The next global agricultural revolution
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0:02 - 0:06In 2019, humanity received a warning:
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0:06 - 0:0830 of the world's leading scientists
released the results -
0:08 - 0:12of a massive three-year study
into global agriculture -
0:12 - 0:16and declared that meat production
is destroying our planet -
0:16 - 0:17and jeopardizing global health.
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0:18 - 0:20One of the study's authors explained
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0:20 - 0:23that "humanity now poses a threat
to the stability of the planet ... -
0:23 - 0:28[This requires] nothing less than
a new global agricultural revolution." -
0:29 - 0:31As somebody who's spent
the last two decades -
0:31 - 0:34advocating a shift away
from industrial meat production, -
0:34 - 0:38I wanted to believe that this clarion call
was going to make a difference. -
0:38 - 0:43The thing is, I've seen this sort of thing
again and again and again for decades. -
0:44 - 0:47Here's 2018 from the journal "Nature,"
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0:47 - 0:502017 from "Bioscience Journal,"
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0:50 - 0:542016 from the National
Academy of Sciences. -
0:54 - 0:58The main point of these studies
tends to be climate change. -
0:58 - 1:02But antibiotic resistance
represents just as big of a threat. -
1:03 - 1:06We are feeding massive doses
of antibiotics to farm animals. -
1:06 - 1:10These antibiotics are then
mutating into superbugs -
1:10 - 1:13that threaten to render
antibiotics obsolete -
1:13 - 1:16within all of our lifetimes.
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1:16 - 1:17You want a scare?
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1:17 - 1:20Google: "the end of working antibiotics."
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1:21 - 1:23I'm going to get one thing out of the way:
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1:23 - 1:25I am not here to tell anybody what to eat.
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1:26 - 1:27Individual action is great,
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1:27 - 1:30but antibiotic resistance
and climate change -- -
1:30 - 1:32they require more.
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1:32 - 1:36Besides, convincing the world
to eat less meat hasn't worked. -
1:37 - 1:42For 50 years, environmentalists,
global health experts and animal activists -
1:42 - 1:45have been begging the public
to eat less meat. -
1:45 - 1:47And yet, per capita meat consumption
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1:47 - 1:51is as high as it's been
in recorded history. -
1:51 - 1:55The average North American last year
ate more than 200 pounds of meat. -
1:56 - 1:57And I didn't eat any.
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1:57 - 1:58(Laughter)
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1:59 - 2:02Which means somebody out there
ate 400 pounds of meat. -
2:02 - 2:04(Laughter)
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2:04 - 2:05On our current trajectory,
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2:05 - 2:10we're going to need to be producing
70 to 100 percent more meat by 2050. -
2:10 - 2:13This requires a global solution.
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2:13 - 2:17What we need to do is we need to produce
the meat that people love, -
2:17 - 2:20but we need to produce it
in a whole new way. -
2:20 - 2:22I've got a couple of ideas.
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2:22 - 2:26Idea number one:
let's grow meat from plants. -
2:26 - 2:28Instead of growing plants,
feeding them to animals, -
2:28 - 2:30and all of that inefficiency,
-
2:30 - 2:33let's grow those plants,
let's biomimic meat with them, -
2:33 - 2:34let's make plant-based meat.
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2:35 - 2:38Idea number two: for actual animal meat,
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2:38 - 2:40let's grow it directly from cells.
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2:40 - 2:43Instead of growing live animals,
let's grow the cells directly. -
2:44 - 2:47It takes six weeks to grow
a chicken to slaughter weight. -
2:47 - 2:49Grow the cells directly,
you can get that same growth -
2:49 - 2:51in six days.
-
2:52 - 2:54This is what that looks like at scale.
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2:55 - 2:58It's your friendly
neighborhood meat brewery. -
2:58 - 3:01(Laughter)
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3:01 - 3:03I want to make two points about this.
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3:03 - 3:05The first one is, we believe we can do it.
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3:05 - 3:09In recent years, some companies
have been producing meat from plants -
3:09 - 3:13that consumers cannot distinguish
from actual animal meat, -
3:13 - 3:17and there are now dozens of companies
growing actual animal meat -
3:17 - 3:19directly from cells.
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3:19 - 3:21This plant-based and cell-based meat
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3:21 - 3:23gives consumers everything
that they love about meat -- -
3:23 - 3:25the taste, the texture and so on --
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3:25 - 3:28but with no need for antibiotics
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3:28 - 3:31and with a fraction of the adverse
impact on the climate. -
3:31 - 3:35And because these two technologies
are so much more efficient, -
3:35 - 3:36at production scale
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3:36 - 3:38these products will be cheaper.
-
3:39 - 3:41But one quick point about that --
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3:41 - 3:43it's not going to be easy.
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3:43 - 3:47These plant-based companies have spent
small fortunes on their burgers, -
3:47 - 3:50and cell-based meat has not yet
been commercialized at all. -
3:51 - 3:53So we're going to need all hands on deck
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3:53 - 3:55to make these the global meat industry.
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3:56 - 3:59For starters, we need
the present meat industry. -
3:59 - 4:01We don't want to disrupt
the meat industry, -
4:01 - 4:03we want to transform it.
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4:03 - 4:05We need their economies of scale,
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4:05 - 4:08their global supply chain,
their marketing expertise -
4:08 - 4:10and their massive consumer base.
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4:11 - 4:13We also need governments.
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4:13 - 4:16Governments spend tens of billions
of dollars every single year -
4:16 - 4:18on research and development
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4:18 - 4:21focused on global health
and the environment. -
4:21 - 4:25They should be putting some of that money
into optimizing and perfecting -
4:25 - 4:29the production of plant-based
and cell-based meat. -
4:30 - 4:35Look, tens of thousands of people
died from antibiotic-resistant superbugs -
4:35 - 4:37in North America just last year.
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4:38 - 4:43By 2050, that number is going to be
10 million per year globally. -
4:44 - 4:48And climate change represents
an existential threat -
4:48 - 4:51to huge portions of our global family,
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4:51 - 4:55including some of the poorest people
on the face of the planet. -
4:55 - 5:00Climate change, antibiotic resistance --
these are global emergencies. -
5:00 - 5:05Meat production is exacerbating
these emergencies on a global scale. -
5:05 - 5:08But we are not going
to decrease meat consumption -
5:08 - 5:11unless we give consumers alternatives
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5:11 - 5:15that cost the same or less
and that taste the same or better. -
5:16 - 5:17We have the solution.
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5:17 - 5:21Let's make meat from plants.
Let's grow it directly from cells. -
5:21 - 5:25It's past time that we mobilize
the resources that are necessary -
5:25 - 5:30to create the next global
agricultural revolution. -
5:30 - 5:31Thank you.
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5:31 - 5:35(Applause)
- Title:
- The next global agricultural revolution
- Speaker:
- Bruce Friedrich
- Description:
-
Conventional meat production causes harm to our environment and presents risks to global health, but people aren't going to eat less meat unless we give them alternatives that cost the same (or less) and that taste the same (or better). In an eye-opening talk, food innovator and TED Fellow Bruce Friedrich shows the plant- and cell-based products that could soon transform the global meat industry -- and your dinner plate.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 05:48
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The next global agricultural revolution | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The next global agricultural revolution | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The next global agricultural revolution | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for The next global agricultural revolution | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The next global agricultural revolution | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for The next global agricultural revolution | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for The next global agricultural revolution | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for The next global agricultural revolution |