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The Future of Meat

Future Perfect’s coverage of factory farming, animal welfare, and how the way we eat affects our lives and our planet.

Americans are eating less meat. And more meat. How?
Future Perfect

The growing chasm in American meat consumption, explained.

By Kenny Torrella
Americans are eating less meat. And more meat. How?
Future Perfect

The growing chasm in American meat consumption, explained.

By Kenny Torrella
Denmark is tiny. Its ambition to make its food system more climate-friendly is huge.Denmark is tiny. Its ambition to make its food system more climate-friendly is huge.
Future Perfect

How Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl got the country to launch an impressive vegetarian experiment.

By Kenny Torrella
Most “humane” farms are lying to you — and the government isn’t stopping themMost “humane” farms are lying to you — and the government isn’t stopping them
Future Perfect

A new investigation finds false advertising continues to dupe consumers.

By Kenny Torrella
Starbucks won’t charge extra for plant-based milk. Other companies should follow.Starbucks won’t charge extra for plant-based milk. Other companies should follow.
Future Perfect

It’s a big deal for the climate — and for the coffee industry at large.

By Marina Bolotnikova and Kenny Torrella

The latest in The Future of Meat

A special investigation reveals the places where farm animals endure “sadistic” abuseA special investigation reveals the places where farm animals endure “sadistic” abuse
Future Perfect

These marketplaces are the backbone of the meat industry, where cruelty to animals is the norm.

By Jessica Scott-Reid
Fish farming was supposed to be sustainable. But there’s a giant catch.Fish farming was supposed to be sustainable. But there’s a giant catch.
Future Perfect

A groundbreaking study suggests your farmed shrimp and salmon might have a much bigger environmental toll than previously thought.

By Kenny Torrella
Helene just pummeled America’s chicken farming capitalHelene just pummeled America’s chicken farming capital
Future Perfect

Factory farming makes hurricanes more dangerous, disgusting, and expensive.

By Kenny Torrella
The ugly reality behind Tim Walz’s farm-friendly imageThe ugly reality behind Tim Walz’s farm-friendly image
Future Perfect

The VP candidate loves to snuggle baby animals. He’s giving factory farming a progressive sheen.

By Kenny Torrella
19th-century animal rights activists had a lot of moxie. Here’s how to get it back.
Future Perfect

The meat industry took away your food options and made activists the enemy. It doesn’t have to be that way.

By Crystal Heath
American government built the meat industry. Now can it build a better food system?
Future Perfect

The plant-based protein movement goes to Washington.

By Kenny Torrella
You’re wrong about PETA
Future Perfect

The nonprofit is a punchline. It’s also forced the world to face factory farming, animal cruelty, and our own hypocrisy.

By Jan Dutkiewicz
I’m a Black vegan. Why don’t you see more of us?
Future Perfect

People of color are more likely to be vegan. But the animal rights movement still has a white face.

By Noella Williams
Vegans are radical. That’s why we need them.
Future Perfect

Vegans are the dissenters in society’s war on animals.

By Jishnu Guha-Majumdar
How Factory Farming Ends
Future Perfect

The fight against the meat industry has been rocky. Can it be won?

By Marina Bolotnikova
Humanity is failing one of its greatest moral tests
Future Perfect

The long, maddening, glorious, vital fight against factory farming.

By Marina Bolotnikova
If the left is serious about saving democracy, there’s one more cause to add to the list
Future Perfect

Animal rights must become a core issue for progressives.

By Astra Taylor and Sunaura Taylor
Ditching factory farming can help prevent another pandemic
Future Perfect

The neglected environmental and health benefits of fighting Big Meat — for humans.

By Jonathan Safran Foer and Aaron Gross
How the most powerful environmental groups help greenwash Big Meat’s climate impact
Future Perfect

Organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund are laundering Big Meat’s propaganda. At what cost?

By Kenny Torrella
The bird flu doom loopThe bird flu doom loop
Future Perfect

Is bird flu here to stay?

By Kenny Torrella
How public universities hooked America on meat
Future Perfect

University scientists helped build factory farming. Now, some want to protect its “social license to operate.”

By Grace van Deelen
Republicans want to put pigs back in tiny cages. Again.Republicans want to put pigs back in tiny cages. Again.
Future Perfect

House Republicans are working to make America’s factory farms even crueler.

By Marina Bolotnikova
Big Milk has taken over American schools
Future Perfect

How centuries of milk marketing warped the way we think about dairy and nutrition.

