False. Following the start of the disruption of food and agriculture by modern food alternatives, we estimate that direct emissions from all animal agriculture combined will fall by 55% by 2030, and 75% by 2035.

Industrial animal agriculture has very significant impacts on the environment. Not only does it emit greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change, but it waste also pollutes the nearby air and natural waterways.

Following the start of the disruption of food and agriculture, we estimate that direct emissions from all animal agriculture combined will fall by 55% by 2030, and 75% by 2035. Water use for U.S. animal agriculture as a whole will decline 45% by 2030 and 70% by 2035. One early study estimates that a product made using Precision Fermentation (PF) generates 92% fewer pollutants than a comparable animal product.

All livestock, cows especially, take up a lot of land, both with their pastures and the crops needed to feed them. By contrast, the far greater efficiency of PF technology means that its products typically require less than one tenth of the cropland of their animal-derived alternatives. In the case of cattle, current research suggests that a PF-enhanced burger will use 94% less land than equivalent beef or dairy products.

According to recent research undertaken by CE Delft for the Good Food Institute (Sinke et al., 2023), animal products made using cellular agriculture will also offer significant improvement on some environmental impacts including global warming, land use, feedstock consumption and air pollution.

Explore the evidence...

• Environmental Implications of modern foods:
  • Direct U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from cattle will drop by 60% by 2030 and almost 80% by 2035.
  • When the modern food production that replaces animal agriculture is factored in, net emissions from the sector as a whole will decline by will decline by 45% by 2030 and 65% by 2035.
  • Water consumption in cattle production and associated feed cropland irrigation will fall by 50% by 2030 and 75% by 2035.
  • When the modern food production that replaces animal agriculture is factored in, net water consumption in the sector as a whole will decline by 35% by 2030 and 60% by 2035.
    • Learn more about the environmental implications of the disruption on p51-53 of our Rethinking Food & Agriculture report.
    • Read more about the Food & Agriculture disruption as it relates to climate change on p29-31 of our Rethinking Climate Change Report
    • Read our topic on the climate implications of the modern food disruption

Witness the transformation

We are on the cusp of the deepest, fastest, most consequential disruption in food and agricultural production since the first domestication of plants and animals 10,000 years ago.

The environmental, social, economic and geopolitical impact of this disruption on industrial animal farming will be profound.

Learn more about the disruption and transformation of the food and agriculture sector.

Published on: 12/07/23