Animal agriculture accounts for more than 16 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, making it a target for improved sustainability and food security. It’s also, as we saw in British Columbia last year, vulnerable to effects of extreme weather and climate change.

One way to reduce these risks is to remove livestock from the food production equation entirely — and cellular agriculture is trying to do just that.

Laboratories are using micro-organisms and fungi to produce food components, such as the cheese-making enzyme rennet, or animal cells to grow meats and milks. (Cellular salmon, anyone?) While there may be benefits, it could also harm those who work on the 10,000 dairy farms across the country.

Today in The Conversation Canada Evan Bowness and Robert Newell from the University of the Fraser Valley, and Sarah-Louise Ruder from the University of British Columbia write about the rise of cellular agriculture and argue that policy-makers and others can look to the energy sector to find ways to ensure dairy farmers don’t suffer unfairly in the transition.

Also today:

• Warehousing disabled people in long-term care homes needs to stop. Instead, nationalize home care.
• Texting for wellness: Using digital mental health tools for support in another COVID-19 winter
• Hopeful signs: How some southeast Asian nations are snubbing Myanmar's military leader
• Cover your face, wear a hat and stay hydrated to exercise safely through the winter

All the best.