Impossible Foods in talks with UK farmers to swap livestock for trees

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Exclusive: CEO of plant-based “meat” firm plans to show economic and climate change benefits of planting trees on land used for cattle and sheep production



Environment



2 December 2021

By Adam Vaughan

Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown holds up an Impossible Burger 2.0, the new and improved version of the company's plant-based vegan burger that tastes like real beef, at a press event during CES 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 7, 2019. - The updated version can be cooked on a grill and has a better flavor and lowered cholesterol, fat and calories than the original. "Unlike the cow, we get better at making meat every single day," CEO of Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

Pat Brown with Impossible Foods’ plant-based burger

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

The chief executive of Impossible Foods is in talks with UK farmers for a pilot project to swap livestock for trees to fight climate change.

Pat Brown, who founded the fast-growing plant-based “meat” firm in 2011, says he wants to demonstrate the economic benefits of taking farmland out of cattle and sheep production to allow forests to grow on it and absorb carbon. He argues livestock farmers would be financially better off selling carbon offsetting permits to airlines and other polluting industries.

“It’s very …