WHY WE CULTIVATE
STOP CLIMATE CHANGE
18% of annual world emissions come from today's meat industry.
STOP CLIMATE CHANGE
18% of the world’s emissions come from today’s meat industry. That’s more than the emissions from all transportation combined. And much of those emissions come from animal agriculture’s most emissions-intensive production practices, like raising animals in open-air feedlots and transporting them hundreds of miles for food. The solution isn’t to eat less meat; it’s to eat better meat.
SAVE FRESH WATER
Cultured meat uses significantly less water than conventional meat. Meat production is one of the biggest uses of water in the world, accounting for 26% of the fresh water we use annually. For example, a single cow can drink up to 30 gallons of water each day. With 1.5 billion cows on the planet, that is a lot of water. By cultivating meat, we can save significant amounts of water and help preserve our planet's water resources.
END HUNGER
Today, we rely on animals to raise meat, a process that is not only inefficient but also unsustainable. On average, 48% of a animal’s body weight is edible meat; the remaining 52% goes toward animal feed, waste, and the slaughterhouse itself. In contrast, cultured meat only requires a small amount of inputs to grow and provide the right cellular environment. This means that 40% of the world’s grain, which is currently used to raise animals, could instead be used to feed the hungry.
PREVENT BIODIVERSITY LOSS
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, including species, genes, and ecosystems. Biodiversity is key to the health of our planet, providing human and animal habitats, clean air and water, and a range of products and services we rely on. The world has lost a third of its biodiversity since humans came on the scene, and today we are at a critical point where the loss of more biodiversity is causing profound impacts to our environment and our lives. Current human activities – including meat production – are the biggest drivers of biodiversity loss in the world today. In fact, 41% of global deforestation is related to beef production alone.
IMPROVE ANIMAL WELFARE
For decades, animal agriculture has caused tremendous animal suffering. This is especially true in the case of industrial farming, which has created substandard conditions for animals in order to maximize profit. The only way to ensure better animal welfare is to cut animals out of the food system altogether and instead cultivate meat in a lab. Cultured meat will allow us to mitigate the current animal welfare crisis caused by the animal agriculture industry and set a new standard of animal welfare for the future.