Fonterra investing in Synthetic milk

[harm_less]

If you'd bothered to watch the video I posted you would be aware that precision fermentation is nothing new. It has been used to make insulin for decades and also the cultures used to make most cheeses so you've probably already been consuming products containing PF ingredients for years.

Another aspect is that a large proportion of milk is used for drug and industrial manufacturing as well as in highly processed food manufacture so those dairy components are so heavily modified, whether they are from cows or factories is hardly relevant.

How is any of this supposed to help farmers?
Probably using genetic engineered organisms to make the stuff in much the same way as insulin.

You seem to be missing the point. Synthetic manufacturing of proteins will be a phase change in what is involved in how we produce food and associated proteins. The role of farming as we know it now will reduce drastically, as will the amount of land and energy needed to do so.

The knowledge of how our future is likely to change on this front gives those involved the opportunity to upskill to best advantage from the new production methods. In the same way that horse breeders, stable keepers and blacksmiths were made superfluous to a large degree with the introduction of the internal combustion engine so too will the need for livestock farmers reduce. They would do well to put their agricultural and horticultural skills, and land, to use in growing alternative products.