Should the US Invest in Alt-Protein to Protect National Security?
United States Representative Ro Khanna thinks alternative protein can solve some of the country’s important security issues. He thinks you should think so, too.
Khanna, a Democrat representing California’s 17th Congressional district and a former Stanford lecturer in economics, has been in office since 2017. His district encompasses much of Silicon Valley, so his legislative priorities include democratizing the digital sector and supporting investment into clean tech and other emerging industries. He’s also the author of the 2012 book Entrepreneurial Nation: Why Manufacturing is Still Key to America’s Future.
Khanna has asked the Department of Agriculture to put funding behind alt-protein. And, together with fellow Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, he’s even introduced a bill that would request the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to investigate how boosting production and consumption of alt-proteins would affect our national security. He and I discussed it together on a recent episode of the Business for Good Podcast. Here’s what you need to know:
Legislation Focused on Alt-Protein
The proposed Security of the Economy, Climate, and other U.S. interests with Recent and Existing Food alternatives (SECURE Food) Act would examine the effects that both plant-derived and cultivated proteins would likely have on climate, our water supply, and food security. It also calls for the DNI to analyze whether the emerging alt-protein industry in competitor countries like China may be slowing U.S. economic development in the sector. Khanna’s concern is that, much like the U.S. economy is to a large extent currently dependent on clean energy technology imported from Asia — think lithium batteries and solar panels — we could also become dependent on importing clean proteins.
When he stopped by the podcast in May 2022, Khanna talked about the significance of the alt-proteins industry, progressive capitalism, and his hoped-for “reindustrialization of America.”
Opportunity for Farmers
Khanna sees an opportunity for the country to create demand for farmers to grow the nutrients need for cultivated clean meat from animal tissue without large-scale factory farming and animal slaughter. He wants the U.S. to find and develop resources that would scale the emerging clean meat industry. The goal is not to displace family farms, but rather allow for full production using that model.
He’s confident that, given the right framework, American build-out of its alt-protein industry will create new jobs and revitalize the country’s competitiveness and security internationally as well as promote environmental sustainability.
Opportunity for Entrepreneurs
To entrepreneurs looking to get into the alt-protein or another industry-disrupting process, product, or technology, Khanna asks them to bet on American ingenuity. The U.S., he says, continues to be “the best place to engage in science.” He pointed out that the U.S. is also a hub for innovation, making it a destination for people who are interested in building or growing a new company. “We’re still the freest” when it comes to entrepreneurs’ scope and ability to thrive, as well as the depth of science and technological know-how.
While acknowledging the problems that still exist in the U.S. — problems of equity and inclusion in particular — Khanna still credits our country with “the greatest entrepreneurial ecosystem” in history. He listed a few recent innovations originating in the United States: new progress on fusion, steel strong enough to buttress offshore wind installations, longer-lasting solar batteries. There’s even a company working on the means of harvesting biomass from decaying plants and putting the carbon dioxide back into the soil rather than the atmosphere.
Reengineering Traditional Capitalism
According to Khanna, his philosophy of “progressive capitalism” isn’t self-contradictory. It means he stands behind the value of entrepreneurship and markets and believes in their capacity to find innovative and creative solutions to problems. At the same time, he believes that everyone has a basic right to a living wage, healthcare, education, and housing.
In contrast to what Khanna calls “regular old capitalism,” his version of “progressive capitalism” focuses on eliminating the inequalities caused when wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few. Jobs and investments move overseas, driving students and young professionals into debt and reducing ordinary people’s ability to earn a living that will support themselves and their families.
What Khanna calls for is the “reindustrialization of America.” This means that companies making products in the U.S. can support well-paying jobs, a stronger and more independent economic infrastructure, and a more sensible social safety net. Entire communities across the country, he said, have been devastated by offshore outsourcing and domestic deindustrialization. He wants everyone to benefit from the technological innovations that are improving the lives of his constituents.
So go check out the podcast episode — I think you’ll get a lot out of it!
