The new generation of meatless meat companies has been vocal in its ambition to remake our food system. Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown has said he wants to end all animal farming by 2035. Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown (no relation) sees his company working to make this “the first generation of humans to separate meat from animals.”

As steep a climb as it might sound, it certainly isn’t unrealistic to think that in the near future, startups that make alternative proteins might start eating into the market share for meat and dairy products.

Early signs of such a shift are emerging. According to a USDA-funded report, rising plant-based milk sales could be a factor in the decline of cow’s milk consumption (though overall dairy consumption is on the rise, thanks to cheese). An Israeli startup that makes cell-based or “lab-grown” meat just opened a pilot facility to produce 5,000 slaughter-free burgers a day. And looking ahead, the CEO of beef giant Cargill recently said that plant-based meat could make up as much as 10 percent of the meat market within a few years.

A largely plant-based future would be a win for livestock, 99 percent of which is raised in factory farms, and the environment, as industrial animal agriculture is a major source of pollution. But it would also cause a massive shift in a huge part of the economy — one that could lead to dislocation and upheaval for the hundreds of thousands of farmers and meatpacking workers who make their livelihood from raising and slaughtering animals. What does the future look like for them?

A recent paper from the Breakthrough Institute, a nonprofit that advocates for technological solutions to environmental problems, tried to answer that question. The report surveyed 37 experts on the challenges ahead for a potential plant-based future and found three types of people whose livelihoods could be most vulnerable: farmers who grow soy and corn for animal feed, contract farmers who grow pork or poultry for Big Meat, and meatpacking plant workers.

Read the full article about a plant-based future by Jenny Splitter at Vox.