tactics). Basically, to make such profound changes to our food system, we need people like the FTI team who are thinking in long-term and scale.
FTI wants to give farmers the resources to pursue opportunities that are not only better for the plant and for animal welfare but also for farmers themselves.
