Plant meat common Kiwi dish by 2050

A typical Kiwi dinner in 2050 will see millennials and their children likely dine on a meal of plantbased protein.

The meat alternative scenario was presented as both a threat and opportunity for New Zealand farmers by a panel of experts at a Tauranga conference attended by more than 100 food tech industry representatives.

Eric O’Brien from US-based Agtech and farmland investment firm Fall Line Capital doubted the dairy industry had much to fear with the rise of alternative proteins and milks.

‘‘This is a growth opportunity across the board for products that consumers are demanding and we have got a growing economy worldwide. It’s a proliferation of choice.’’

The conference was part of Techweek, the annual event that showcases the country’s technology and innovation sectors.

O’Brien’s company manages about US$325 million of capital and has partnered with companies including Impossible Foods, creators of the Impossible Burger and Ripple Foods, creators of a pea-derived milk alternative.

He doubted alternative proteins would replace animal meat. Companies such as Impossible Foods had targeted their burger at meat eaters and looked to complement food choices rather than replace meat.

Food futurist Dr Rosie Bosworth said that view was unlikely to last over the long term and questioned how New Zealand food exporters could compete with this challenge without marking it up for a massive premium.

Meat and dairy products still required high quantities of water and had to be transported to reach markets. Consumers were likely to have alternative products grown on their doorstep, she said.

‘‘Other products could come in, and it doesn’t matter how amazing ours are, there could be a time and place where ours become more and more irrelevant.’’

Bosworth said it offered farmers opportunity, because people had only begun discovering what plants could be made into protein products.

‘‘We can be the leaders in that plant library in understanding what new plants and what new local native crops can be used in these mixes.

‘‘It’s a massive opportunity that we can’t just sit back and watch because we produce beef and lamb pretty damn well.’’

Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Lee-Ann Marsh said the alternatives were all about choice, and were an opportunity for red meat farmers.

‘‘What it means, as Rosie said, it’s probably more at that premium end and making sure we have got a really great product.’’

National Party climate spokesman Todd Muller was more optimistic about the opportunities in the high-end, value-added market for New Zealand producers.

‘‘What we do know that will change, though, is consumer expectation of how that product is produced.’’

New Zealand’s production systems would have to evolve to meet that expectation, and he was confident they could meet that challenge. That required farmers being more efficient with carbon emissions and being able to demonstrate their products had minimal impact on water quality. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor doesn’t accept the Government’s freshwater quality targets are unattainable but says the whole country needs to do better to make it happen.

The national Policy Statement for Freshwater Management set a goal of having 90 per cent of rivers and lakes ‘‘swimmable’’ by 2040.

A swimmable lake or river has a low E.coli level, used as an indicator of human-health risk.

Currently 72 per cent of the nation’s rivers and lakes are classed as swimmable, with less than 260 E.coli per 100 millilitres.

At the Taranaki Federated Farmers annual meeting, O’Connor was questioned over why the swimmable E.coli level was ‘‘almost impossibly low’’, despite some international definitions being above 500 E.coli per 100ml.

‘‘I don’t accept that it’s impossible to get to that level,’’ he said.

‘‘We want swimmable over a generation and what I know about farmers is that we can pretty much do anything if we’re given clear guidelines and the time to adapt.

‘‘I think that on the basis that we want to have a reputation that is better than the US and the UK and matches the rhetoric around our marketing, then I think that we can get on and do it and still have very profitable farms.’’

In this month’s budget, the Government committed $5m over four years to upgrading the nutrient management tool Overseer. The funding would be used to broaden the range of land types and farming systems covered by the software and fund development of a more user-friendly interface, helping farmers adopt environmentally friendly farm practices faster.

‘‘We can do this, we’ve just got to allow people, through the exchange of knowledge and practices, to move in that direction,’’ O’Connor said.