Support for meat made in a lab

To the editor,

The delayed federal farm bill should include increased public funding for cultivated-meat research. 

For those who aren’t familiar with the term, cultivated meat is grown from livestock cells, without slaughter. It has the potential to dramatically reduce the suffering we inflict on animals, as well as our greenhouse-gas emissions and pandemic risk.

The Department of Agriculture has provided billions of dollars of subsidies to livestock producers. 

Surely, it can offer some assistance to the nascent cultivated-meat industry, which holds so much promise. Forward-thinking legislators should make certain this happens, by including more government money for cellular-agriculture research in the farm bill.

Jon Hochschartner, Granby, Connecticut