Noel Bardon reported in this week's Irish Farmers Journal that EU consumers consume less than 300g per person of meat substitute products per annum.

This compares with consumption of 67kg per person per annum across the different meat species, despite the forecast suggesting beef consumption will fall by 8%.

Given the avalanche of negative publicity directed towards beef production and consumption, such a decline could be considered as modest, especially as it can be considered a luxury meat at a time when household budgets are squeezed by inflation.

It is striking that despite a huge volume of positive publicity that fake meat products have failed to make any significant inroads to the consumer market this year.

One of the most striking examples is the performance of Beyond Meat, the US company financed by celebrity investors.

They enjoyed a big growth in sales in 2019 and 2020 following the expansion of production capacity, but that ceased in 2021 and went into reverse this year.

They make the McPlant burger for McDonald’s, which was withdrawn in the US after a trial run, although it remains on sale in the UK and Ireland.

Beyond Meat’s share price, which began 2022 at $68.52, has fallen to $13.78 this week as sales fell and losses increased.

Lifestyle choices

While beef producers and the wider industry will be relieved that the product has withstood this competition, there is no room for complacency.

Livestock farming is a significant source of emissions and this will always be a point of focus for those in society that want to distract from their lifestyle choices that have a greater cumulative effect on the total production of emissions.

This is illustrated particularly well by Professor Jude L Capper PhD DSc (hc) BSc (Hons) ARAgS, ABP chair in sustainable beef and sheep production at Harper Adams University in England.

Figure 1 shows that the average UK person’s beef consumption annually is 18.2kg. Professor Capper compared this to the level of carbon emissions generated by flying from the UK to a range of international destinations.

Flying to Paris generates the equivalent of just under half the average person's annual consumption of beef, while flying to Sydney in Australia generates emissions the equivalent of 9.5 years of beef consumption!

No room for complacency

With society unwilling to quit flying nor adopt substitute meat products, how can the necessary reductions in global emissions be achieved? The answer has to come from science and research.

This was the solution to bringing COVID-19 under manageable control and it is the route taken by the global transport sector.

Production of electric cars is well under way and, eventually, aviation and other transport are likely to discover ways of eliminating or at least reducing their emissions.

We don’t have the answer at present in livestock farming beyond adopting the practices identified in the Teagasc marginal abatement cost curve (MACC). This can get Irish agriculture well beyond half way in meeting the 25% reduction requirement.

There are two challenges, the first is to implement what is required to achieve these reductions and the second is to discover the way to deliver the remainder that is required for 2030 and beyond.

The announcement of an Ireland-New Zealand partnership this week with a joint €7m-plus budget is a welcome beginning, but will only scratch the surface.

Emissions from livestock are a global issue and it will require global collaboration to create the economy of scale to find a solution.

Pre-competitive

Given the scale of what is required, it is beyond the capacity of any government or company, never mind farmers. Government will have competing demands on resources no matter how effective the lobby for research resources.

The global processing sector, which is extremely profitable in recent years, also needs to invest - not just at a corporate level, but in a collaborative way that pools resources to get maximum research impact.

The need to find a way for reducing emissions is too strategically important for everyone and too big a challenge for a single solution.