I wonder about efficiency. If the meat I get is from 30km away on grassland that couldn't grow crops it's grown on land that is otherwise useless for food. How does using an otherwise useless piece of land factor in? Compared to tomatoes from the other side of the world they came on the most efficient cargo ships
I'll definitely agree with you that animals raised on food humans can eat are terribly inefficient. I also think the meat from those doesn't taste as good as the ones raised on grass
Likewise the river water cows drink is returned in their urine, delivered to the ground not to waterways, reinforced with extra nitrogen which the plants want
I don't believe the efficiency calculations are straight forward except in until most extreme cases
I was thinking on another scale entirely. Its probably more efficient to exclusively grow tomatoes around the equator, then use one or two massive container ship to transit around the world.
Livestock get negative points both for their high position in the food web, but also their reduced ability to scale (compared to row crops).
That being said, even on a small scale, to raise a cow you have to go through SO MUCH food that (even ignoring the value of non-food crop like grass) I'd be surprised if livestock wasn't an order of magnitude less efficient.
Of course like anything it depends on the metric, probably could dump a lot of lead in the ocean chasing efficiency. The general point stands though, livestock just have too many logistical issues to be a good choice on a global scale (without factoring in the subsidiaries that keep livestock farms afloat today).
Yeah, the issue is livestock eat crops to energise themselves, so livestock inheritly requires exponentially more fertiliser than just the crops would.
I make jerky from venison and trade some for plane tickets to places with very small deer, and then I trade the rest for tickets to a petting zoo (to pet their very tiny deers)
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How about less vegans vs carnivores and more vegans & carnivores vs evil
Whole food super friends unite! By our powers combined.....
Being a carnivore is less efficient than even those monoculture global transport lines.
So what defines right vs privilege? Is it just who's allowed to be stupid?
I wonder about efficiency. If the meat I get is from 30km away on grassland that couldn't grow crops it's grown on land that is otherwise useless for food. How does using an otherwise useless piece of land factor in? Compared to tomatoes from the other side of the world they came on the most efficient cargo ships
I'll definitely agree with you that animals raised on food humans can eat are terribly inefficient. I also think the meat from those doesn't taste as good as the ones raised on grass
Likewise the river water cows drink is returned in their urine, delivered to the ground not to waterways, reinforced with extra nitrogen which the plants want
I don't believe the efficiency calculations are straight forward except in until most extreme cases
I was thinking on another scale entirely. Its probably more efficient to exclusively grow tomatoes around the equator, then use one or two massive container ship to transit around the world.
Livestock get negative points both for their high position in the food web, but also their reduced ability to scale (compared to row crops).
That being said, even on a small scale, to raise a cow you have to go through SO MUCH food that (even ignoring the value of non-food crop like grass) I'd be surprised if livestock wasn't an order of magnitude less efficient.
Of course like anything it depends on the metric, probably could dump a lot of lead in the ocean chasing efficiency. The general point stands though, livestock just have too many logistical issues to be a good choice on a global scale (without factoring in the subsidiaries that keep livestock farms afloat today).
Have you not heard about the tons of fertilisers needed for crops?
Yeah, the issue is livestock eat crops to energise themselves, so livestock inheritly requires exponentially more fertiliser than just the crops would.
I'm vegan but this is a very valid point
100% of the animals I eat are from my back yard. definitely none of that meat was shipped in from other locations.
I make jerky from venison and trade some for plane tickets to places with very small deer, and then I trade the rest for tickets to a petting zoo (to pet their very tiny deers)
Empathy sucks.
I think we're the only predator that cares about the food we kill
a very dear meeting!
"Doe!"
Deer Homer Simpson