Giving Compass' Take:

• Environmental writer George Monbiot believes that the future of food will be in lab-grown technology, and the farming industry will soon become irrelevant. 

• Monbiot explains that there are few if any government investments that are directly investing in the expansion or supply of healthier and nutritious food, making lab-grown tech a viable alternative. What would incentivize donors to invest in this industry? 

• Learn how clean meat is created and it's potential in the market. 

We're wasting our breath arguing over plant- and meat-based diets, says George Monbiot. The environmental writer thinks the future of food lies in lab-grown technology and that, within the next couple of decades, the whole farming industry as we know it – both in pastures and CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) – will be made irrelevant.

It's a bold claim that will likely make many people uncomfortable. Indeed, I read Monbiot's article in the Guardian with considerable skepticism, but he presents some interesting facts. Farming is devastating the natural environment and governments are failing to rein in the destruction. He cites research by the Food and Land Use Coalition, which found precisely zero examples of "governments using their fiscal instruments to directly support the expansion of supply of healthier and more nutritious food." He describes various impending catastrophes that are likely to hit food supply networks eventually.

So what does Monbiot think can replace traditional food? He's a proponent of lab-grown proteins, namely a product made by Finnish company Solar Foods that looks like flour but is 50 percent protein and made by capturing CO2 from the air. Whereas fermentation usually relies on plant sugars to feed microbes, Solar Foods' process replaces it with carbon, which disconnects agricultural feedstocks from agricultural production.

FastCo reported last year, "The process uses solar power to split water through electrolysis in a bioreactor, creating hydrogen that can give microbes energy as they’re also fed carbon. The microbes produce a food that’s composed of roughly 20-25% carbs, 5-10% fat, and 50% protein."

Read the full article about lab grown foods by Katherine Martinko at TreeHugger.