“Moo’s Law: An investor’s guide to the new agrarian revolution” by Jim Mellon

Summary of  “Moo’s Law: An investor’s guide to the new agrarian revolution”  by Jim Mellon, published by Fruitful Publications, 2020

Summarized by George Jacobs of HealthPartners.sg

The strength of humans’ movement away from raising animals for food and other products, such as leather, can be seen in the increasing diversity of people joining this movement. No longer do we only see books by campaigners for animal welfare, environmental protection, and health promotion. These authors have been joined by famous fiction writers, such as Jonathan Safron Foer; philosophers, such as Peter Singer; athletes, such as Olympic silver medalist Dotsie Bausch and MMA fighter Jake Shields; religious scholars, such as Andrew Linzey; and people from the arts, such as director, James Cameron and actor Alicia Silverstone.

Now comes a book from a star in another area, a billionaire investor, Jim Mellon of Manx Financial Group. Jim has produced a wide-ranging book on the many benefits of migrating our food production away from raising animals. What sets Jim’s book apart is the detailed advice he offers on how to invest successfully in the ongoing new agrarian revolution.

Before going further about the book, readers of this summary will want to know: What is Moo’s Law? The term plays on Moore’s Law, from the semi-conductor industry, first pronounced in 1965. Moore’s Law predicted that the speed and power of our phones, laptops, etc. will increase continuously and profoundly. Similarly, Moo’s Law predicts that the supply of alternative foods and other products will continue to grow and the price of these foods will continue to fall.

In addition to Moo’s Law, a related term that Jim coined in this book is Griddle Parity, with a griddle being a type of frying pan. Jim defines Griddle Parity as “the point at which cultivated or plant-based products reach equal or lower cost than existing conventional meats.” According to Moo’s Law, we are on an unstoppable march to Griddle Parity.

A few other terms, not coined by Jim, might also need defining for some readers. Perhaps the most imported aspect of the entire agrarian revolution is growing meat without raising whole animals and then killing our animal cousins. The products of this rapidly developing process go by various names: clean, cell-based, cultivated, cultured, and lab-grown. Science also plays an essential role in two other processes: plant-based meat, such as that made by Impossible and Beyond Meat, and fermented foods, such as Quorn and Singapore’s own Sophie’s Micronutrients.

All these exciting products develop as part of an ecosystem, including behind-the-scenes companies. Jim calls some of them “picks and shovels” companies, meaning that they supply tools, such as, in this case, bioreactors. These companies also need to enhance their technology in order for Moo’s Law to prevail.

Maybe most people reading this summary will think, “This book isn’t for me. I’m not a billionaire investor; I’m just an average working stiff, a student preparing for a career as a working stiff, or a retired working stiff.” Reasons why this book does matter to you include:

1. Even if most of your income comes from a salary, a family business, or retirement funds, you might be able to supplement your income by investing in what many people believe is one of the major growth industries of the future.
2. Because the future seems so bright for alternatives to raising animals for food, fashion, and other commercial purposes, you and/or some of your family members may wish to shift to working in these fields, or even to start your own business in industries in these areas, as they seem to be capable of offering ways to make a good income while doing good for the world.
3. As Jim explains, the future of the world depends on Moo’s Law working. We can all help with that. For example, we can buy alternative protein foods, even if for now they are more expensive. Also, we can review dishes made with these products and restaurants that serve them (check out the apps abillion and Happy Cow). In this way, we provide useful feedback. Plus, we can ask our public libraries to offer this book.
4. We can invite meat-eating friends and family to try these animal-friendly, planet-friendly, health-promoting, justice-supporting products. If you are already vegan or vegetarian, you might think you are fine; you do not need foods and other products that closely mimic conventional animal-based products. That may be true for you as an individual, but the world needs these products, and if you are like me and many others who do not eat conventional meat, your efforts at changing other people’s eating habits have not been very successful. Maybe the efforts of the companies in Jim’s book will be more fruitful.

If you are looking to understand what the buzz is all about, this book provides a compendium of information which allows us to understand the why, what, and how behind the headlines about IPOs, billion-dollar investments, and seemingly sci-fi products. Another key part of the book are the approximately 70 of the book’s 283 pages devoted to descriptions and ratings of the companies working in the new agrarian revolution space.

This book also offers value due to the supplementary resources provided, including a glossary, a list of related books, websites, etc., and an index. Plus, the book will be updated, and updates can be found on the book’s website – https://mooslawbook.com – where you can also view a video of the book’s launch, including a webinar with Jim and two other people making Moo’s Law happen: Mark Post of Mosa Meat and Lou Cooperhouse of BlueNalu. Proceeds from the book go to the Good Food Institute.

Let’s conclude this summary with a quote from the book’s introduction in which Jim emphasizes that the changes going on are not some fad adding variety to our dining experience, something to chat about with friends. Instead, the transformative, monumental changes driving the new agrarian revolution are imperative: “Farming MUST change, attitudes to food HAVE to change, we MUST change.”