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Tyson Foods and Beyond Meat: A Future of Sustainable Protien Production<\/p>\n
Peter Valhouli-Farb<\/i><\/p>\n
Tyson Foods is the United States largest meat producer. \u00a0Their products, spanning brands such as Tyson Chicken, Hillshire and Sara Lee, are many of the most iconic brands in the meat, poultry and pork markets in the US. \u00a0Domestically, they have 24% market share in the United States beef market, 21% in chicken and 17% in pork. \u00a0Tyson Beef, which comprises of 42% of Tyson’s revenue, is the largest and most successful product line within the entire beef industry. It is impossible to discuss the global food and agriculture system and not discuss Tyson.<\/p>\n
Even though Tyson Foods made $41b in 2015, their core business is under fire from numerous angles. \u00a0First, the United States is becoming increasingly cognizant and aware of the realities of the food system, primarily how we treat our livestock. \u00a0Videos and vivid images have gone viral showing life of livestock at factory farms. \u00a0This is pushing consumers to move up market to more humanly raised livestock that leave less of an impact. \u00a0Second, American consumers are starting to discover the values in alternative proteins, such as dairies, beans, legumes and protein\u00a0based snacks, which are cannibalizing\u00a0many consumers beliefs that the only way to consume protein\u00a0are from livestock. \u00a0Finally, and most importantly, as the world increasingly wakes up to the realities of climate change and examines its core root causes, the agriculture sector, and particularly\u00a0our society’s\u00a0reliance on livestock, is increasingly scrutinized.<\/p>\n
University of Oxford researchers predict that by 2050, the food and agriculture system will account for more than 50% of our global carbon emissions. \u00a0Many consumers initially\u00a0focused on transportation, electricity and infrastructure as ways to cut emissions as they were seemingly more obvious and tangible to see and understand, but consumers are now waking up to the real problem of agricultural production. \u00a0Today, the methane produced from livestock constitutes about 15% of global C02 emissions and its share of the market is growing rapidly. \u00a0This number also doesn’t include the environmental\u00a0impact of resources (such as food and water) allocated towards livestock or its impact on the land. \u00a0Consumers are waking up to this and eating less and less meat every year, which is directly impacting Tysons core business\u00a0of raw livestock products.<\/p>\n
In the backdrop of all of this transformation, a new wave of businesses have emerged that are creating plant-based meat substitutes\u00a0that have the same look, feel, bite and texture of real meat. \u00a0Recent advancements in food chemistry combined with consumer interest which is fueling private sector R&D spending, is creating the future of how we consume proteins\u00a0in a sustainable way.<\/p>\n
Beyond Meat, a Los Angeles based producer of plant-based meat substitutes, is a lot different than many other food companies. \u00a0Founded out of a lab at University of Missouri with a goal of reducing our global reliance on livestock and backed by top venture capital firms like Kleiner Perkins and the founders of Twitter, Beyond Meat, which is carried across hundreds of super markets across the US, has quickly become the face of this new generation of plant based protien businesses. \u00a0By using pea protien and coconut meat, with beet juice to add juice, Beyond Meat has created a hamburger replacement that has received\u00a0rave reviews from NYTimes food critic Mark Bittman too hard to impress men\u2019s lifestyle magazines like Playboy.<\/p>\n
To diversify their product offering, reach consumers who have abandoned meat, and secure a role in the future of protien consumption, Tyson Foods acquired a 5% stake in Beyond Meat. \u00a0While the valuation or size of their investment was never announced, it is believed to value Beyond Meat in “the hundreds of millions of dollars”. \u00a0By investing in Beyond Meat, Tyson now has a strong hold into the most disruptive business model in its space, is buying good will with environmentalists, and better positioning itself for a world in which we aren’t nearly as reliant on livestock as their environmental\u00a0costs just became too large.<\/p>\n
This is just the first pin to drop for Tyson Foods as they try to prepare for a world where the environmental impact of our food system and reliance on livestock are under greater scrutiny. To stay ahead of the curve, they should invest in similar companies across numerous food groups. \u00a0Impossible Foods, a San Francisco based competitor focused on both beef and chicken, is starting to work on a plant based pork product that could cannibalize\u00a0their recent $8b acquisition in pork product company Hillshire Farms. \u00a0Other companies are also going after the “egg-less” market as well, which is tangential to their poultry business, which would be a smart investment for Tyson to pursue as well.<\/p>\n
(778 words)<\/p>\n
Works Cited<\/p>\n
Haspel, Tamar. “The Decline of the (red) Meat Industry \u2014 in One Chart.” The Decline of the Red Meat Industry in One Chart Comments<\/i>. Fortunue, 26 Oct. 2015. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n
Schiller, Ben M. “We’re Creating A Protein Bubble That’s Going To Destroy The Planet.” Co.Exist<\/i>. Fast Company, 04 Oct. 2016. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n
Shapiro, Paul M. “Americans Are Eating Less and Less Meat Every Year. Why?” Forks Over Knives<\/i>. Forks Over Knives, 03 June 2016. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n
Tower, Blue A. “Blue Tower Quarterly Letter And Tyson Foods Thesis.” Seeking Alpha<\/i>. Seeking Alpha, 01 Nov. 2016. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n
Vaughan, Adam. “Tax Meat to Cut Methane Emissions, Say Scientists.” The Guardian<\/i>. Guardian News and Media, 20 Dec. 2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By investing in plant-based protein company Beyond Meat, Tyson Foods is preparing for a world that is more cognizant of where their food comes from and how it impacts the environment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1844,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-9823","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/climate-change-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\n