Growing affluence and increasing demands for meat in China, a country where meat consumption has already quadrupled since 1971, will place a very high pressure on agricultural production and trade both in China and globally says a new PwC report entitled China’s agricultural challenges – roads to be travelled.

This new FCRN think piece focuses on the future of livestock production - or rather on a range of different livestock futures.

This review paper published in the Journal of Integrative Agriculture discusses the future of artificial meat.  It suggests that the meat industry will not be able to respond to increases in demand while also finding solutions to livestock induced welfare, health and sustainability challenges, and they will face competition from emerging non­-traditional meat and protein products, ranging from plant based meat replacements and in the longer term artificial meat.

The launch of the new vegetarian alternative to the meatballs – grönsaksbullar - is what Ikea calls “the first step to include a wider variety of healthier and more sustainable food choices”.

This paper finds that consumption of high-fat yoghurt and cheese are linked to reduced risks of developing type 2 diabetes – reducing these risks by as much as a fifth. High meat consumption, on the other hand, is linked to a higher risk, regardless of the fat content of the meat. These results are in line with previous studies of eating habits that indicated a link between high consumption of dairy products and a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.

Food Navigator highlights new data Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) recent Food Price Index, which measures the monthly change in international prices of food commodities.

This article from Global Meat News describes projections for beef, pork, poultry and sheep and lamb based on the latest European Commission Short Term Outlook for EU arable crops, dairy and meat markets in 2015 and 2016. Beef production is said to increase by 2% this year due to the expansion of the EU dairy­ and suckler­cow herd.

A question that emerged from FCRN's previous discussions with various experts on animal farming was whether breeding for productivity and animal welfare can be aligned.

In this article published in the Economist, Jimmy Smith, director of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) argues that the livestock issue requires a differentiated approach.