Cows’ supposedly high-methane farts (fact check: they’re mostly high-methane burps) and comparisons to cars and planes (fact check: the world needs to cut emissions from fossil fuels and agriculture to sufficiently rein in global warming) are both in the news these days. And as with so many things in the public sphere, it’s easy for the conversation to get polarized.
Here are six questions that people often ask about beef and climate change, based on our World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future and other research:
The beef industry has a massive impact on our environment. Beef production requires a huge amount of land, water, and feed. It leads to deforestation, soil erosion, and air and water pollution. Simply put, our love of beef and burgers is slowly destroying our planet.
In this article, I’ll explain exactly why the beef industry is so destructive, detailing the main environmental issues it causes. My aim is to summarize the science and evidence in simple terms, so you can understand why we urgently need to cut back on beef consumption.
Beef Uses a Huge Amount of Land
Cattle farming uses a massive amount of land. Around 30% of the earth’s land surface is used for livestock grazing. This includes vast grasslands, scrublands, and forests that have been cleared for cattle.
To put this in perspective all the world’s cattle use more land than all of the earth’s wild mammals and wild birds combined! And the majority of cattle are beef cattle.
Converting forests and other ecosystems into pasture releases carbon stored in plants and soil. This contributes to climate change. Clearing land for cattle also destroys the habitats of countless wildlife species.
Cattle Ranching Causes Deforestation
Much of the deforestation occurring today is to make way for cattle ranching. This is a huge issue in the Amazon rainforest. Between 2001-2017, around 25,000 km2 of forest was cleared in the Brazilian Amazon for cattle ranching.
Forests and other ecosystems store carbon in their soils and vegetation When we cut down forests for cattle, we release huge amounts of carbon into the air This is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change.
Deforestation for cattle also destroys vital habitat for endangered wildlife like jaguars, macaws, and monkeys in the Amazon. Many species are being pushed to extinction.
Livestock are Inefficient Users of Feed
Around 30% of the earth’s land area is used to grow feed crops for livestock, mostly cattle. Huge areas are used to grow soybeans, corn, grains and hay to feed beef and dairy cows.
But cows and other ruminants are extremely inefficient at turning this feed into meat and milk. For every 100 calories fed to cattle in grains and soy, we only get back around 40 new calories in milk and just 3 calories in beef.
This is a hugely wasteful use of land that could be used to grow food directly for humans. We could produce far more calories by using cropland to grow plants for direct human consumption, rather than feeding it to cows.
Cattle Grazing Causes Soil Erosion
Allowing cows to overgraze grasslands leads to soil erosion. As cattle strip away the vegetation, the soil becomes exposed to wind and rain. Topsoil then blows or washes away.
This is a major issue, as topsoil is essential for plant growth. It takes around 500 years for just 2.5 cm of topsoil to form naturally. When soils erode, they lose nutrients and organic matter crucial for crops. Yields fall, and areas can become unusable for farming.
Studies show livestock grazing has severely eroded around 70% of all US rangelands since 1700. Overgrazing has caused desertification in parts of Africa, turning once-productive land into desert.
Manure Causes Water Pollution
Beef cattle produce huge amounts of manure full of undigested food, bacteria, and nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. In the US alone beef cattle produce around 1.9 billion tons of manure every year.
When this manure runs off into rivers and lakes it causes harmful algal blooms and dead zones with dangerously low oxygen levels. Manure from feedlots also pollutes groundwater and wells, putting local communities at risk of ingesting harmful bacteria like E. coli.
stringent regulations on manure storage and disposal are essential to prevent catastrophic pollution events that can make water unusable for drinking, swimming, or fishing.
More Enteric Fermentation Means More Methane
When cattle digest their food it produces methane gas, which is belched out by the animals. This process is called enteric fermentation.
Methane is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas, trapping 28 times more heat than CO2. The US beef industry accounts for around one-third of the country’s total methane emissions – and methane is a major driver of climate change.
As the global cattle population grows, so do methane emissions. If we want to meet climate targets and reduce warming, tackling methane from cattle is crucial.
Air Pollution from Manure
Storing and spreading vast quantities of manure also leads to air pollution. As manure decomposes, it releases around 400 different volatile organic compounds, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and particulate matter into the air.
People living near beef cattle operations suffer increased respiratory issues from inhaling these air pollutants. Air pollution from factory farms also contributes to acid rain, harming local plant and wildlife.
The Bottom Line
It’s clear that our love of beef burgers and steaks is slowly destroying the planet. Beef production gobbles up land, accelerates deforestation and climate change, erodes soils, and pollutes our air and water.
The evidence shows that we urgently need to reduce beef consumption worldwide to preserve our environment for future generations.
There are many alternatives like chicken, pork, legumes, and meat alternatives that are far less damaging for the planet. Small personal changes can add up to make a real difference.
So next time you’re deciding what to eat, consider swapping that beef burger for a chicken or veggie option. Our planet will thank you!
Why are some people saying beef production is only a small contributor to emissions?
Most of the time, these kinds of estimates don’t take into account the effects of land use, like cutting down forests to make room for pastureland.
There are a lot of statistics that look at emissions from beef production, but not at the changes in land use that go along with them. For example, here are three common U. S. estimates:
- The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated total U. S. agricultural emissions in 2019 at only 10% of total U. S. emissions.
- A 2019 study in Agricultural Systems found that emissions from beef production were only 3% of all U.S. emissions. S. emissions.
- A study released in 2017 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimated that getting rid of all animals in U.S. S. agriculture would reduce U. S. emissions by only 3%.
While all of these estimates account for emissions from U. S. agricultural production, they leave out a crucial element: emissions associated with devoting land to agriculture. A lot of the time, an acre of land used to grow food could store a lot more carbon if it was left to grow forest or native plants. And estimates of the emissions from beef production in the United States need to include emissions from other countries as well, especially since the demand for beef around the world is growing.
Because food is a global commodity, what is consumed in one country can drive land use impacts and emissions in another. An increase in U.S. beef consumption, for example, can result in deforestation to make way for pastureland in Latin America. Conversely, a decrease in U.S. beef consumption can avoid deforestation and land-use-change emissions abroad. As another example, U.S. beef exports to China have been growing rapidly since 2020.
When the effects of raising cattle on land use are taken into account, the average American diet has almost the same amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as the U.S. S. energy-related emissions. When land-use effects are taken into account, a related study found that the average European’s diet-related emissions are about the same as the per capita emissions that are usually attributed to all of their goods and services, including energy use.
Can beef be produced more sustainably?
The short answer: Yes, although beef will always be resource-intensive to produce.
The longer version: Beef production has very different levels of emissions around the world. Making livestock production more efficient can greatly lower the amount of land used and emissions per pound of meat. Better feed and veterinary care, raising better animal breeds that turn feed into meat and milk more efficiently, and using better management techniques like rotational grazing can increase output and improve soil health while lowering emissions. Boosting productivity, in turn, can take pressure off tropical forests by reducing the need for more pastureland.
Examples of such improved practices abound. For example, some beef production in Colombia integrates trees and grasses onto pasturelands, helping the land produce a higher quantity and quality of feed. This can enable farmers to quadruple the number of cows per acre while greatly reducing methane emissions per pound of meat, as the cows grow more quickly. A study of dairy farms in Kenya found that supplementing typical cattle diets with high-quality feeds like napier grass and high-protein Calliandra shrubs — which can lead to faster cattle growth and greater milk production — could reduce methane emissions per liter of milk by 8% to 60%.
Why beef is the worst food for the climate
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