We are heavily assuming if you are reading this article you are already well educated on the nutrition and climate science that supports grass-fed, pasture-raised beef and lamb from New Zealand.

But to also go on to assume that just because consumers may be wealthy and educated, doesn't necessarily mean they will choose to purchase red meat as often as they once did. They have been afforded the privilege of having a food identity.

You can throw all of the complex science at the human health vs planetary health debate or the plant vs meat debate, but it will mean nothing without cohesive global storytelling as this week's guests from around the world highlight.

Over the course of 3 months, Sarah Perriam has been collecting interviews from experts across the globe for this very special Opinion Maker episode to try and answer the burning question for New Zealand's sheep & beef farmers, "How does meat compete with the negative narrative globally?"

This episode features :

• Prof. Frederic Leroy, Professor of Food Science and Biotechnology Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, presented at both the 2019 Red Meat Sector Conference (NZ) and presented at Multiscapes, the international virtual conference in 2021 (NZ) and explains the complex, binary discussion surrounding meat. 

• Fiona Windle, Head Nutritionist at Beef + Lamb NZ who highlights the ever-evolving narrative towards meat that lacks nutritional importance when discussing climate change off the back of the Barnsley report published in 2021 that illustrates substituting meat from the average diet would lead to only a 3-4% decrease in an individual's lifetime global warming impact.

• Anne Mottet, Sustainable livestock development at United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation, France, discusses balancing the Sustainable Development Goals of nutritional needs as discussed at the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit with the climate needs on the table at 2021 UN COP26.  

• Kate Gower-James, Aitkens Ranch based in San Francisco about the US Wholefoods consumer, the trends of food identity, trusting your meat marketer to keep up with the latest consumer trends, and how positioning accredited storytelling on meat is important.

• Laura Ryan, the co-founder of the Global Meat Alliance, has rallied the global red meat community to work together on the common challenges, collaborating through COVID in the lead-up to COP26.

• Dave Courtney, Silver Fern Farms chief customer officer discussing their research and pilot for carbon-neutral meat and regenerative agriculture and how NZ sheep & beef farmers can prepare themselves for these trends.