The Digest’s 10 Top Advanced Bioeconomy Markets & Predictions for 2020

6. Differentiated Protein — not just a plant burger, but a better burger

We get it, we love it: the industry has learned to make, market and do well with plant-based vegan foods and materials. Meat without the Cow, Milk without the Cow, Leather without the Cow, Eggs without the Chicken, and so forth. It is better for the planet, better for plant growers, and certainly better for the cow — but is it really better, yet, for you? Too many plant burgers have same-as, me-too formulations, and we suspect that the Impossible Burger 2.0 is having success because there’s more salt in the product, and possibly more sugar. We’ve been told that by people who know. Meanwhile, companies like Green Plains and Novozymes think there’s a great business opportunity in differentiated, advanced proteins — new, better ways to make proteins that are better for us.

We think that 2020 will be the year when people start asking when the Impossible Burger or the Beyond Burger will become the Better for You Burger in every meaningful way that can be defined. The companies have made astonishing progress, and we would be unwise to disrespect their achievement and their future ambitions and skills. We think that there’s one more step this industry will make to achieve even bigger market shares, and it’s not as much about cost as performance, just for now.