"It is developing genetically modified seeds and crops, but it is also targeting the fast-growing industries of cellular agriculture, lab-grown proteins and food from precision fermentation……….What the Chinese lack in frontier biosciences – for now – they can more than compensate with vast industrial scale and state-directed credit. Systemiq thinks this could slash the cost of bioreactors and fermentation systems, achieving “price parity” with traditional food far sooner than widely supposed.

Once alt-protein is cheaper, market forces will make it almost unstoppable, in much the same way that 99pc of net electricity added across the world last year came from solar and wind."

The Western world's collective decision to embrace free-market neoliberalism in the late 20th century now looks like a mistake of truly historic proportions. But there's worse: we are still governed by the same failed ideology. It's why all Economists have groupthink, and politicians (supposedly) on the left differ little from the conservatives. We are ruled by neoliberal conservatism, and voting changes little.

Meanwhile, we can look across the world to China to see a vastly superior version of Capitalism, ironically delivered by so-called "Communists". Some used to think China needed to learn from the West; it is almost certainly going to end up being the other way around.

China’s plan to dominate global food supply chains: Beijing’s 15th five-year plan will marshal all levers of state power towards one end