By Kenny Torrella
Why Florida and Alabama banned a kind of meat that doesn’t really existWhy Florida and Alabama banned a kind of meat that doesn’t really exist
Future Perfect

Bans on cell-cultivated, “lab-grown” meat are about protecting Big Ag.

By Kenny Torrella
John Fetterman has beef with no-kill meatJohn Fetterman has beef with no-kill meat
Future Perfect

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned cell-cultivated or “lab-grown” meat. Why did Democratic Sen. John Fetterman lend his support?

By Kenny Torrella
“Climate-friendly” beef could land in a meat aisle near you. Don’t fall for it.“Climate-friendly” beef could land in a meat aisle near you. Don’t fall for it.
Future Perfect

Tyson Foods refuses to explain how it’s cut emissions for its new “climate-smart” beef.

By Kenny Torrella
How rioting farmers unraveled Europe’s ambitious climate plan
Future Perfect

Road-clogging, manure-dumping farmers reveal the paradox at the heart of EU agriculture.

By Jan Dutkiewicz
Bird flu in milk is alarming — but not for the reason you thinkBird flu in milk is alarming — but not for the reason you think
Future Perfect

The US Department of Agriculture’s failed response to bird flu in cows, explained.

By Kenny Torrella
The meat industry’s war on wildlifeThe meat industry’s war on wildlife
Future Perfect

Your taxes fund an obscure government program that kills millions of wild animals to benefit Big Ag.

By Kenny Torrella
I gave up meat and gained so much more
Home Planet

The delightful abundance of going vegan.

By Marina Bolotnikova and Christine Mi
The next big climate deadline is for meat and dairyThe next big climate deadline is for meat and dairy
Future Perfect

It’s a lot sooner than you think.

By Kenny Torrella
Why New York is suing the world’s biggest meat company
Future Perfect

Meat giant JBS said it’ll reach net zero emissions by 2040. LOL.

By Jan Dutkiewicz
9 charts that show US factory farming is even bigger than you realize
Future Perfect

Factory farms are now so big that we need a new word for them.

By Marina Bolotnikova and Kenny Torrella
How a shipping error more than a century ago launched the $30 billion chicken industryHow a shipping error more than a century ago launched the $30 billion chicken industry
Future Perfect

The accidental origins of the chicken on your plate, explained.

By Kenny Torrella
You’re probably eating way too much proteinYou’re probably eating way too much protein
Future Perfect

Americans are obsessing over protein and forgetting about fiber.

By Kenny Torrella
A practical guide to eating less meatA practical guide to eating less meat
Future Perfect

The American diet is lopsided toward meat. Here’s how to incorporate more plant-based food into your life.

By Kenny Torrella and Allison Rockey
When one twin goes vegan and the other doesn’tWhen one twin goes vegan and the other doesn’t
Future Perfect

What a plant-based diet can and cannot do for you, explained by Netflix’s You Are What You Eat.

By Kenny Torrella
24 things we think will happen in 2024
Future Perfect

From Trump to Tesla, how 2024 will shake out, according to the Future Perfect team.

By Bryan Walsh, Dylan Matthews and 4 more
Big Meat just can’t quit antibioticsBig Meat just can’t quit antibiotics
Future Perfect

Meat production is making lifesaving drugs less effective. Where’s the FDA?

By Kenny Torrella
We raise 18 billion animals a year to die — and then we don’t even eat themWe raise 18 billion animals a year to die — and then we don’t even eat them
Future Perfect

From farm to plate, one in four animals raised on factory farms are wasted.

By Kenny Torrella
The new Chicken Run movie is fun — and a damning critique of America’s meat industryThe new Chicken Run movie is fun — and a damning critique of America’s meat industry
Future Perfect

The mixed messages kids get about meat — and how we should think about them — explained by the Chicken Run movies.

By Kenny Torrella
Scaling slaughter-free meat is hard. Here’s one way to make it easier.Scaling slaughter-free meat is hard. Here’s one way to make it easier.
Future Perfect

Why there should be more collaboration in cellular agriculture.

By Julieta Cardenas
There’s less meat at this year’s climate talks. But there’s plenty of bull.There’s less meat at this year’s climate talks. But there’s plenty of bull.
Future Perfect

Meat and dairy are driving the climate crisis. Why won’t world leaders at COP28 do anything about it?

By Kenny Torrella
David Kaplan is building an academic community for the future of meat
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Meet the scientist democratizing the cell-cultivated meat sector and training its next generation of researchers.

By Kenny Torrella
Crystal Heath wants veterinary medicine to live up to its values
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The US veterinary profession props up factory farm cruelty. A coalition of vets is fighting to change that.

By Marina Bolotnikova