I think if this becomes a reality we are entirely fucked, much as we were in the 1880s when wool prices collapsed and a decade of economic depression followed.

There were a whole bunch of incredibly large land holdings up to their eyeballs in debt that kind of just hobbled on for a while, but not able to actually adapt. Ultimately, the government implemented the land tax to break them up to make way for more productive activities on smaller farms. I see a few parallels here.

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Maybe, but there is a massive opportunity here to transition to supplying feedstock.

Look forward 30-50 years, will there be any dairy farming at all if this tech is perfected?

[–] Xcf456@lemmy.nz 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Oh yeah for sure there is, but whether structurally, institutionally we'll actually do that in a proactive way, I'm not so sure. Dairy farms carry quite a lot of debt so their business models are pretty locked in to an extent.

I wonder when they say sugar as a feedstock, do they mean like sugarcane or is it any sort of crop given everything we eat breaks down into sugars in the end. I wish these articles would link the reports theyre reporting on..

[–] purrtastic@lemmy.nz 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Nowhere is NZ is warm enough for commercial sugarcane production, unfortunately.

[–] Xcf456@lemmy.nz 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yet...? 😬

[–] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 months ago

Savage!

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 3 points 6 months ago

Theoretically, any feedstock that can be converted to sugar would work.

Bioreactors that take "waste" plant material and convert it to sugars have proved very difficult to perfect. There were a huge number tried when biodiesel was "the next big thing".... None became commercially viable, which is why biodiesel died....

[–] threeduck@aussie.zone 1 points 6 months ago

I mean, if a countries economy hinges on the cruel realities of animal agriculture, and a cruelty free alternative takes over - either get with the times, or good riddance to that economy I say.