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, weâve taken a close look at plant-based meatâwhatâs in it, where it comes from, and whether itâs really saving the planet like some folks claim.
This week to wrap up, letâs zoom all the way out.
Because beyond the burger, beyond the branding, beyond the sizzle and the soyâthis shift toward âalternative proteinsâ is having a real, measurable impact on farmers.
And itâs 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 fenceâas a livestock farm that works directly with the land, the animals, and the folks who eat our food.
Letâs break it down.
đ The Livestock Industry: Pressureâs Building, But Itâs Not a Landslide (Yet)
Letâs start with the obvious: plant-based meats are trying to take a bite out of the meat industry.
And sure, theyâve made some noise. Youâve seen them in the fast food drive-thru, in the frozen aisle, maybe even on your cousinâs 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 âmycelium bacon.â
But hereâs the reality:
Meat sales are still strongâespecially 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 arenât vegetariansâtheyâre âflexitarians,â looking to cut back but not cut out.
Still, weâre 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 âgreenâ their menus
Investor-funded companies pressuring the media and grocery stores to carry more alternatives
This affects conventional producers more than farms like oursâbecause our customers arenât just shopping for calories. Theyâre buying flavor, ethics, and trust. But the pressureâs there. And itâs growing.
đž The Crop Side: More Peas, Fewer Cows?
Letâs look at the other side of the food chainâwhat 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 thatâs a good thing. More legumes = more diversity, right?
But letâs 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? Itâs happening overseasâparticularly in China and India, where cost is lower and environmental oversight is⌠letâs say, different.
So, while we may be swapping one set of industrial ingredients for another, the underlying system hasnât changed. Itâs just wearing a plant-based label.
đ§ž Winners, Losers, and Whoâs Left Holding the Hay Bale
Hereâs a quick look at whoâs benefitingâand whoâs being left behindâin 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 usâwho are working with animals, rotating pastures, stewarding landâweâre out here actually regenerating the environment⌠and getting squeezed between policy trends and supermarket marketing.
đ¤ The Big Picture: Is Fake Meat the Solution, or Just a New Distraction?
Letâs 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 donât bring back the connection between people and their food.
Thatâs where regenerative farming shines. Weâre not outsourcing. Weâre not isolating protein or flavor in a lab. Weâre building food systems from the ground upâliterallyâstarting with the soil and working outward to healthy animals and well-fed communities.
đ§ What Can You Do?
Hereâs the good news: you donât 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 importantlyâŚ
Can I shake the hand that raised it?
If you canât, maybe itâs not the kind of food we should be building our future on.
đ Thank You for Standing With Real Farms
At C&F Farms, weâre doing this the old wayâwith a forward-thinking twist. Weâre rotating animals, improving soil, treating animals with care, and growing food that feeds people⌠not investors.
Weâre not trying to reinvent meatâweâre 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.