Big Ag wants a cut of booming fake-meat market
ADM and Cargill are also getting into the business and leveraging their labs and research capabilities to help make new plant-based products for clients including food and beverage makers.
ROD NICKEL: ‘Bunge Ltd, one the world’s biggest grain traders, recently disclosed the 1.6% stake it had purchased in the fast-growing fake-meat startup Beyond Meat. The play looked smart after the stock surged more than 250% since the faux burger and sausage maker’s initial public offering in May… No wonder many top agricultural firms want to grab their cut of the booming market for plant-based fake meat. Bunge’s investment is just one example of how grain traders and seed companies are trying to capitalize on a market that now accounts for 5% of U.S. meat purchases – a share expected to triple over a decade, according to investment management firm Bernstein. That growth would mirror the fast ramp-up of milk substitutes made from crops such as almonds…
Archer Daniels Midland, one of Bunge’s chief rivals. ADM and privately-held grain trader Cargill are selling processed peas and soy proteins to consumer food companies and restaurants that use them to make vegetable burgers, sausages, fish substitutes and other faux-meat products. They are also getting into the business through acquisitions and corporate partnerships or by leveraging their labs and research capabilities to help make new plant-based products for clients including food and beverage makers…
Grain traders and seed-makers are following the lead of Beyond Meat and another startup, Impossible Foods, along with traditional meat producers such as Tyson Foods and Maple Leaf Foods that have cashed in on plant-based meat substitutes. Demand for meat alternatives has soared as consumers add plant-based protein to their diets for health reasons and out of concern for animal welfare and environmental damage from livestock farming…
ADM this year created a new position – director of “flexitarian” solutions – to focus on developing products for food companies who are targeting the market for a mostly plant-based diet, Macciocchi said. The company is also considering repurposing an animal-feed plant in Rotterdam to produce human-grade soy products, he said. ADM has expanded its plant-protein team of scientists and marketers in the past three years even as it aims to cut its overall workforce’. SOURCE…
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