Vertical farms, lab-grown meat: The sustainable future of food, or ‘wishful thinking’?

Farmers have grown food in roughly the same way for thousands of years …. Now, entrepreneurs say they have a better idea …. Why not make food in a completely different way, maybe growing lettuce in skyscrapers and creating meat from cells in a petri dish?

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The money poured into food startups may just reflect wishful thinking on the part of investors who want to do something about the climate …. Some scientists are dubious that the many companies that say they can grow fish and steak from cells will actually be able to do so on a large scale in the next decade.

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Vertical farms are expensive to run because they have to use power to provide the one thing that’s free in traditional farming: light from the sun.

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Consumers seem to be in no hurry to change their food habits, despite climate concerns …. [M]eat consumption has climbed and is at an all-time high in the U.S. Global meat consumption rose by an average of 1.9% a year in the decade leading up to 2017, about twice as fast as population growth.

Read full, original article: Dinner As We Know it Is Hurting the Planet. But What If We Radically Rethink How We Make Food?