CYRUS(CO-HOST)
Imagine a world where your steak never came from a cow. No farms, no pastures — just a lab. Sounds crazy? Well, it might be your dinner by 2040.
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CYRUS:
So, welcome to EconoBites, where we discuss the most interesting economic trends. Today, we discuss the most revolutionary change in food history: meat produced without animals. I am Cyrus Andaz, and by my side is my accomplice in anarchy, Thaddeus Bhagan.
THADDEUS(CO-HOST):
Yes, Cyrus. From veggie burgers that “bleed” like meat to chicken nuggets cultivated in a laboratory, alternative proteins create a “fork” in the world of food. But the real question remains — are they merely a passing fad or the future of cuisine?
CYRUS:
To guide us, we have with us two exceptional expert guests: Dr. Michael Chen, cellular agriculture researcher at Tufts University, notorious for his work in reducing the costs involved in the production of laboratory-grown meat, and James Patel, agricultural market analyst with the USDA and an expert in supply chains and investing trends in the space of alternative proteins. As billions of dollars are invested in this sector, we will discuss the possibility of agriculture and consider when people will accept such changes. So grab a snack — something veggie might be lovely — and let us explore the future of food together!
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CYRUS:
Now, let us invite the guests onto the stage!
DR. MICHEAL CHEN:
Hello, I’m Dr. Chen. Over the course of the next 10 minutes, prepare to experience the world of proteins like never before. Thank you for having me; I’m looking forward to getting into the science and sustainability of what I call “meat without the moo.”
JAMES PATEL:
I’m James Patel, your friendly neighborhood USDA analyst with a keen eye on the food industry. Imagine this for a second: by 2040, as much as 60% of the world’s meat may not come from animals. But will be produced in laboratories or made entirely out of plants. Sink your teeth into that! (Griffiths, 2022).
THADDEUS:
Whoa, James, that’s a shocking dive into this food fight!
JAMES:
Without hesitation whatsoever, I am thrilled to discuss this subject. An insatiable interest in nature, food systems, and sustainability has directed my life’s journey. You could say I am nature’s watchful older sister — collecting trash, recycling with zeal, and opposing the statefulness of food from an early age. I remember learning that the dairy and meat industries are responsible for nearly 14.5 to 19.6% of total CO2 emissions worldwide (FAO, 2024). At that moment, I simply knew it was my job to rethink dietary habits and work towards sustainability in the industry.
CYRUS:
That is astonishing! Can you please discuss in detail how the traditional meat industry became such an obnoxiously polluting sector for our audiences to understand?
JAMES:
Yes. I divide this problem into three more minor conflicts. First of all, there is the release of methane through livestock, then cattle ranching, and its cause for deforestation, and ultimately, vast and unfeasible usage of energy and water in agriculture. Cows and all sorts of other ruminants produce methane through metabolic processes. Even though its atmospheric concentration may be lower than other greenhouse gases, it is 28 times more effective at warming the climate than CO₂ over a 100-year period (FAO, 2024). Every cow releases about 220 pounds of methane every single year; when one factor in the 1.5 billion cows on our planet, the effects are disgusting. These same animals also need massive areas of land, which account for 80% of the deforestation in the Amazon through cattle ranching (World Resources Institute, 2023). When deforesting trees releases the carbon within themselves, thus furthering climate change. It also takes 1,800 gallons of water and 75 times the energy to produce a single kilogram of beef than to make plant-based proteins (UN Environment Programme, 2023)! The upside of cultured meats is that they require 95% less water than beef, with the potential to decrease carbon emissions by as much as 92% (Oxford University).
CYRUS:
All right, that’s what I call an introduction! So, James, you just walked us through why the traditional meat industry is a major polluter. Let’s change “courses” a bit here. Dr. Chen, you study cellular agriculture and alternative proteins? Many people know of plant burgers, but lab-grown meat seems pre-apocalyptic. In layman’s terms, how does this technology work?
DR. MICHAEL CHEN:
The process begins with a single sample of animal cells — we can usually take these from a small biopsy of muscle tissue from the desired animal. From there, we Isolate the best-fit cells to culture. Usually, stem cells can multiply. Next is feeding the cells nutrients, just like an animal would need to grow muscle.; Place them in a bioreactor, which is a temperature-controlled environment that mimics the inside of an animal’s body, ideal for mitosis, to eventually be harvested into meat. The end product is cellularly identical to traditional meat, just without raising, feeding, slaughtering, and the greenhouse emissions of an animal.
