Beef, why it's good for the environment
Last post we discussed some of the health benefits beef provides twice! But this week I will share with you the benefits beef brings to the environment.
The mainstream media and social craze seems to be anti-agriculture. There is a lot of hype about the negative impact agriculture has on the environment, especially cattle. Let us sit down and give the truth about grazing cattle and the benefits it provides for the environment.
In the 1800's there were approximately 30-60 million bison roaming North America. Today there are approximately 500,000 between public and private lands. According to the USDA, there are approximately 32 million beef cattle in the US. Are beef cattle disrupting the environment more than the natural herbivores of the past, especially when grazed properly?
Another misconception is that meat takes a considerably more amount of water to produce than plant products. This is false. "According to a study from UC Davis, typical beef requires approximately 410 gallons of water per pound to produce. A pound of rice production also requires about 410 gallons, and avocados, walnuts and sugar are similarly high in water requirements." (3) As discussed in the previous post, meat is much more nutrient dense than the other plant based foods. Another important thing to note is that grass-fed beef is closer to 100 gallons of water per pound to produce. Also, all beef is started out as "grass-fed", meaning that "typical" cattle start their life in pasture/range ground and finish in a feedlot for 4-6 months.
Let us discuss the hot topic of greenhouse gases. Beef manure is largely composed of carbon nitrogen and other organic materials. The main greenhouse gases emitted from manure are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. Increasing soil organic carbon through manure has two benefits – it improves soil health and fertility. We can discuss more about soil health in a future post. There are numerous benefits cattle provide to the soil. But I digress. Many management practices that increase soil organic carbon also improve crop and pasture yields.
Many people discussing bad emissions from cattle do not account for mitigation from carbon sequestration (a natural or artificial process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in solid or liquid form) or methane oxidation, or nitrogen fixing when discussing greenhouse gases and cattle. When you look at the entire cycle, cattle, responsibly rotated on pasture, have at minimum a net neutral and likely a net gain for carbon sequestration.
Cattle are not the villain.
References:
(1) https://bisoncentral.com/bison-by-the-numbers/
(2) https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/Cattle/bcow.php
(3) https://sustainabledish.com/meat-is-magnificent/
(4) https://www.futurefarmers.com.au/young-carbon-farmers/carbon-farming/importance-of-carbon-in-the-soil
(5) http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/10/13500