| Protein is an essential part of the human diet, but the way it's produced is coming under heat. Beef, a big environmental culprit, is particularly under pressure. Consumers are cutting back amid the cost-of-living crisis and concerns over health, animal welfare and the planet. While much of that has been a trend in Europe for years, now some of the world's biggest beef eaters — like Argentina — are shifting to chicken or lentils. Gen Z is increasingly choosing chicken, not beef. Even in meat-consuming giant China, pork demand has been savaged by Covid, while European producers are under pressure as their exports sink. Danish Crown, one of the world's top pork shippers, is shutting offices and cutting jobs. Another Danish butcher, Skare Meat Packers, has filed for bankruptcy proceedings. And elsewhere in the protein world, egg farmers are battling a bird flu outbreak and high feed costs. Meatless alternatives have their problems, too. Investors are becoming less keen to back startups, sales have slipped and shares of Beyond Meat — the industry's poster child — have dropped. Rival Impossible Foods is reducing its workforce by a fifth. Price, taste and consumers' health concerns over the heavy processing of fake meat have loomed large. As Deena Shanker shows in her Bloomberg Businessweek article, Beyond and Impossible overpromised and underdelivered, and plant-based produce may turn out to be a flop. Not everyone agrees. Though there's a lot of snake oil in the sector and many companies will fail before hitting any milestones, the industry is working on improving taste and texture, and of course scaling, according to Brian Ruszczyk, the chief of Earth First Food Ventures. "We remain very bullish," said Ruszczyk, who together with Milltrust Ventures has launched the Smart Protein Fund. "We think that our industry is no different than solar or renewables 20 years ago. There were many naysayers for solar panels." A new generation of alternatives is on the way. If cultivated meat may already ring a bell, expect to hear more about precision fermentation, biomass fermentation and molecular farming. Even in the plant-based space, startups are working on improving fake burgers, steaks and sausages — revamping peas and soy so the food can be less processed. There are attempts to fix animal farming too. More climate solutions are emerging for cattle, from methane-suppressing feed additives to better manure handling. Regenerative farming is the buzzword. Dutch egg producer Kipster cuts emissions by replacing the fresh grains hens eat with leftovers that humans won't. There's no silver bullet for protein's woes and much work is needed to clean up food's environmental footprint, but change is coming. —Agnieszka de Sousa in London | 
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