Pondering future prospects for protein 

Last year, scientists in Finland determined to ‘liberate our planet from the burdens of agriculture’ opened a factory to make human food protein out of thin air.

If that sounds unlikely, think again.

The future of food as some see it is about as far removed from animals or pasture as can be imagined.

Governments, corporations and investors are pouring billions into emerging food technologies worldwide; the Finnish factory is but one of many such ventures.  

So where does that leave us, as renowned global producers of grass fed animal protein for human consumption?

What will give our grass fed milk and meat lasting value in a world seemingly obsessed with developing ever-more complex ways to put protein on the plate? Could it be something as simple as … simplicity? 

Blinded by science 

Gas fermentation. Cellular agriculture. Wet fractionation. Microbial conversion. Precision fermentation. Bioprinting. CO₂-source agnostic technology. Molecular farming. High moisture extrusion. Enzymatic hydrolysis. 
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The closer you look at novel and alternative proteins, the bigger your vocabulary has to get.

Pull back for a minute, however, and one thing becomes clear.

These are all processes. Fuelled one way or another by electricity. Totally reliant on specific, often expensive infrastructure.  

And still to deliver, at scale, food protein that is nutritionally identical and cost-comparable to what we grow on our farms, every day.

Yes, our grass-fed milk and meat is ‘processed’, to a degree. But most reaches the plate close to its natural state, full of nutrients no human can live without.  

Just the right nutrients, in just the right ratios and form to power everything from our immune system, hormones, and movement, to digestion, metabolism, brain function and the very structure and integrity of our cells and body tissue. 
 

We are what we eat

It’s easy to get swamped by politics, ideology and profit-driven hype when it comes to human food protein these days.

No other part of our daily diet has become so entangled in debate about everything from climate change and environmental destruction to ethics, morals and beliefs.

But strip all that away, and what are we left with?

Something very basic, that shaped us as a species for millennia – nutrition.

Archeology proves we’ve been nourished by animals since at least the early Stone Age.

And the reason grass fed animals in particular remain part of the human diet today is that nothing else offers the same natural nutritional mix in such a convenient, simple and efficient form. 

Gut reaction   

The unique package of human nutrients contained in grass fed animal products – highly digestible calories, protein, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and fats – can potentially be replicated. But not naturally.

Very few plants, for example, contain all nine essential amino acids in adequate amounts to be considered a complete protein.

And without some form of mechanical or chemical processing, few provide protein we can easily digest, in serving sizes comparable to animal protein.

It’s a similar story for vital nutrients like Vitamins A, B12, D3, E and K2 as well as heme iron, zinc, calcium and omega-3 fatty acids.

That’s why nutrition and health experts all over the world stress the quality of our food protein matters just as much as the quantity, for all ages. And in the quality stakes, grass fed milk and lean red meat are right up there, along with fish, eggs and poultry.

Something to chew on 

Technology has given today’s world more ways to remove animals from the human diet than ever before.

There’s little arguing the potential value these alternatives might offer a nutrient-scarce future, when already up to 12% of the global population is believed to be protein-deficient.

Hence Fonterra’s investment in precision fermentation technology three years ago, and more recently, a joint focus by AgResearch and the Riddet Institute on advancing cellular agriculture at Massey University.

In both cases, however, the theme is complementing, not replacing, food protein derived from animals. 

Back to nature 

Remember all the publicity about first generation mass market plant proteins not so long ago?

Heralded as the sustainable, ethical food of the future, they’re now floundering against consumer concerns about processed ingredients, food safety, affordability and taste.

Meanwhile demand for natural, New Zealand grass fed dairy and red meat continues to be strong, bolstered by growing evidence of the negative human health impacts associated with a diet of highly processed foods.

At Barenbrug, we believe the outlook for premium, natural, animal protein is bright. Our goal is to help you continue doing the best possible job of producing it, no matter what the future brings.  
 

“We really wanted to challenge a legume based system, year round, over the long term,” Alistair says.

On top of on-going routine measurements, other areas of comparison between the different systems currently include resource use efficiency; trends in botanical composition over time; and animal nutrition, intake and digestibility.

We encourage you to stay tuned for findings that may benefit your farm system.