The vegan movement is omnipresent. Thanks to new technologies, the range of plant-based products has increased enormously in recent years and supermarkets, clothes shops and drugstores can no longer be imagined without them. And sales are high. While the movement fascinates and often even manages to change people, it irritates or annoys others.

Joël Luc Cachelin, author of this book, writes that a vegan revolution must be comprehensive and radical in order to shift from the consumption of animal proteins to succeed. Although some industrialised countries are already experiencing a decline in meat consumption, global consumption will continue to increase over the next five years. This is also shown by the 2018 Meat Atlas published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which forecasts a 13 per cent increase. The reason for this is the new middle classes in Asia and Africa, where meat is still considered a status symbol. This is absurd insofar as other parts of these continents are experiencing severe famine which, in turn, is due to the intensive use of animals.

There are actually many reasons in favour of reorganising our food system. Humanity needs to consume less meat and dairy products in order to protect our planet. Intensive farming with its factory farms not only causes great animal suffering, pandemics and zoonoses, it is also responsible for poor soils because the use of pesticides reduces nutrients and biodiversity, which leads to crop failures and famine. Animal products are then responsible for 83 per cent of agricultural land consumption. Deforestation of primary and other forests and the creation of monoculture landscapes also have a major impact on the climate.

The author does not want to moralise, but rather show us solution-oriented ways out of our eating habits, traditions and outdated food systems, underpinned with a great deal of optimism. In his book, he dares to play an exciting mind game based on a fictional narrative and talks of the independence of "Veganias" and the endeavours of "Karnivorias".

Karnivoria represents the five countries that currently produce the most meat: China, the USA, Brazil, Russia and Germany. As there is no other option after a second multi-pandemic with a high loss of individuals and animals as well as the decline of the entire economy, Karnivoria wants to join the Veganias variants and change its food system.

Vegania stands for a group of islands and presents four options for a plant-based and livestock-free future: The island "Chlorella" dispenses entirely with animal products, whereas the island "High Tech Islands" produce meat and fish from a bioreactor, "Tenebrio" replaces the raw materials of farm animals with the bodies of insects, jellyfish and mussels and the fourth island, "Zirkula", favours recycling; not mass farming but small-scale livestock farming.

The Swiss author, who works as a futurologist and has a background in business administration, is particularly interested in the industries, companies and technologies of the four islands and highlights the economic and profitable benefits in addition to the ethical advantages for animals. An exclusively vegan diet would mean that a third less grain would have to be grown, as there would be no feed for farm animals. A purely vegan lifestyle would open up new growth markets. The author refers to this as the so-called "veganomics emergence". The market share for non-animal proteins will increase by around 11 to 22 per cent by 2035 - and the trend is rising. The report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) consultants shows that the switch to alternative and plant-based proteins, microorganisms and cell cultures derived from meat will increase. In addition to agriculture and the food industry, there is also new economic potential in the clothing and pharmaceutical sectors.

The book highlights that a change in our food system is urgently needed and cannot be postponed any longer. The author appeals to conservative politicians and meat capitalists to introduce new reforms and strive for vegan agriculture. Structures should be created so that the phase-out of factory farming can succeed and climate policy can be driven forward.

To this end, it would make sense to take greater account of purely plant-based farms and to promote them with subsidies, as Sarah Heiligtag from the Hof Narr farm has long been calling for. Incentives must be created for companies to invest more in plant-based products. In addition, political initiatives must be introduced and negotiations must be held with key decision-makers in order to work towards a change in the food system. In general, the acceptance of a vegan lifestyle must be increased by highlighting the benefits of a plant-based diet. Awareness-raising campaigns, events or addressing the topic at schools and universities are useful to serve this purpose.
The protein transition is best tackled now, as the changeover will take several decades.

Joël Luc Cachelin founded the Knowledge Factory in 2009 to inspire, research and advise companies on future issues.

The book "Veganomics - The vegan revolution and its future markets" by Joël Luc Cachelin is available in stores and can also be viewed by appointment during opening hours in the TIR library, where reading and workstations are available. The latest additions to the TIR library are presented in the TIR library newsletter.