With the pressure of feeding an ever growing population it has
been suggested that livestock are a burden on the food chain. The United Nations estimates that food supply
needs to increase by 70-100% by 2050. There
are even some who suggest that going vegetarian would solve world hunger. There is no doubt we need to do something,
but is this the solution?
Presently a third of the world’s cereal harvest is fed to farm
animals and for every 100 calories of cereals eaten by livestock only 30
calories of food is generated in the form of meat, milk and eggs. It is estimated that if this cereal was used
for human consumption it would feed 3 billion people.
However, the
question is more how we farm our livestock. Factory farming often
expounded as the solution to producing food more intensely is in fact highly
resource intensive. It means the livestock rely heavily on the type of
cereals that would otherwise go into the human food chain. This is bonkers! What’s more since the start of modern farming
we’ve lost about a third of the world’s top soil. This is one of our most valuable resources,
without it we cannot grow anything. Most
of our fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides come from oil and this is very calorie
inefficient.
If our livestock are raised in more natural conditions then they
become an asset. Many livestock can
thrive in landscapes not suitable for raising crops and they naturally feed on
things people would not want to eat. Sheep
on a moorland, pigs through a woodland or chickens in our own backyards recycling
our food waste. Also livestock
effectively through their metabolism produce fantastic natural fertilisers for
the soil and help to improve our top soil and increase the sustainability of
the land.
Do livestock have a place in an ever stretched planet? Yes, a crucial one. Not in inefficient, intensive systems but in
a more natural environment, earning their keep through the food and soil
fertility they leave behind. Would you
want to see a landscape with no animals in it?
Couldn't agree more Muddy Carrot! I think sharing our landscape with animals (not sure I like the word 'live-stock'), utilising their skills and sharing ours with them, whether we eventually eat them or not, is important to healthy, well lived life on this planet. (At least at this time. Things may change in the future but that's the future!)
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about this last night - imagining if we all suddenly became vegetarian or vegan. What would happen to all the animals? I didn't come up with any answers, just wondered about it...
Whilst I admire those who choose vegetarianism for environmental reasons and have considered it myself many times, it is not something I feel ready or able to do. Partly because my only reason would be in regard to not killing life and I don't feel comfortable distinguishing between different forms of life - why do plants and trees have less right to life than animals and humans for example...
My other reason is that I enjoy supporting the organic food system in the UK. It is important to me that this method of animal rearing and meat production becomes the norm instead of the disgusting industrial/battery 'farmed' method. Perhaps, when organic becomes the norm, I'll feel able to consider vegetarianism, if I feel the need...
Slightly off topic perhaps, apologies!
I totally agree, it would be horrible to imagine a landscape with out animals. We're based in the rolling landscape of West Dorset and it's lovely to see animals in the field and they are beneficial to our environment.
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