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American national competitiveness and the future of meat

American national competitiveness and the future of meat

This report, produced jointly by the Good Food Institute and the Breakthrough Institute, argues that the United States should attempt to take the lead in the rapidly developing alternative proteins sector, including cellular agriculture. It frames the move towards alternative proteins as being driven not just by technological developments and investment, but also by increased consumer demand for protein coupled with public concerns about health and sustainability. As we note in the TABLE explainer What is ecomodernism?, the ecomodernism movement (of which the Breakthrough Institute is part) tends not to seek to actively influence consumption patterns but rather seeks to meet demand sustainably.

Food Research Collaboration

News and resources

Tim Lang's Field Notes: Finding hope in a food crisis

Professor Tim Lang reflects on the crises facing food systems locally, nationally and globally, including obesity and overweight, the Ukraine war, diet-related inequalities, declines in biodiversity, and volatile food prices. In this blog for the Food Research Collaboration, he points to reasons to be hopeful: that pressure is building on governments to produce coherent food policy; that the UK has an active movement of food researchers and NGOs; and that the belief that markets alone can resolve the food system’s challenges is growing weaker.

Image: Skitterphoto, London Piccadilly Circus, Pixabay, Pixabay Licence

Decoupling Desire: How can the advertising sector promote better, or less, consumption?

What is the role of food advertising in the context of net zero? In this blog post, Trish Fisher summarises a recent TABLE debate and reflects on the issue of greenwashing, alternative economic models such as B-corporations, government regulation of sustainability claims, and the challenges for the advertising industry of redefining a “good life” that is compatible with sustainability goals. This blog post is written by Trish Fisher, an intern at TABLE working on multiple projects. Currently, she is a graduate student at the University of Michigan pursuing dual master’s degrees in public policy and public health. Trish’s research interests lie at the intersection of climate, food, and health policy.

Superlist UK Environment 2022

UK’s biggest supermarkets are heavily promoting cheap meat

UK NGO Eating Better reports that the UK’s four biggest supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons) are using promotions such as multi-buy or price reduction to encourage meat sales. The report argues that this contradicts the climate commitments made by supermarkets.

Image: geralt, Artificial intelligence, Pixabay, Pixabay Licence

Journal articles

Food companies are using AI to nudge consumer behaviour

This paper analyses the annual reports and websites of 12 leading food and beverage companies and finds that a number of artificial intelligence (AI) enabled methods are being used to “nudge” consumer behaviour or choices, for example by changing the position of options on menu boards, automatically suggesting additional products based on a customer’s current choices, or using virtual-reality-based marketing.

Image: StockSnap, Restaurant people men, Pixabay, Pixabay Licence

Journal articles

Food environments challenge weight management efforts

This paper reviews studies on the interactions between weight loss and food environments in several high-income countries. It finds that unsupportive food environments can undermine people’s efforts to lose weight or maintain weight loss in many ways, especially for people on a low income.

The opportunities of agri-carbon markets

The opportunities of agri-carbon markets

This report from London-based think tank the Green Alliance reviews the evidence on how carbon can be sequestered on working farms and the challenges that must be addressed if such sequestration is to be incorporated into markets for carbon credits.

The secrets of supermarketing

The secrets of supermarketing

This discussion paper from the UK-based Food Research Collaboration presents an alternative interpretation of supermarkets’ business models. Instead of offering low prices purely through economies of scale, the report suggests, supermarkets are running a finely balanced model with very low profit margins and large sale volumes. To keep prices low, supermarkets both persuade customers to buy additional items (which may ultimately go to waste) and charge fees to suppliers in return for marketing and selling their products. Without these supplier fees, supermarkets in the UK would be running at or near a loss.

Image: Peggychoucair, Cereals corn stalks, Pixabay, Pixabay licence

Journal articles

Effects of a consolidated seed sector on the food system

This perspective article by Jennifer Clapp examines the effects of corporate consolidation in the global seed and agrochemical industry. Clapp argues that corporations in this sector with concentrated power can influence the wider food system in many ways, including by influencing markets, technology and governance. The global seed and agrochemical sector is dominated by just four firms - Bayer, Corteva, ChemChina-Syngenta and BASF - down from six in the early 2000s.