Perhaps at Farm Progress we knew the answer to the question But it was worth asking and in our PANEL question last week, while a little cheeky, the response was not unexpected

Our question? McDonald's will introduce the McPlant, a plant-based burger, what do you say?

About a fifth of our respondents shared that with that news "McDonald's is McDead to me." And they're walking away from the joint for making the plant-based choice. Though McDonald's is behind Burger King in the move, these respondents will narrow their choices. One respondent piled on saying: "[It] can't hurt their burgers taste bad now."

Just under half, about 45%, responded that fake meat can't contend with the real McCoy. No surprise there, on the farm burgers are burgers and contain beef.

Yet plant-based burgers could be a boost to farmers raising soybeans since Beyond Beef and others are using soy protein as a substitute (note, McDonald's has not said who their supplier is for the McPlant). But that's not enough for our respondents. Though 10% thought they night give the "burger" a try if it used soybeans.

And our last question, probably a different take on the same idea as our first, got just over a third to respond asking "where's the beef?" And we referenced that classic commercial for Wendy's.

One respondent to the PANEL did share an interesting thought: "Maybe they were dropped on their head when they were a kid." (Note we did clean up the thumb-filled spelling errors of that response).

As it stands, this PANEL shows that farmers like their burgers to use beef and will accept no substitutes.

Joining the PANEL

The Farm Progress PANEL is a text-based survey farmers can sign up to participate. We are limiting participation, but there are still a few seats left. Taking part starts by registering for the Farm Progress NOW mobile text alert system so you get top news each day. To do that, text FARM to 20505 and then be sure to answer the response text to confirm. After that, you'll see instructions for joining the PANEL when the FARM text arrives.

The Farm Progress NOW text service provides topical daily information right to your phone, including top news including USDA reports and market insights. Note that the text service may incur added charges to your smartphone bill.

RESPONDENTS AT GLANCE: Here's a look at the numbers for the McPlant survey.