Farmer’s Weekly – 30 August 2019

GLOBAL FARMING

The trend in rich

countries towards

vegetarian and vegan

diets will not result in

higher demand for fresh

fruit and vegetables.

Becoming a vegan

won’t save the planet!

T

wo of the best-known plant-based

imitation meat products available are

the Beyond Burger and the Impossible

Burger, manufactured in the US. The

ingredients make for interesting reading.

The Impossible Burger contains water,

soya protein concentrate, coconut oil,

sunflower oil, natural flavours, potato

protein, methylcellulose, cultured dextrose,

food starch, soya leghaemoglobin, salt,

soya protein isolate, zinc glutamate,

thiamine hydrochloride, niacin, pyridoxine,

and Vitamin B12, amongst others.

The aptly named Beyond Burger contains

pea protein isolate, expeller-pressed canola

oil, refined coconut oil, cellulose from

bamboo, methylcellulose, potato starch,

maltodextrin,yeastextract,salt,sunflower

oil,andvegetableglycerine,amongstothers.

Theseareindustrialproducts

manufacturedinhigh-techfactories.Soya

beansarea healthyproductcontaining

valuablevitamins.However,theprocess

ofextractingproteinconcentratefrom

soyabeanseffectivelykillsthevitamins,

whichis whyallmanufacturesadd

vitaminstothefinalproducts.

PLANT-BASEDDIETS

Recently,a Swedishthinktank,

theEATorganisation,releaseda

reportonglobaldietpatterns.It

promoteda largelyplant-baseddietas

a wayof‘savingtheenvironment’.

Insteadofthewideacclaimthe

authorsexpectedwhentheytimedthe

report’sreleasetocoincidewiththe

WorldEconomicForummeetingin

Davos,it facedvigorousopposition.

TheWorldHealthOrganizationstopped

thereleaseofthereportwhentheItalian

delegationprotesteda ‘globaldiet’that

didnotconsiderculturaldifferences.

Inaddition,manyeminentscientistshave

sinceexplainedwhysucha largelyplant-

baseddietwouldnotbesustainableinmost

oftheworld.A recentstudycalculated

thatmorethan1,5billionpeopleglobally

wouldnotbeabletoaffordsucha diet.

Themovetowardsa plant-based

dietis onlyevidentinrichcountries.

Insub-SaharanAfrica,peoplearebattling

togetenoughfood.Asincomelevels

increase, they move from starch- to

protein-based diets and actually

consume fewer vegetables.

Plant-based diets will not save the world.

While ruminants produce methane gas, a

greenhouse gas with a much higher global

warming potential than carbon dioxide,

methane breaks down in the atmosphere

within 10 years, compared to the 100

years and more for carbon dioxide.

Livestock use grass and other products

that humans are unable to digest to produce

highly nutritio us food. The livestock

industry is a large user of the by-products

from the wet and dry grain milling and

oil extraction processes. If people stopped

eating animal products, the bran and

oilcakewouldendupinlandfills.

Theindustrialprocessesusedto

manufactureersatzanimalproducts,

suchastheburgerpattiesmentioned,are

asunfriendlytotheenvironmentasthe

processofproducinganimalproducts.

FIGHTBACK

Foodprocessorsarehappytosupport

themovetowardsveganismasit

createsa marketfortheirhigh-priced,

highlyprocessed‘healthfoods’.

Thetrendtowardsvegetarianandvegan

dietswillnotbenefitthefreshproduce

industry.Askanyconsumerwhereto

findthe‘healthfoods’ina supermarket

andchancesaretheywillnotdirectyou

tothefreshfruitandvegetableaisle.

Ratherthanpraisingthemovetowards

vegetarianandvegandietsinrichcountries,

thefreshproduceindustrywillwork

withthelivestockindustriestopromote

healthydietsthatincludemeat,dairy

products,vegetablesandfruit.▪FW

BYDRKOOSCOETZEE

DrKoosCoetzeeis anindependent
agriculturaleconomist.Emailhimat
[email protected].
Subjectline:Globalfarming.

A RECENT STUDY

CALCULATED THAT

MORE THAN 1,5 BILLION

PEOPLE WOULD NOT

BE ABLE TO AFFORD

A LARGELY PLANT-

BASED DIET

26 farmer’sweekly 30 AUGUST 2019