This has been a familiar scene around the world for multiple millennia. The dairy farmer, the herder, the milch maid whatever the name given there has been a person tending to cattle, sheep, or goats for milk. Our farm at one point was a dairy. And we have toyed with the idea of going back to keeping some dairy animals on the farm for milk production. This year we gave a short go at it with our sheep just to get a feel for the routine and how it might fit with what we already do.
But an article I read this week may push us to really consider becoming a raw milk dairy. The article told about two bioengineers that are planning to start production next year on milk that was made without cows. They call it Muufri (pronounced Moo Free).
That's not a typo, cow free milk.
"It's a fairly simple mixture: six key proteins for structure and function, eight key fatty acids for flavor and richness. In different ratios, these components give us cow's milk, goat's milk, or even buffalo milk"
Why not instead encourage the growth of small dairies around the world that are family owned and practice responsible husbandry. Why not fight to end the governmental control of the food supply that rewards the bad players with monopoly control? Why not team up with organisations like Holistic Management International to promote grass-based cattle management that builds soil and turns a soil destroying farm into a soil building farm?
No, instead they decided to use their funding to create another frankinfood. Part of what was left out was that this is pretty much GMO milk grown in a vat.
"The taste, though, Pandya describes as “97 percent” that of milk. To get to 100 percent, they’ve taken to feeding the DNA sequence for cow’s milk into the yeast’s genetic code to make casein, a technique they’re hoping to get perfect by next month."
Though they claim that they have no intention of putting small farms that do a good job of caring for their livestock and land out of business, these will be the very farms they compete against. Small grass-based farms are the alternative to the corporate owned farms they claim to be competing against. Farms like ours are the alternative.
I also have a hard time believing this is the truth.
The two bioengineers that started Muufri are vegans. Sadly, most every vegan I have had the misfortune of meeting have been radically anti-farm. Not just opposed to large corporate owned farms, but they also oppose small diversified grass-based farms like ours.
Folks like this, if they have their way, would have all of our food made in vats. Cooked up concoctions with just the fats and amino acids that are necessary for life. This would put a whole new meaning to factory food. There is also the question of bacteria. Milk made by cows, sheep, or goats contains bacteria, good bacteria. Bacteria that is beneficial to your digestive system. Are they going to add this in as well? If so how will they grow it? Also, what about micro nutrients?
If we keep going this direction, before long you will be served up a Soylent Green type of food or something like the food from the scene in the Matrix where Neo has his first meal in the real world.
Thanks for the offer, but I'll stick to my sheep milk.
Let me know in the comments.