The Future of Beef (No Cow Was Harmed In the Making of this Future)

Who's Saving the Planet?

Within our lifetimes, actually within this decade according to our guest today, your grocery store will have three options for a burger: traditional (a la once living cow), plant based, and cultivated meat.

If you're new to cultivated meat yet, you're not alone. But soon, you will, and Leonardo DiCaprio is going to make sure of that.

Our Guest today is Dr. Neta Lavon, the VP of Research and Development (VP of R&D, great ring to it) for Aleph Farms, one of the largest and fastest growing cultivated meat companies on earth (and soon, in space, too). In the summer of 2021 they closed a $100 million fundraising round to bring their cultivated meat products into commercial production, and secured the backing of a very vocal climate advocate, the one and only Leo.

Cultivated meat is cellularly identical to meat harvested from once living cows. The cells are grown in a controlled setting and grafted to an organic skeleton, which provides the structure so the product resembles what we've come to expect from a traditional steak. All, with no cow on the premises.

Meat production today accounts for 60% of the GHG of overall food production, and beef is the worst offender of the lot. That's before considering the clear cutting of forests, water use, pesticides and fertilizers grown for feed, and downstream effect of the waste. Aleph's technology promises a future where we are able to enjoy the luxury of beef, without the cost to the environment.