By Bradd Libby

A RethinkX guide to differentiating band-aid products from disruptive solutions:

Band-aid products:

1. Only address a single aspect of the problem
2. Achieve only partial improvement
3. Leave the fundamental system unchanged
4. Require additional solutions to achieve complete resolution.

Disruptive solutions:

1. Address multiple aspects of the problem simultaneously
2. Completely solve (even “dissolve”) the original problem
3. Transform the underlying system
4. Make previous solutions obsolete.

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Norwegian dairy producer Tine (pronounced roughly like the English name Tina) has been caught up in a controversy of its own making.

As part of an effort to reduce the emissions of methane gas from the production of milk, Tine introduced “fremtidsmelk” (“future milk”) in 2023, which is produced by cows who are given 3-nitrooxypropanol, a feed additive sold under the brand name Bovaer®. (Competing dairy producer Q offered a similar product as “klimamelk”, or “climate milk”.)

According to the Swiss-Dutch manufacturer DSM-Firmenich, Bovaer “reduces methane emissions from dairy cattle by 30% and up to 45% for beef cattle, on average.”

This new low-methane milk was not only supposed to be good for the environment, it was also intended to be good for business. Via its oil fund, the state-run sovereign wealth fund compiled primarily from decades of oil and gas exports has meant that the Norwegian government is DSM-Firmenich's largest shareholder.

“Future milk” was not, however, popular with Norwegian consumers, and the packages were pulled from the shelves after only a year. Even so, the Bovaer feed additive’s future looked bright... Bovaer is approved for use in nearly 70 countries around the world, including the US, Canada, Mexico, all the EU, Switzerland, and Australia, among others. In the UK, the use of Bovaer in cattle feed has been mandated for all “suitable” animals by 2030.

Though Tine’s “future milk” was discontinued last year, its offering of dairy products produced with Bovaer was not. The dairy industry continued to produce Bovaer milk, simply mixing Bovaer milk into non-Bovaer milk and selling this mixture as regular milk, instead of separating the new milk into specially labeled packages.

A 2021 study by the EU-funded European Food Safety Authority also found that Bovaer reduces the size of cow ovaries by 15 to 20% (Table 2). Nevertheless, this study found Bovaer to be “safe for dairy cows,” “safe for consumers,” and “no concern for the environment.” The cattle industry also went on to claim that the 3-nitrooxypropanol chemical is not present in the animal’s meat or milk and therefore these products are completely safe for human consumption.

Though this technology may reduce methane emissions in some capacity, it is nevertheless a bandage—a niche solution intended to make some negative aspect of an industry slightly less bad without addressing the fact that the underlying problem is inherent to the system.

The beef and dairy industries seem to be rife with band-aid solutions: feed additives to reduce their methane emissions, genetically modifying cattle gut bacteria to reduce methane emissions, toilet training cows to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, giving cattle virtual reality headsets to trick them into thinking their living environment is more pleasant than it actually is, autonomous electric grass harvesters so that cattle have access to freshly cut grass even if they don’t have access to the outdoors. The list seems endless...

One characteristic that separates technologies that could be disruptions from those that are sustaining innovations is that band-aid solutions are typically one-dimensional. They address one aspect of a problem—methane emissions or cattle happiness. Even then they often only partially solve that problem, reducing emissions by some percentage or making animals’ lives somewhat less miserable.

Disruptions, by contrast, are multi-dimensional and complete. They address multiple issues and often not only solve problems, they “dissolve” them. They change the system to take away the underlying cause of the problem in the first place.

Making casein, a cow milk protein, by precision fermentation (PF) does not require giving cows 3-nitrooxypropanol because PF uses genetically modified microorganisms to produce the protein. There is no need to put VR headsets on microorganisms, they do not emit methane, and they do not shrink ovaries. So it is understandable why governments are approving their use and militaries are supporting their development—and not just for casein protein but other milk proteins like lactoferrin, too. (And if you are worried about using microorganisms, other companies are growing plants like soybeans to produce casein.) PF does not just solve these problems with milk protein production, it dissolves them.

The difference between band-aid solutions and disruptions extends far beyond milk production. Norway has been showing the world how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles for years. The new personal car market in Norway is now essentially 100% electric vehicles.

But a true disruption in automobiles was on display last month at a Tesla dealer in Oslo—the Cybercab, an electric taxi that the manufacturer claims is fully autonomous.

We went to have a look at it in person and, in some respects, it was an unremarkable vehicle. Frankly, its styling looks superficially a lot like the first generation (pre-2006) Honda Insight: a two-seater with a long hatchback and unusually covered wheels. However, this vehicle has some enormous differences. No steering wheel. No accelerator or brake pedals. No rearview mirrors (why would it need them if there is no steering wheel?).

A vehicle that drives itself is one that could run around all day and night, effectively being shared by many households rather than owned by one. Since it is electric, it could end the use of fossil fuels. Since it is a taxi, it could end the need to personally own a car. And since a handful of them could do the work of dozens of individually owned cars, it could also eliminate the need for most parking spaces and much of the car-manufacturing industry.

On display beside the Cybercab was another bona fide technology solution. The 2023 version of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot, which could do for most of the human physical labor market what electric cars are doing to the internal-combustion-engine car industry or PF is starting to do the cow-based production of milk—disrupt and dissolve it.

Tesla Cybercab in Oslo, Norway (2024)