Philipp Stangl on why blending regenerative meat with plant-based is key to get animal protein consumption down and regenerative production up

Philipp Stangl, CEO and Co-founder of Rebel Meat joins us to talk about the critical role of blended products, transparency, and changing consumer patterns towards regenerative transition.

LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION ON:

Why is plant-based meat considered most sustainable? How are blended products the key towards reducing our animal protein consumption? Why should we include the externalities in the pricing? How do we revolutionise communication of regenerative practices to consumers? Why is changing consumer patterns important in the transition?

Making Meat Production Sustainable

The world’s meat consumption needs to decrease drastically for the world to completely transition to regenerative meat production. In Germany, plant-based meat is only 0.9% of the market, which means that the market share of actual meat is over 99%. Most of these are factory-farmed and being raised through feed that are mostly from South America. A study suggests that if this percentage can be reduced by at least 20%, imported feeds can be totally out of the picture. This can greatly impact deforestation in the Amazon.

“There’s a lot of attention being given right now to making meat go away. I think that’s probably a little bit too much attention, given that there is very little attention given to making meat sustainable itself. There are so many different angles on how to actually do that.” – Philipp Stangl

Providing Consumers Some Alternatives

Because it’s not a secret that meat overconsumption is an issue, many consumers are ready to take serious measures to reduce their meat consumption and find products that can replace meat. Rebel Meat took this opportunity to join the “blenditarian movement” and created a brand that offers plant-based meat, which ultimately has the goal of “helping people to eat less, but better meat.” They offer products (burger patties, sausages, minced meat, etc.) that are roughly 50% organic meat (with the hopes of using cultivated meat in the future) and 50% naturally grown vegetables, with no artificial ingredients. 

“Our promise is to offer the customer the most sustainable meat available. Obviously here’s where regenerative meat comes into play.” – Philipp Stangl

Becoming a Market Maker

Rebel Meat’s goal is to become a market maker for blended products and sell the products for a price that’s reasonable for the consumers. In reaching the goal, the importance of spreading stories of regenerative agriculture to the masses and communicating to consumers how exactly the goods are produced are crucial. There is a need to change the way the meat industry advertises as most of it is not truthful. 

“What we somehow have to get to is also more transparency and more truthfulness in the communication. We then can basically be in a better position to communicate the advantages of regenerative agriculture.” – Philipp Stangl

Beginning of Regenerative Transition

In order to transition to regenerative practices in meat production, the prices should reflect the externalities and realities the unsustainable practices pose. It’s for people to understand that the cheaper they pay, the lesser the quality of products, thus transparency in the labels should be up to the extent of where the feeders are grown, how the animals are held, etc. As the prices change and becomes fair for everyone, the demand changes as well and the consumption of animal protein changes drastically enough to provide an opportunity for the world to completely switch to regenerative practices, which are more sustainable in the long run. 

“If we could transition the whole system towards more quality and less quantity, everyone could win. That’s such an important message.” – Philipp Stangl

Other Points Discussed:

Koen and Philipp also talked about:

  • how Philipp wishes to have externalities included in costs to make all industries sustainable;
  • how the price tags of products are 3x compared to the actual price we pay; 
  • how Philipp wants to invest in scaling and increasing negotiation power; and 
  • how regenerative transition actually begins with changing our consumption patterns. 

To know more about Philipp Stangl and Rebel Meat, download and listen to this episode. 

Links:

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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.

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