Next big technological shift

     In the 1990s who would have seen the impact that the digital revolution would have had on our lives.  How we communicate, learn, get our music, even the way our cars work have been dramatically changed.  We may be seeing another seismic change in what we eat that will cause a change in agriculture that may be profound.
     The move in diets from dairy and meat will have significant impacts on what farmers grow.  Traveling around the Mid West recently it was clear that a vast amount of land is used in the production of our dairy and meat production.

     So what will bring about this dramatic change--the rapid increase in non-dairy and non-meat products.



     The growth in non-dairy milk alternatives from nut based products is rapidly growing if you go into any grocery store.  If you haven't tried these alternative products you are missing out on healthier products that can have a very similar texture and taste to milk.  My favorites are almond and soy milk.  The texture of soy milk is probably the closest to regular milk and certainly better than skim milk.  Almond milk is better if you want to stay with a lower calorie drink.  I even mix those two drinks.

     

         At the same time, the rapid growth of non-meat products that closely resemble meat is escalating daily.   The two major companies in this growth are Beyond Burger and the Impossible Burger companies.   While the product that they have initially developed is a burger product they will be eventually rolling out other meat products such as steak, chicken and fish.  The initial efforts have focused on developing a product that feels and tastes like real meat but the future will be targeted to having those qualities in a far healthier product.  Once these are developed and are price competitive to real meat the meat industry will be severely impacted. 

      Getting back to all those Mid-Western farmers who now grow crops that go into dairy and meat what happens to them?  Will they go the way of workers in the blue collar jobs that don't have equivalent jobs to move to?  Or will the transition mean that they will transition to crops that are used in the production of the new products?  The Mid West may be in for a change in the near future similar to what the coal mining areas of our Country have been experiencing the past 50 years.