Beyond Meat Is Struggling, and the Plant-Based Meat Industry Worries

Re:Beyond Meat Is Struggling, and the Plant-Based Meat Indus... by akiselev on Tuesday November 29, 2022 @12:38PM (#33790631)

A million kg of the most calorie dense leafy green (parsnip or kale at 50-60 kcal/100 grams) would be equivalent to about 167,000 kg of wheat (~360 kcal/100 grams). A bushel of wheat is about 27kg and the US produces about 50 bushels per acre [1] or 1,350 kg of wheat per acre. To produce the caloric equivalent of a million kg of leafy greens you would need about 130 acres (167,000/1350) of wheat. The average farm in the US is over 400 acres in size [2].

The “largest vertical farm in the world by some margin” produces less calories than a tiny family farm that can barely afford its own tractor. The largest wheat farm in Canada is over 35,000 acres which means it produces just as much food per day as the largest vertical farm produces per year. That wheat farm isn’t even in the list of top 10 largest farms in North America.

We’re comparing pebbles to continents.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/190356/wheat-yield-per-h...

[2] https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistic...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Beyond Meat Is Struggling, and the Plant-Based Meat Indus... by TylerE on Tuesday November 29, 2022 @01:32PM (#33791301)

Can’t grow wheat in the Middle East, though. In fact, Dubai can’t grow any of their own food outdoors.

The industry is growing at 25-30% YoY…. That’s gonna snowball fast.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Beyond Meat Is Struggling, and the Plant-Based Meat Indus... by akiselev on Tuesday November 29, 2022 @01:53PM (#33791571)

Wheat was first grown in Mesopotamia, literally in the middle of the Middle East!

> The industry is growing at 25-30% YoY…. That’s gonna snowball fast.

Pure fantasy. We’ve had vertical farming for thousands of years already - first built by the same Babylonians that grew wheat in Mesopotamia! When’s it going to start snowballing?

[ Parent | on HN ]