Lab-grown food is about to destroy farming – and save the planet | George Monbiot

The revolutions in biotech and infotech will give us control of the world inside us and will enable us to engineer and manufacture life.

Farming, after all, replaces natural ecosystems with human-made ecosystems that are engineered to yield far more foodstuffs per unit area. The plant and animal species not cultivated on farms are the sure losers, as humanity encroaches on the habitats of other species that are not directly conducive to food production or that compete directly with

I don’t mean to deny the mouth-watering temptation of a fresh, juicy burger. Rather, my point’s about the stubborn reality of creating value: the $27 gap between the $3 or less the average American pays and the $30 or so a burger actually costs is economic harm that is done by industrial era food producers to people, communities, society, the natur

also need less grain to produce them, reducing the pressure on food crops and the use of fertilizers too. And it’s a huge boon for animal welfare whenever fewer livestock