Coronavirus has exposed the weakness of ultra-processed, plant-based foods

The global pandemic highlights the inability of more processed food products dependent on complex supply chains and factories to build a more resilient food system.

Beyond Meat, which debuted as a Wall Street success, is hitting some stock exchange speed bumps following Goldman Sachs’ report that it has downgraded Beyond Meat’s stock rating to sell. When you dig deeper into the inability of plant-based protein to address a global pandemic, Goldman Sachs’ decision makes a lot of sense.

When competitor company Impossible Foods made its debut it’s branding message was clear: eating plant-based can save the planet. Beyond Meat has also touted many similar messages about how cattle are causing massive environmental damage. Yet several weeks into the coronavirus outbreak major plant-based product makers have been relatively silent about how the products they peddled as a panacea for our protein needs can help offset the crisis’ impact.

Although there’s no way to know exactly what everyone is panic-buying during coronavirus, retail meat sales surged 77% during the month of March as Americans prepared to quarantine with fresh beef sales climbing 9.8% alone. There is also a lot of anecdotal information suggesting that vegan foods and plant-based alternatives quickly fall out of vogue when the prospect of food shortages loom. By and large, when parents are faced with the prospect of being unable to shop for groceries they don’t choose plant-based burgers that cost twice as much as grass-fed beef, they choose animal proteins. 

Monocultures are also susceptible to pandemics 

Even if we set aside plant-based protein’s inability to provide us with the same vital nutrients humans have thrived on for millions of years, it’s also important to point out that plant-based protein companies are building their businesses on the same industrialized food chain that has left so many store shelves empty. 

Plant-based protein companies rely on monocultures of peas and soybeans shipped long distances to factories where the ingredients are processed into different products, packaged, and shipped across the United States. Although the large-scale industrialized food system was meant to provide more abundant food throughout the world, it creates certain weaknesses. First, it increases exposure and makes it easier for viruses to spread as several humans come into contact with the growing, harvesting, processing, distribution, manufacturing, and retail of food products. 

The chain is also only as strong as its weakest link. With so many critical mid-stream points affected by coronavirus through closures or less employee power, getting monoculture-derived food from the field to consumers’ tables becomes nearly impossible. From cold storage facilities to truck drivers to food processing plant workers, many points throughout the large-scale supply chain will be impacted.

A monoculture dependent system also puts our food supply at serious risk by relying on a handful of inputs to produce massive quantities of processed food. Unlike diversified farms, monocultures cannot offset or absorb the impact of a major issue disrupting the production of a crop that it produces. Bananas are already facing a fungal disease that has been estimated by some outlets as having the potential to decimate the world’s banana crop.

Same number of cows, declining pollution

Plant-based food companies often say that cows are a leading cause of climate change, but coronavirus has led to some interesting observations about the biggest sources of GHG emissions. As people stay closer to home and rely less on cars and planes to travel, air pollution has plummeted. 

Meanwhile, the US is still home to the same number of cows. There are still opportunities for conventional beef production to improve its carbon footprint. But the maps showing the significant decline in pollution make a compelling case for how badly cows have been scapegoated for climate change.

And many of those cows are helping to keep consumers fed as grocery stores run low on food or limit purchase amounts. 

Regenerative agriculture is about much more than soil health, animal welfare, and healthy ecosystems. It’s about building a more resilient food system that is less susceptible to volatility. Regional food systems provide food security, independence, the preservation of open space, an opportunity for agricultural education, and so much more. They also help communities better absorb the ongoing ripple effects of a devastating event in the global supply chain like COVID-19. When communities are dependent on global chains that source the majority of their food products from overseas, they are far more exposed to food shortages.

Localized, diversified farming operations are also better able to supply us with nutritious foods instead of empty processed calories. Not all proteins are created equal, with beef containing essential nutrients that can’t be found in plants. Small-scale farmers have risen to the occasion to keep their communities fed.

Lauren Manning, Esq., LL.M., is a cattle farmer, an agricultural law professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, food journalist, and contributor to the forthcoming documentary and book project Sacred Cow: The environmental, nutritional, and ethical case for better meat.