It’s common cause that the meat industry is not very kind to animals, and intensive cattle farming is not very good for the environment in general. What’s more, more than enough food is grown globally to adequately feed the world’s growing population, but a large part of crop production goes to feeding cows, so that affluent people can enjoy nice juicy steaks.

All this while the poor go hungry and survive on foreign aid in times of drought. In the interests of social justice and animal humanity, shouldn’t we just stop producing, and eating, meat based food altogether? Of course we should, but what about consumer choice, and all those millions of burgers sold every day?

That’s where the nerds come in. Tech whizz-kids have developed plant based food that smells, tastes and feels like real meat, from chicken to beef. Called “clean meat” in the industry, it’s now coming to market.

First to market is vegan products company Hampton Creek, with Memphis Meats expected to have competing products in stores soon. Plant based meat substitutes from Beyond Meat have been available for some time, but the new lines include real meat grown in labs from animal cells.

“Now we have clean meat that competes on cost with animal meat; this will be the beginning of the end of the Farmageddon of industrial agriculture,” says Bruce Friedrich, who heads the Good Food Institute. The ultimate challenge remains for fake meat companies to figure out how to create meat that has the same texture, taste, and appearance as a slab of steak; then the battle of the Nerds versus Cows will be finally won.

This is only the start of the global foodtech revolution, which is set to disrupt agri business, food and health products, driven by radical innovation in biotech and new consumer attitudes. Global giants are set to tumble, as the nerds set their sights on other targets.