Can Eating Beef Mesh with A Healthy Planet? (Part 2 of 2)
added 01/23/12
by Mary Saucier Choate, M.S., R.D., L.D.
Dietitian and Food and Nutrition Educator
The previous article discussed how to fit small portions of beef into a healthful diet. This article discusses whether eating beef fits with supporting a healthy planet.
Could any issue be more confusing? There are many issues to consider, environmentally and globally. Depending on where you look for the research, you may find conflicting conclusions. Some researchers have determined that grass fed beef is a low “carbon footprint” choice, while others have found that it produces more greenhouse gases than conventionally raised beef.
Research from Washington State University compared production methods from 2007 with those used in 1977. They found that modern beef production requires considerably fewer resources. They found that the “carbon footprint” per billion kilograms of beef produced in 2007 was reduced by 16.3% compared with equivalent beef production in 1977. Conventional beef producers argue that they are getting better at using fewer and fewer resources.
On the other hand, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s 2004 National Water Quality Inventory indicates that agricultural operations, including animal feeding operations, crop production, and grazing are a significant source of water pollution in the U.S.
Water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource. Cornell researchers found that to produce one pound of beef requires about 5000 gallons of water but to grow the same amount of vegetables, grains, or beans requires much less water, from 36 to 240 gallons of water per pound of food.
Looking at it from a global perspective, a 2006 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report states that livestock production generates more greenhouse gases than transportation and is a major source of land and water degradation. With increased prosperity, people are consuming more meat and dairy products every year; global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million tons in 1999/2001 to 465 million tons in 2050.
In another report, the FAO states that development organizations and governments have overlooked the potential for poverty reduction that livestock production offers to the poor, both as food for their families and as part of their livelihood with the increasing demand for meat and dairy products in developing countries.
Add the consideration of animal welfare in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO’s) and you can see that there are quite a lot of issues involved that steak you are about to purchase!
Americans love their beef, but things are starting to change. In 2010, Americans consumed 26.4 billion pounds of beef, down from a high of 28.1 billion pounds in 2006 and 2007. And that is likely the key to choosing beef while supporting a healthy planet. Choose it less often.
For the references used in this article see: http://s.coop/7wg1
