Written by Ashley Slud
Buying milk at the store used to be an easy feat. However, the task is a bit more daunting now, as the grocery store shelves are lined with a multitude of milk varieties showcased in all sorts of packaging: almond, oat, macadamia, coconut, amongst others. This diversification demonstrates the newfound popularity of the plant-based diet in our society and the impact it is having on consumers and the economy as a whole.
The push to add more plant-based alternatives into one’s diet, without fully removing animal products, has made the lifestyle more attainable and attractive to many. While vegetarianism and veganism have become increasingly popular in the United States, a new movement pushes to incorporate more plant-based alternatives without omitting animal products entirely. Flexitarianism is a diet that one is centered on plant foods with the occasional inclusion of meat. These plant-based diets boast not only health and environmental benefits, but economic benefits as well.
Food prices have soared, meat in particular. According to the USDA, beef, pork and poultry make up about half of the recent increase in at-home food prices since December 2020. These high prices are not sustainable for consumers, nor the economy. Additionally, supply chains have been further put under stress due to the pandemic, as many processing plants were forced to shut down. Beef, pork, poultry and other meats require many steps in their production process, including butchering, grading, packaging and distributing. When certain plants or facilities are shut down and the process is interrupted, farmers and factory workers must compensate for this inconvenience with delayed production time and increased prices to compensate for this lack of supply. Paying higher prices for food means sacrificing these funds elsewhere, whether that be in travel, home payments, technological purchases, etc. In the initial stages of the pandemic in 2020, personal consumption expenditures fell by more than 10 percent, as many businesses closed or reduced services, and stay-at-home orders were instituted across most of the United States. In the second half of 2020, this statistic remained well below year-ago levels due to high unemployment and health risks associated with services such as indoor dining, travel, and mass gatherings (Felix, Shampine 2021).
Another key factor that plant-based diets influence is healthcare costs. When following a plant-based diet, it has been found that people have fewer nutrition induced health issues, saving both the individuals and the healthcare system millions of dollars. New data from the Tzu Chi Vegetarian Study, where 12,000 Buddhist volunteers compared consuming a vegetarian diet to a more omnivorous diet, reveal these findings. Those who followed a vegetarian diet required “15% lower medical expenditure and a 13% lower outpatient medical expenditure, compared with omnivores in the cohort.” (Lin CL, W JH, Chang CC, Chiu THT, Lin MN, 2019) Vegan or vegetarian diets are highly effective for weight loss and thus, people on these diets have lower rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. Lower BMIs, which are associated with vegetarian diets according to epidemiological studies, result in a lower pervasiveness of obesity; is a significant cause of heart disease, and the number one cause of death in the United States. Vegetarians in the study had a 24% reduction in ischemic heart disease death rates when compared with non-vegetarians (Appleby PN, Thorogood M, McPherson K, Mann, 1995). While this data is from vegetarian subjects, it reflects a population that eats less meat than the average consumer. These reduced health complications indicate a lower medical expenditure, and thus, higher expenditure in other areas. Employers, if providing health insurance, will incur lower costs, possibly allocating this money towards higher wages or towards business improvements.
The diversion to plant-based diets substantially decreases agricultural land usage as more land is needed for meat and dairy production versus non-animal crops. Researchers from Bard College, the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Yale University found that beef uses 28 times more land per calorie consumed and 11 times more water than other livestock categories. Additionally, it takes almost 100 times as much land to produce a gram of protein from beef or lamb, versus peas or tofu (Ritchie, 2021). Around 80% of agricultural land is utilized for meat and dairy production. If we ate less meat and dairy, we would be using the land as cropland, as we would be instead eating more crops (cereals, grains, corn, etc.) which requires less hectares. This would free up billions of hectares for natural vegetation, forests and ecosystems.
With less land designated to livestock, new buildings, community centers, apartment complexes, and other infrastructures can be built to bolster economic growth. With land being such a scarce resource, any potential growth should be explored and utilized.
So how does this move away from animal-based foods and towards plant-based foods impact the job market? According to data released by the trade group Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA), the plant-based food industry has created 55,634 high-paying jobs in the U.S. Greenleaf Foods, the parent company of PBFA members Lightlife and Field Life launched a plant in Shelbyville, Indiana that, when fully operational in 2021, will employ 460 people (PBFA, 2019). Additionally, Oatly, a dairy alternative company, plans to open a new 19,000 square foot production facility in Melville, New Jersey. Oatly’s newfound popularity actually caused a U.S. shortage in 2018, emphasizing its unexpectedly high demand (PBFA, 2019). Both companies’ recent developments and employment opportunities will also attract more residents to these towns, further strengthening the communities’ wealth. On average, jobs in the plant-based industry paid $59,300—approximately $12,500 more than the average American income. Plant-based food companies pay $1 billion in federal and state taxes and contribute $5.6 billion to gross domestic product (GDP) each year. (Starostinetskaya, 2019) Although this growth is fantastic for a new and growing industry, it is important to take into account the effect that this increase in jobs in the plant-based industry has on meat-industry jobs. For example, if plant based jobs increased by 10k but meat-based jobs decreased by 20k, then this might actually be considered a bad outcome by many in the same way that some people consider green energy bad from a job perspective as it causes people to lose jobs in coal/oil/gas and while the green jobs created might not be greater in quantity than the jobs lost. However, as companies that are also environmentally beneficial, their contributions are crucial assets and therefore offset meat-based job losses.
After enduring the pandemic, people everywhere had time to think about their nutrition choices, and many proceeded to try vegan, vegetarian and flexitarian diets. The desire to avoid animal products was strongly impacted by the publicized COVID-driven issues in the meat supply chain during the pandemic’s early stages; however, it remained prevalent as people valued animal welfare, environmental impact and personal health. By metamorphosing eating patterns towards plant-based, we are improving our health, our environment and creating new opportunities for businesses and communities to thrive.
Sources:
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