Plant Based Meats, The Environment, & Agricultural Impacts Pt.1

written by

Jared Frye

posted on

August 20, 2025

Over the years, we’ve had a lot of conversations with our customers about food labels, sourcing, and what’s actually in the food we feed our families. And time and again, one topic keeps popping up—plant-based meat.

In fact I did a short writeup on plant based meats a year or two ago, but since it still keeps coming up I thought I would do a deeper dive!

Over the next 3 weeks I’m going to dig into the topic of plant-based meats and give you some insight into the impacts of fake meat on your health, the agricultural industry and the world as a whole.

You’ve seen it in fast food commercials, popping up on grocery store shelves, and even in flashy tech articles talking about 3D-printed “steaks.”

Yes, that’s a real thing. They’re literally 3D-printing meat.

And I get it—people are trying to eat better, be more conscious of their impact, and find alternatives to the mess of industrial agriculture.

But here’s the thing…

Just because something is labeled as “plant-based” doesn’t mean it’s good for you—or the planet.

So today, I want to take off the gloves (gently) and walk through some questions I think every consumer should be asking about these so-called “fake meats.”

As a farmer committed to regenerative practices and real food, this isn’t about judgment—it’s about education, transparency, and a return to common sense.

1. Can You Make It in Your Own Kitchen?

Here’s a rule of thumb I’ve come to trust over the years:

If you couldn’t make it in your own kitchen, maybe it doesn’t belong on your dinner table.

Let’s look at a typical plant-based burger. One of the leading brands has the following main ingredients:

Water
Pea protein isolate
Expeller-pressed canola oil
Methylcellulose
Yeast extract
Potassium chloride
Natural flavors
Titanium dioxide (for color)

That’s not a recipe—it’s a science experiment.

If I asked you to whip up a burger using pea protein isolate and methylcellulose, you’d probably look at me sideways. And you’d be right to. These are highly processed industrial ingredients, not foods you’re going to pick up at the local farmers market.

And while “plant-based” sounds simple and wholesome, most of these products are the opposite—ultra-processed, lab-assembled, and dependent on chemical inputs every step of the way.

2. Can You Pronounce the Ingredients?

Here’s another great rule of thumb…if you can’t pronounce it, maybe don’t eat it.

Now of course, this isn’t a hard science. I’ve met some folks who can pronounce “methylcellulose” just fine. But that doesn’t mean they know what it is—or that it belongs in a burger.

The point is, ingredient labels on these fake meats often read more like a chemistry exam than a recipe. Go ahead and flip over the package of most popular plant-based brands and you’ll find a long list of additives, stabilizers, texturizers, and lab-made flavorings.

Sure, they’re technically “plant-derived,” but they’re not food in any traditional sense of the word.

I saw a great example of this from another farm like ours: they posted three ingredient lists—two from top-selling plant-based burgers, and one from a premium dog food.

And unless you really squint, you’d have a hard time telling which is which.

When you see ingredients like:

Titanium dioxide (used for color)
Methylcellulose (a binder made from plant fiber)
Disodium inosinate (a flavor enhancer)
Soy leghemoglobin (a heme-like molecule made using GMO yeast)

…you can ask yourself, is this something I’d cook with at home? Or even keep in my pantry?

This isn’t about fear—it’s about awareness. The more we rely on processed, lab-made shortcuts to mimic nature, the more we disconnect from real nourishment.

So yes, reading ingredient lists takes a little time. But once you make it a habit, you’ll start noticing just how unreal many of these “better-for-you” foods really are.

3. Do You Know Where It Comes From?

This one hits close to home—because it is home.

We proudly raise our animals on our farm, on pasture, in the open air. We know the feed, the soil, the weather, and every inch of the land they roam. When we buy from other farms, it’s folks we know and trust—who raise food the right way.

That’s a level of transparency no lab can match.

Meanwhile, the plant-based protein supply chain is… murky, to say the least.

Roughly 80% of the world’s textured soy protein (a common plant-meat ingredient) is processed in China.
Pea protein isolate often comes from Canada or Europe, but many of the processing steps are overseas.
Common additives like canola oil or lecithin often come from GMO sources.

So even if you’re buying your burger from a shiny U.S. brand, the ingredients themselves could be bouncing across the globe before they hit your plate.

At that point, can you really say it’s local? Sustainable? Ethical?

So What’s the Takeaway?

We live in a time when food has become way more complicated than it should be. And “plant-based” meat is one of the most confusing categories out there.

So here’s what I’d offer as a simple filter:

✳️ If it can’t be made in your kitchen…

✳️ If you can’t pronounce the ingredients…

✳️ If you don’t know where it comes from…

Maybe it’s not what real food is supposed to be.

And that doesn’t mean we can’t improve the food system—we absolutely can.

But replacing one industrial system with another doesn’t get us any closer to better health, stronger communities, or a more honest relationship with our food.

What We Believe

At our farm, we believe in raising animals naturally and respectfully. We believe food should be nourishing, not engineered. And we believe you should always know exactly what’s on your plate—and where it came from.

