In my last column, I laid bare the communications deficit between ag and anti-ag activists. PETA alone gets 1 billion online video views a year. And that’s just PETA.

I promised to look at Gen Z (ages 10-25) and millennial (26-41) attitudes in my next column. Let’s dive in.

As with many issues, there’s a clear difference between older and younger Americans. And the data does not bode well for our friends.

The International Food Information Council found significant differences between older and younger Americans’ diets. Their polling found 83% of Americans over 65 call themselves omnivore, while only 58% of Americans under 45 do. Only 5% of Americans over 65 called themselves vegetarian, sometimes vegetarian, or vegan; 27% of the younger age group did.

One-quarter of Gen Z and millennial respondents say they regularly eat plant-based meat.

To no surprise, the food market analytics firm NPD Group says Gen Z and millennials will be driving growth in fake meat.

This creates a cycle of reinforcement as these consumers have their own children.

A consumer survey for Impossible Foods found that millennials with kids were more likely to consume plant-based meat than those without kids. Millennial parents were also more likely than older generations to teach their kids about environmental sustainability.

The same Impossible Foods survey found 62% of Gen Z respondents say they would pay more for food products that don’t harm the environment, versus 32% of boomers. Meanwhile, 76% of boomers agreed that meat is part of the American identity, while 61% of Gen Z’ers agreed.

This is an important shift. Our own polling has found that the primary reason people consume fake meat is because they believe it is healthier for them than real meat. That is a relatively easy myth to dispel. Many nutritionists and dietitians have pointed out that fake meat has high levels of sodium and just as many calories as real meat in addition to being highly processed with chemical additives.

Overall, environmental reasons come in a distant second for the reason why people buy fake meat. But the environment is a much stronger reason with the younger generations. The same with the morality argument on killing animals for food.

These shifts didn’t happen overnight.

Consider: For years, PETA has invested in messages targeting children. It has an entire website at PETAKids.com full of stickers and coloring books.

“PETA Kids” is one piece in a large puzzle. Every day, younger Americans are being bombarded with language about sustainability and social responsibility. In schools, on Netflix, in the media. Entire school systems like New York City are embracing “Meatless Monday” coupled to an anti-meat message that may bleed into more meatless days.

In the long run, exposure to enough of this messaging will shape more of the larger public opinion.

The biggest problem the activists have is that society often “defaults” away from them. Eating meat, owning pets, and going to the zoo are all normalized across society. Hunting and fishing are, too, to a lesser degree.

For mass societal change that the activists want, they need to create their own echo chamber. It’s akin to diverting a river: No easy undertaking, but doable with enough resources. If you look at the opinions of people in countries such as Russia or China, you’ll see that information control can work.

There is a large contingent that wants to indoctrinate kids into the “right” way of thinking on a whole host of issues. The numbers and polling indicate they are succeeding.

Fortunately, nothing is set in stone. Unlike China or Russia, we have relatively open dissemination of information in this country. The communications war is winnable provided there is enough ammo.

When reflecting on solutions to these current and future shifts, it is always helpful to begin with the end in mind. Where do you want people to be in 20 years? Then you walk backwards to figure out how to make it happen. I can guarantee the larger activist organizations are thinking that way now.

Shaping future opinions: Think like an activist

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