Thank you for doing this AMA! I have three questions:
1) The FDA has approved at least one alternative to pig castration (the brand name is Improvest) that involves two injections behind the ears rather than surgery. Similar technology has been shown to work in cattle but I don’t believe that has FDA approval. I’ve heard that this product works well and is cost-effective for farmers but that it has not been widely adopted because processing plants tend to reject in-tact pigs more or less out of inertia. Do you have thoughts on whether working to address this problem (at least for pigs) is tractable and cost-effective?
2) What kind economic research do you think that plant-based food companies would find most useful? Do these companies typically have their own data analysts to privately answer common economic questions? If not, would they be likely to read relevant literature or change their strategy based studies in econ journals? Examples of the sort of research I had in mind might include:
Prices: What is the price elasticity of demand for plant-based products? How much do temporary sales induce consumers to switch from animal products to plant-based analogues in the short-term? What is the cross-price elasticity of demand for these products? Do consumers who respond to sales subsequently purchase the analogues?
Packaging: Are consumers more likely to try a plant-based product if it is in a smaller, cheaper package? Do smaller packages causally induce a sustained customer shift towards the analogue?.
Partnerships: Industry groups representing input commodities (e.g. the National Rice Company) assist large purchasers to anticipate price and supply and to acquire supply contracts. Do similar opportunities exist to assist plant-based companies in their mission?
3) There has been significant recent progress in wild-animal fertility control, some of which is already being implemented (target species are often otherwise killed inhumanely). Do you think that this is an approach worth directly pursuing now or do you feel we need more information or research to see if this is a good idea? If you think we need more information, what kind of research would you like to see?
Alternatives to pig castration: major producers in a number of countries have already implemented Improvest or similar approaches, e.g. JBS Brasil, producers in a number of Northern European countries. It’s crazy to me that US pig producers haven’t, despite, as you note, the FDA approval. Your explanation about the processing plants is interesting. I’ve heard other reasons from industry insiders: (1) the industry is afraid that consumers will view Improvest as a chemical additive, producing a yuk response like hormones, (2) Improvest costs more money and producers don’t care enough to pay that, and (3) farmers are afraid of injecting themselves and rendering themselves insterile (this sounds absurd, but came from a veterinarian who had spent years working in pig factory farms). I would like to see more advocates working on this issue. The challenge is how to prioritize it—I think existing groups have reasonably chosen to focus their scarce resources elsewhere—but there could be scope for a new group or individual advocates to work on it.
Economic research on plant-based products: there’s actually been quite a few economic papers on this lately. For example I recommend this new paper from Jayson Lusk and colleagues attempting to estimate the cross-price elasticity of demand for plant-based meats. That said, I think there’s scope for a lot more, including on questions like the ones you outlined. My sense is that most plant-based companies don’t have data analysts and aren’t reviewing much data beyond their own sales. They also probably aren’t reading econ journals, but I think it’s possible to get the most important results in front of them, e.g. via GFI, PBFA, and other groups that support the sector.
Wild animal fertility control: I’m happy to see researchers working on this. My sense is it’s mostly being trialed in situations where the alternative is for humans to kill the animals, often inhumanely, e.g. instead of killing elephants in South Africa, wild horses in the US midwest, rats in NYC subways, etc. In all those cases it seems worth pursuing. For many broader uses I think we need more research on the likely second-order effects. E.g. will reducing the population of X species just increase Y species lower in the food chain?
Thank you for doing this AMA! I have three questions:
1) The FDA has approved at least one alternative to pig castration (the brand name is Improvest) that involves two injections behind the ears rather than surgery. Similar technology has been shown to work in cattle but I don’t believe that has FDA approval. I’ve heard that this product works well and is cost-effective for farmers but that it has not been widely adopted because processing plants tend to reject in-tact pigs more or less out of inertia. Do you have thoughts on whether working to address this problem (at least for pigs) is tractable and cost-effective?
2) What kind economic research do you think that plant-based food companies would find most useful? Do these companies typically have their own data analysts to privately answer common economic questions? If not, would they be likely to read relevant literature or change their strategy based studies in econ journals? Examples of the sort of research I had in mind might include:
Prices: What is the price elasticity of demand for plant-based products? How much do temporary sales induce consumers to switch from animal products to plant-based analogues in the short-term? What is the cross-price elasticity of demand for these products? Do consumers who respond to sales subsequently purchase the analogues?
Packaging: Are consumers more likely to try a plant-based product if it is in a smaller, cheaper package? Do smaller packages causally induce a sustained customer shift towards the analogue?.
Partnerships: Industry groups representing input commodities (e.g. the National Rice Company) assist large purchasers to anticipate price and supply and to acquire supply contracts. Do similar opportunities exist to assist plant-based companies in their mission?
3) There has been significant recent progress in wild-animal fertility control, some of which is already being implemented (target species are often otherwise killed inhumanely). Do you think that this is an approach worth directly pursuing now or do you feel we need more information or research to see if this is a good idea? If you think we need more information, what kind of research would you like to see?
Thanks for the interesting questions Monica!
Alternatives to pig castration: major producers in a number of countries have already implemented Improvest or similar approaches, e.g. JBS Brasil, producers in a number of Northern European countries. It’s crazy to me that US pig producers haven’t, despite, as you note, the FDA approval. Your explanation about the processing plants is interesting. I’ve heard other reasons from industry insiders: (1) the industry is afraid that consumers will view Improvest as a chemical additive, producing a yuk response like hormones, (2) Improvest costs more money and producers don’t care enough to pay that, and (3) farmers are afraid of injecting themselves and rendering themselves insterile (this sounds absurd, but came from a veterinarian who had spent years working in pig factory farms). I would like to see more advocates working on this issue. The challenge is how to prioritize it—I think existing groups have reasonably chosen to focus their scarce resources elsewhere—but there could be scope for a new group or individual advocates to work on it.
Economic research on plant-based products: there’s actually been quite a few economic papers on this lately. For example I recommend this new paper from Jayson Lusk and colleagues attempting to estimate the cross-price elasticity of demand for plant-based meats. That said, I think there’s scope for a lot more, including on questions like the ones you outlined. My sense is that most plant-based companies don’t have data analysts and aren’t reviewing much data beyond their own sales. They also probably aren’t reading econ journals, but I think it’s possible to get the most important results in front of them, e.g. via GFI, PBFA, and other groups that support the sector.
Wild animal fertility control: I’m happy to see researchers working on this. My sense is it’s mostly being trialed in situations where the alternative is for humans to kill the animals, often inhumanely, e.g. instead of killing elephants in South Africa, wild horses in the US midwest, rats in NYC subways, etc. In all those cases it seems worth pursuing. For many broader uses I think we need more research on the likely second-order effects. E.g. will reducing the population of X species just increase Y species lower in the food chain?