Welcome to FERN’s Friday Feed (#FFF), where we share the stories from this week that made us stop and think.
The bleak spiritual calculus of Impossible Burger
The Paris Review
“A good portion of the UN’s most recent report on climate change addressed the problem of land scarcity due to animal industries,” writes Meghan O’Gieblyn. “Technological solutions alone, the UN argued, could not be relied on to solve this problem; instead, the crisis demanded ‘diet shifts’ on a massive scale. What it called for was—in a word—asceticism (or, in the jargon of the IPCC scientists, ‘demand reduction’). If we wish to survive on this planet, economies must be restrained; we must learn how to live on less. It’s possible that mock meat, with its uncanny verisimilitude, may help avert, or at least delay, total catastrophe. Or perhaps it will merely confirm our secret hope that human ingenuity will outwit all our creditors, that, in the end, we will be made to relinquish nothing.”
From Maple to Munchery, lessons from the failures of artisanal takeout
San Francisco Chronicle
“The idea was very exciting and a big proposition,” said Pascal Rigo, a chef who served as Munchery’s customer experience officer. “But not only Munchery but everyone in this category that wanted to manufacture and deliver their own food to customers had difficulties. It’s very complicated. You can be either a good food company or a good delivery company, but I don’t think anyone has been able to do both.”
In a changing economy, Cheyenne ranchers work hard to survive
The Washington Post
“The rolling hills and arid soil of the Cheyenne River Reservation don’t lend themselves to industrialized agriculture. Ranching families are faced with the dilemma of continuing in an industry they can’t keep up with, or leaving the only way of life they’ve known,” write photographers Emily Schiffer, Dawnee LeBeau, and Sylvia Picotte. “Many young people from ranching families leave the reservation to pursue more lucrative work. Those who remain are steadfast in their dedication.”
The good and the bad of ugly produce
The Atlantic
Eating ugly produce, the “the rescue dogs of vegetation,” is trending in an era when consumers want to know more about where their food comes from. But the topic has become controversial of late, with some arguing that the market for discarded produce isn’t actually good for growers. “Depending on who you ask, ugly produce is either the salvation or destruction of America’s food system,” writes Amanda Mull. “The reality of its potential impact might be a little more complicated, with start-ups profiting from the food system’s structural problems while also providing real, material good for working-class people.”
A proposed Denmark livestock fence sparks debate
NPR
Denmark is considering building a fence on its German border to keep out wild boars who may carry devastating African swine fever. But the fence’s detractors say it won’t work. “There are large gaps where roads and paths cut through — and boars can even swim, meaning these animals could (and do) easily cross the narrow fjord separating Denmark from Germany,” writes Sidsel Overgaard. And some argue that the fence will threaten the historically fluid border between the two countries, building “yet another symbol of isolationism.”