THADDEUS:
That’s wild! So, we’re essentially growing a steak in a lab?
DR. CHEN:
Exactly! The meat’s structure, taste, and texture are the same because it is meat. It’s just made outside of an animal instead of inside one.
CYRUS:
Okay, but how long has this been around? People act like this is brand new, but wasn’t this tech around for a long time?
DR. CHEN:
So, the first concept of lab-grown meat comes from the 1930s. Winston Churchill had written about actually growing meat without raising animals. Churchill’s idea was visionary, but it remained just that — an idea. The true breakthrough date was 2013. A Dutch scientist named Dr. Mark Post had made the original lab-grown burger, which cost roughly $330,000 to produce (Mosa Meat, 2013).
THADDEUS:
That’s insanity; I could do a lot more with $330,000 than get a burger, that’s for sure.
DR. CHEN:
Haha, the good news is that now costs have fallen dramatically. Today’s same burger would only cost about $10 to $15 to produce (Good Food Institute, 2024). As we scale up production, we’re hoping it will become cheaper than traditional meat within the decade.
JAMES:
You know, funny enough, the future looks quite bright because Lab-grown meat is projected to reach $25 billion by 2030 (McKinsey). It has already had mass adoption with the support of the USA and Singapore’s government for lab-grown meat in 2023 and 2020, respectively (FDA).
DR. CHEN:
True that, James. Still, that current price point is steep. I could buy a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder for $6.39, the 4 oz patty probably costing between $1.80 and $2 at wholesale. If we do a little math, that’s about a 3x markup. (Cargill, 2025) (Mcdonalds, 2025) Applying that to the $9 lab-grown patty, the burger could cost between $27 and $33. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d pass on a $33 Quarter Pounder.
CYRUS:
Yes, no kidding. So, Dr. Chen, are there any advancements to lower the cost of this lab-grown meat and make it an economically feasible solution?
DR. CHEN:
Yes. To make cultured meat commercially viable, companies are chewing on this issue in a few ways. The creation of cheap growth media has been a breakthrough, and the conventional fetal bovine serum for culture cells was both costly and ethically dubious. Companies such as Mosa Meat lowered the price by decreasing the cost of their growth medium 88 times in 2020 and their fat medium 65 times in 2021 (Mosa Meat, 2021). The second key driver is scaling up, which they do by scaling up bioreactors larger so that companies can increase production and increase supply per the demand. Mosa Meat had initially used 100-milliliter tanks; however, as of November 2021, it had begun to utilize new 40-liter tanks. They’re aiming to move to 10,000-liter tanks for a yearly production of 180,000 kilograms compared to the few kilograms of meat previously produced (Mosa Meat, 2021). Bioreactor technology is a highly efficient means of decreasing production costs. Other companies like Believer Meats, formerly Future Meat Technologies, have created their in-house bioreactors that significantly increase cell growth rates while reducing costs. In 2021, they brought down the cost of growing a single chicken breast from $7.50 to just $1.70 (Believer Meats, 2021). Regulatory approvals and market access are also essential factors in commercialization. Mission Barns, a San Francisco-based firm, was one of the first to receive FDA approval to market lab-grown pork products to consumers (San Francisco Chronicle, 2024), which was a significant leap along the way to mainstream market introduction. All this collaborative effort and cultured meat, in my opinion, will continue to increase economic availability. Others predict that by the year 2030, they will be less expensive than mainstream 4oz burgers, and by the year 203,5, they will be 10 times less expensive; what a jump, am I right? (Rethinkx, 2019).
THADDEUS:
You sure are, Dr. Chen. That’s a game-changer. But beyond cost, what about consumer acceptance? Is the economy ready to embrace lab-grown meat?
JAMES:
Well put, Thaddeus. Winning over the hearts and minds of consumers is essential if lab-grown meat is going to get off the ground. There will be some who are eager for the environmental and moral dimensions of it, but others may balk at the idea. Knowledge, education about how it’s made, and developing products with taste and texture similar to their traditionally grown equivalents will get them there.
CYRUS:
If cultured meats become widely popular, what will be the consequences for ranchers and farmers? What impact will it have on the job market?
JAMES:
Actually, that will likely be a significant problem, Cyrus. The traditional meat business is a huge job creator. In the United States, food and beverage manufacturing employed about 1.7 million people in 2021 and represented more than 15.4% of all manufacturing jobs, producing more than $1.8 trillion, with meat and poultry plants representing the largest share of the workforce. Worldwide, the meat industry was worth $897 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $1.354 billion by 2027. The emergence of lab-grown meat has the potential to shatter these classic employment patterns and could result in job loss for traditional animal agriculture and processing industries(USDA, 2021).