So next time you see a flashy new meatless product at the store or a commercial promising to save the world one lab-grown patty at a time… take a second to ask:

Is this real food?

Or is it just a high-tech detour away from the truth?

How Are Plant-Based Trends Shaping the Future of Farming? Pt.3

Fake Meat, Real Consequences: How Plant-Based Trends Are Shaping the Future of Farming What plant-based meat means for crops, cattle, and the people who grow your food Over the last couple of emails, we’ve taken a close look at plant-based meat—what’s in it, where it comes from, and whether it’s really saving the planet like some folks claim. This week to wrap up, let’s zoom all the way out. Because beyond the burger, beyond the branding, beyond the sizzle and the soy—this shift toward “alternative proteins” is having a real, measurable impact on farmers. And it’s not all good. Some parts of agriculture stand to gain. Others? Not so much. So today, I want to share what this plant-based push looks like from our side of the fence—as a livestock farm that works directly with the land, the animals, and the folks who eat our food. Let’s break it down. 🐄 The Livestock Industry: Pressure’s Building, But It’s Not a Landslide (Yet) Let’s start with the obvious: plant-based meats are trying to take a bite out of the meat industry. And sure, they’ve made some noise. You’ve seen them in the fast food drive-thru, in the frozen aisle, maybe even on your cousin’s grill at the family cookout. Big names like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods got a lot of early attention, and venture capital money has poured into companies making everything from lab-grown chicken to “mycelium bacon.” But here’s the reality: Meat sales are still strong—especially real meat from small farms. Most Americans still eat meat regularly (more than 85%, according to some studies). And most people who buy plant-based meat aren’t vegetarians—they’re “flexitarians,” looking to cut back but not cut out. Still, we’re seeing real shifts, especially in: Fast food chains trying to appeal to younger, more environmentally-conscious customers Institutional buyers (like colleges and hospitals) looking to “green” their menus Investor-funded companies pressuring the media and grocery stores to carry more alternatives This affects conventional producers more than farms like ours—because our customers aren’t just shopping for calories. They’re buying flavor, ethics, and trust. But the pressure’s there. And it’s growing. 🌾 The Crop Side: More Peas, Fewer Cows? Let’s look at the other side of the food chain—what gets planted in the ground. To make a plant-based burger, you need crops. Lots of them. Peas (for protein isolate) Soybeans (textured soy protein) Canola (for oil) Mung beans, chickpeas, rice, and wheat gluten, depending on the brand This shift is starting to reshape what farmers grow, especially in areas like the Northern Plains and Canada, where pulses are becoming big business. Some would say that’s a good thing. More legumes = more diversity, right? But let’s not romanticize it: These crops are often grown in the same monoculture, high-input systems as corn and soy. Many still rely on chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and tillage. And the bulk of the processing? It’s happening overseas—particularly in China and India, where cost is lower and environmental oversight is… let’s say, different. So, while we may be swapping one set of industrial ingredients for another, the underlying system hasn’t changed. It’s just wearing a plant-based label. 🧾 Winners, Losers, and Who’s Left Holding the Hay Bale Here’s a quick look at who’s benefiting—and who’s being left behind—in the fake meat gold rush: Winners Losers Global food processors & protein isolate manufacturers Small livestock producers who rely on commodity markets Investors & start-ups with slick branding Soil health (if we keep propping up monocultures) Industrial pulse crop farmers Rural communities without access to value-added processing Big food brands adding green options Consumers thinking they are getting real, whole food Meanwhile, folks like us—who are working with animals, rotating pastures, stewarding land—we’re out here actually regenerating the environment… and getting squeezed between policy trends and supermarket marketing. 🤔 The Big Picture: Is Fake Meat the Solution, or Just a New Distraction? Let’s ask the million-dollar question: Are plant-based meats fixing the food system? In my view: not really. They may reduce emissions compared to feedlot beef, but they do nothing to solve the root problems of: Soil degradation Chemical dependency Globalized, fragile supply chains Processed, nutrient-poor food And they certainly don’t bring back the connection between people and their food. That’s where regenerative farming shines. We’re not outsourcing. We’re not isolating protein or flavor in a lab. We’re building food systems from the ground up—literally—starting with the soil and working outward to healthy animals and well-fed communities. 🧠 What Can You Do? Here’s the good news: you don’t need a PhD in food science to make the right call. You just need to ask questions like: Who grew this food? How was it raised? Can I pronounce the ingredients? Can I picture the farm it came from? And maybe most importantly… Can I shake the hand that raised it? If you can’t, maybe it’s not the kind of food we should be building our future on. 🙏 Thank You for Standing With Real Farms At C&F Farms, we’re doing this the old way—with a forward-thinking twist. We’re rotating animals, improving soil, treating animals with care, and growing food that feeds people… not investors. We’re not trying to reinvent meat—we’re trying to restore trust in it. So thanks for standing with us. Thanks for choosing real food, real farms, and real flavor. And if someone at the grocery store ever tells you fake meat is going to save the world? Tell them your farmer said otherwise.