Consumer choices can increase food supply.
If Pollan’s most fervent dreams come to pass—if U.S. agricultural policy changes and CAFOs start giving way to grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle—then we will find ourselves with a lot less meat. What’s more, the meat that we do produce will be more expensive. Thus, American consumers will increasingly be faced with what today seems like an impossible choice: Spend more money for the same amount of beef that we are now eating or swap out a large portion of our livestock consumption for more fruits, vegetables, and grains which cost less to grow than meat or poultry, both in dollars and in environmental trade-offs—no manure lagoons or grain feed crop to worry about.
KEY CONCEPT 30.8
We can expand our food supply, improve our health, and reduce our ecological footprint by eating lower on the food chain or eating animals raised on grasslands that will not support crops.
Experts like to call this eating lower on the food chain; many believe it is the key to a sustainable diet. For one thing, it’s better for our health. “Diets high in animal fats and red meat confer a high risk of cancer, not to mention heart disease, obesity, and diabetes,” says Devra Lee Davis, an epidemiologist and director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh. “Fat has been called a natural hazardous waste site, because it accumulates fat-loving synthetic organic chemicals, which move up the food chain.” Larger mammals accumulate more toxins, she says. And eating lower on the food chain is a good way to avoid ingesting too many of these toxins.
It’s also a good way to reduce one’s ecological footprint. “By reducing the amount of meat we eat, we can grow and kill fewer animals,” writes author Mark Bittman in his book Food Matters. “That means less environmental damage, including climate change; fewer antibiotics in the water and food supplies; fewer pesticides and herbicides; reduced cruelty; and so on.”
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Experts are quick to point out that adhering to our environmental principles need not mean cutting meat out of our diets entirely. In some cases, after all (on certain grasslands or with certain crop-rotation plans), growing livestock really is the best use of a given patch of land at a given time. In fact, one Cornell study concluded that the diet with the lowest footprint for the state of New York was one that included a small amount of meat and dairy. And on grasslands that will not easily support a food crop that humans can eat, raising animals for meat or dairy products may be the only way to use that land to produce food. INFOGRAPHIC 30.7
DIET AND CARRYING CAPACITY
A 2007 study by Christian Peters of Cornell University compared the number of people that could be supported with locally produced food from farmland in New York State. His research compared diets that varied in meat and fat content (“meat” included meat, milk, and eggs), testing a range that included diets lower and higher in meat and fat than that of the average American, who consumes 6–8 ounces of meat per day, with roughly 40% of calories coming from fat. Though eating more than 4 ounces of meat per day required more land and reduced the number of people the land area could support, diets that contained a small amount of meat (2 ounces per day) were actually the most efficient in terms of carrying capacity, but only when daily consumption of fat in a meat-free diet surpassed 35%.
Provide the data that supports this statement with regard to this study: Diets with 2 oz. of meat per day and 30% fat or less had a higher carrying capacity than higher-fat, meat-free diets.
A diet with 2 oz. of meat per day and 20-30% fat could support slightly more than 5 million people (~5.1-5.2 million). A high-fat (>40%) meat-free diet could support just under 5 million people (~ 4.5-4.8 million).
Ultimately, the solution may come down to moderation—in the way we grow cattle and in the way we consume it. Meanwhile, since the 2007 recall, an additional 77,660,000 kilograms (171,203,843 pounds) of beef have been recalled from restaurants and supermarkets.
Select References:
Armstrong, S. D., et al. (2010). Manure spills and remediation methods to improve water quality. Genetic Engineering, Biofertilization, Soil Quality and Organic Farming, Sustainable Agriculture Reviews 4. New York: Springer.
Callaway, T. R., et al. (2009). Diet, Escherichia coli O157: H7, and cattle: A review after 10 years. Current Issues in Molecular Biology, 11(2): 67–80.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). “Healthy People 2010: Final Review,” www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hpdata2010/hp2010_final_review.pdf.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2009). “The State of Food and Agriculture—Livestock in the Balance,” http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i0680e/i0680e.pdf.
Pan, A., et al. (2012). Red meat consumption and mortality. Archives of Internal Medicine, 172(7):555–563.
Peters, C. J., et al. (2007). Testing a complete-diet model for estimating the land resource requirements of food consumption and agricultural carrying capacity: The New York State example. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 22(2): 145–153.
Russell, J. B., & J. L. Rychlik (2001). Factors that alter rumen microbial ecology. Science, 292(5519): 1119–1122.
PERSONAL CHOICES THAT HELP
As the demand for meat increases with further economic development, the health and environmental consequences of CAFOs become more concerning. Although the use of best management practices and adoption of technological improvements may decrease the environmental impacts of CAFOs, a careful reconsideration of the dietary choices in affluent countries may be an important part of the quest to create a sustainable food production system.
Individual Steps
Reducing your own consumption of meat has positive impacts on the environment as well as on your own health. Visit www.meatlessmonday.com for recipes and other resources.
Purchase brands of meat and dairy products available in grocery stores around you that are labeled as free range, grass-fed, or antibiotic free.
Support sustainable-practice farmers who produce food locally. Farmers’ markets are a great place to find fresh fruits and vegetables grown in your area.
Group Action
Invite local producers to speak to a community group about their practices and products in order to increase public awareness of local food suppliers.
Lead a book discussion of Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which brings attention to the problems associated with industrial farming methods as well as some solutions.
Policy Change
Organize a community screening of a documentary like FRESH (www.freshthemovie.com). Follow it with a discussion of the impacts of industrialized cattle operations on individual health and the environment. Contact local dairy producers for promotional materials or coupons to distribute.
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