Summary
This qualitative research engaged 75 UK farmers across six focus groups to elicit their perspectives on cultured meat as an emerging technology with potential to reshape agricultural livelihoods and rural communities. Farmers expressed nuanced views spanning ethical, environmental, and socio-economic concerns, with particular focus on power dynamics, food system control, and employment implications. The study highlights that farmer voices have been largely absent from cultured meat discourse, yet are essential for identifying unexpected impacts and building social licence for the technology.
UK applicability
The findings are directly applicable to UK policy and practice, as they represent the views of UK farmers across diverse sectors and regions. The research provides evidence-based input for UK agricultural policy discussions and food technology governance, particularly regarding how to integrate farming community concerns into the development and regulation of cultured meat.
Key measures
Thematic analysis of farmer narratives and reflections on cultured meat across ethics, environment, and socio-economics; perceived business scenarios and impacts on livelihoods, land use, and rural communities
Outcomes reported
The study documented farmer perceptions of cultured meat across ethical, environmental, and socio-economic dimensions through thematic analysis of focus group discussions. Farmers identified both perceived opportunities and risks, with emerging concerns about power concentration, food system control, transparency, employment, and community impacts.
Topic tags
Dig deeper with Pulse AI.
Pulse AI has read the whole catalogue. Ask about this record, its theme, or how the findings apply to UK farming and policy — every answer cites the underlying studies.