Let's start this article on vegan diet by talking about bacon, trust me there is a point.
Disclaimer: this article isn't aimed to discuss whether Veganism is good or bad, nor does it intent to offend anyone.
There is a National Pork Board of United States, established in 1985 by the Pork Act, to provide consumer information, perform industry-related research, and promote pork as a food product.
Key take out being the last part "promote pork as a food product" and they were successful. In 1987, the Board introduced its "Pork. The Other White Meat" advertising program as a means of promoting pork as a lean meat to health-conscious consumers. Pork sales in the United States rose 20%, reaching $30 billion annually by 1991 (wiki citation 'Hall, Trish (November 13, 1991)' - https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/13/garden/and-this-little-piggy-is-now-on-the-menu.html)
However, while the lean meat was selling pork belly was not which is the largest part of pig. Since is was filled with fat people didn't want it as it wasn't very healthy.
Enter Hardee's Frisco Burger which was launched after the Pork Board meeting with Hardee's president, the burger included bacon and advertised it as the next best thing. Then as with every other fad it got picked up by other companies and over time being bombarded with bacon ads, bacon became a thing.
Now what do we know:
There was a large supply of a particular product
Nobody wanted it
And a fad was created for people to buy it
Now enough about bacon, let's talk about American Billionaires; trust me I have a point.
Billionaires like Bill Gates & Jeff Bezos own a large amount of agricultural farm land with Bill Gates coming in at #1 and Jeff Bezos at #25 according to Forbes
Why are Tech Billionaires buying farm land? To diversify obviously.
But let's be real they aren't J.R. Simplot and could diversify this aggressively into something more related to their expertise.
While it is in their right to diversify where ever they want but as public figures their actions are bound to be analyzed by the general population. What is unprecedented is how aggressively they are diversifying into agriculture that Bill Gates, known for computer science is now the largest farm owner in America.
This began in the late 2000s and continued into the 2020s and as more and more farming industry is automated, so is the supply getting centralized.
What we know is that these are investments and big billionaires are in for the big innovation and profits, that is why farming technologies are improving with more and more automation through A.I. and supply chain.
So is the yield increasing, through Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grants of over $306 million towards high-yield, sustainable agriculture were announced back in 2008.
Is there any correlation between the Vegan fad and the big money coming into agriculture?
Honestly, as of now there is no direct correlation that is known for now. But marketing industry does exist and the social media marketing is a currently a booming field, trends are created by the buzz created on the social media platforms.
Could the vegan fad just be there to meet the future supply of vegetables, it's just a speculation at the moment.
But at least it is a healthy fad.