The world’s largest meat-producer, Brazil, is found to be ignoring embargoes and letting cattle graze on land which is supposed to be recovering, an investigation has found.
But can swapping cows for a Finnish company’s food product made from electricity, water and air be the answer?
Brazil’s government environment agency Ibama has forbidden farmers from letting their cattle graze on certain land in an attempt to let forests grow back. Some land has even had embargoes in place since 2010. However, some of these protected sites have been found to have four-legged visitors there regardless.
A colossal 145,000-hectare (358,302-acre) farm is one of several owned by the company AgroSB Agropecuária SA – known locally as Santa Bárbara. AgroSB supplies cattle to JBS, the world’s largest meat packing firm and single biggest supplier of beef, chicken and leather around the world, with 350,000 customers in more than 150 countries.
Between 2010-2013, however, AgroSB were by fined more than $18m (£14m) – at current rates – by Ibama for deforestation on their Lagoa do Triunfo farm. An investigation found that they were knowingly defying embargoes.
However, on the other side of the world, an innovative company may have found a solution.
Source: Solar Foods
Solar Foods, a Finnish company, has created food from electricity, water and air. Thinking big, they aim to have 50m meals’ worth of their product sold in supermarkets within two years.
The powder, known as Solein, can be attributed texture through 3D printing, or added to dishes and food products as a sort of ingredient.
Dr Pasi Vainikka, the Chief Executive of Solar Foods, says the company had created a carbon-neutral way to produce a fully natural protein source without requiring land or water. Vainikka also commented that it would be possible to “make the powder into fibres that resemble meat or bread”. A great, sustainable alternative to modern agriculture and aquaculture.
What do you think?
At Koala Chess Art, we think any way of reducing the strain on our already limited resources is a step in the right direction.