THADDEUS:
Wow, my history teachers weren’t kidding when they said the world was built off agriculture. But does not the creation of cultured meat also open up new job possibilities?
JAMES:
It most certainly will! While traditional meat industry jobs will be lost, new ones will be simultaneously created. We’re talking about bioreactor technicians, food scientists, and cellular agriculture specialists. The lab-grown meat industry could introduce up to 400,000 new jobs worldwide in biotechnology, food engineering, and logistics by 2040(Siegal, 2022).
CYRUS:
So, what you’re telling me is that when some jobs do go away, others fill the gaps. Keeping employment rates afloat?
JAMES:
Indeed. It is a quintessential example of technological displacement. Similar to how industrialization had displaced some labor yet simultaneously forged new avenues in robotics, engineering, and more.
THADDEUS:
Not anyone can simply transform into a bioreactor technician overnight. What about the farmers and ranchers who make their living raising cattle without the necessary experience to make the change?
JAMES:
That is where the picture gets complicated. Farmers may experience decreased demand. But some governments, similar to those during the great depression, are stepping in to help this transition. Singapore, for example, has started to train employees from the traditional food industry in the manufacturing of alternative protein (Singapore Food Agency, 2023).
CYRUS:
That’s intriguing. Are U.S. farmers in favor of this change, or are they resisting it?
JAMES:
It presents a complicated scene. Some of the younger generations recognize the potential for investment in lab-grown meat production. Conversely, others perceive it as a direct threat to their established way of life, akin to the Luddites. Indeed, in 2023, several cattle groups across the United States lobbied Congress, advocating for stricter labeling laws that would mandate lab-grown meat to be distinctly labeled as separate from traditional beef (National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, 2023).
THADDEUS:
That’s logical. If you’re a rancher and some company can suddenly grow beef in a tank, that feels like unbeatable competition.
DR. CHEN:
That is precisely why certain businesses are considering hybrid farm models. Rather than entirely displacing ranchers, what if they partnered with them? Some companies investigate opportunities for cattle farmers to cultivate animal cells for lab-grown meat alongside their herds (Eat Just, 2024).
CYRUS:
Hold up. Are you saying ranchers may one day have a meat laboratory alongside their cow fields?
DR. CHEN:
Possibly! The concept is to incorporate conventional farmers into the supply chain rather than displacing them completely.
JAMES:
This all works in theory, but not all farmers have taken it up yet. The majority of farmers view lab-grown meat as more of a threat than a business opportunity.
CYRUS:
And, I mean, talking about competition — what if lab-grown meat is cheaper than farm-raised meat? Would that not put livestock farmers out of business?
JAMES:
That will hinge on how fast production and acceptance are ramped up. Lab-grown meat is presently still less economical than traditional beef; however, as we’ve noted above, prices are dropping rapidly. If it were cheaper, we could witness a dramatic change in global food markets (McKinsey, 2024).
THADDEUS:
Would that also seriously hurt nations that depend on livestock exports?
JAMES:
Yes. Nations such as Brazil, Australia, and the United States, major exporters of beef, can be struck by financial crises in their cattle industries if demand were to shift toward lab-created meat. Governments will have to choose whether to shield traditional agriculture, invest in alternative proteins, or achieve a balance between the two (World Bank, 2024).
CYRUS:
Wow, so this isn’t just a food trend — it’s something that could reshape the world economy.
THADDEUS:
We still have one major problem — will people actually eat lab-grown meat? Because if consumers don’t buy it, none of this matters.
DR. CHEN:
Now, the question isn’t ‘if’ lab-grown meat will take over — it’s ‘when.’ The technology is constantly improving at a rapid rate. The real challenge is making lab-grown meat as accepted as traditional meat.
JAMES:
That means transparency, education, and smart policymaking. This can be done through clear labeling, sustainable incentives, or partnerships with farmers; we need to make sure this transition benefits as many people as possible.
THADDEUS:
So, what can we, as consumers, do to contribute to this revolution?
CYRUS:
Stay informed. Pay attention to the newest food innovations, sustainability efforts, and what policies are being proposed.
THADDEUS:
Right, that makes sense. And with that, we’re wrapping up today’s episode of EconoBites!
Until next time, keep questioning, stay curious, and rememberrrrrrr — — —
CYRUS:
The future of food isn’t on farms — it’s being brought to labs and factories through an agrarian revolution. The only question is: Are we ready?
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