Artificial meat also known as vitro meat or cultured meat, is animal flesh that has never been part of a complete, living animal.

Synthetic meat's threat to sheep and beef farming has resulted in farmers paying for a project to assess its impact on their livelihoods.

The industry good organisation Beef + Lamb New Zealand, funded by farmers in a levy, is taking on the challenge head-on and leading the project to work out its response to alternative protein advances such as plant based foods or cultured meat.

Fast shifts in food and food production technology needed to be better understood, said Beef + Lamb chief executive Sam McIvor.

Looks like chicken, tastes like chicken - but it's actually an "analogue meat" produced from pea protein by Auckland company Sunfed Meats.

He said the project would identify the threats and opportunities for red meat farmers and others in the sector. "We want to distinguish hype from reality and have an objective view on what's happening in the alternative protein space.

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ROBERT KITCHIN Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright says farmers need to beware of synthetic meat.

* Synthetic proteins a threat to traditional farming

In April the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright warned farmers to beware of synthetic meat and milk being developed by California's Silicon Valley.

It is a "major challenge", she told the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Mitigation conference in Palmerston North. "We know how fast they can develop things."

McIvor said sheep and beef farmers had to gain a better understanding of the technologies, business models and how quickly advancements were being made.

The view from commentators at this stage was that alternative proteins were being positioned as a premium product today but that could change tomorrow, he said.

"For example, if the price to produce these foods comes down in the future it could have an impact on the likes of hamburger meat. That could be a risk for the sector, given a large percentage of New Zealand processing beef currently goes to quick service restaurants."

Another part of the project will be to gather an understanding of what consumers think about alternative proteins and their acceptance of them.

"We want to understand their perceptions, choices and the tradeoffs they might make in the future," said McIvor.

Beef + Lamb plans on working with other organisations with food technology and consumer insight experience to see what's happening in places such as Silicon Valley and the Netherlands where there is a focus on protein alternative technologies and its investment.

The organisation expects to identify its project partners by the end of the month.

Farmers' traditional biological systems of growing meat and milk would not compete on cost with an industrial system, said Dipton farmer Peter McDonald earlier this year.

"We cannot afford to follow them down this rabbit hole as we will never resurface."

Synthetic proteins would most likely be a threat to farmers and the economy. The answer would be to promote and market natural meat and milk stories aggressively to wealthy consumers globally, he said.