Some environmental activists want to curb beef consumption, saying that “the cattle we raise cause about as much greenhouse pollution as all the world’s cars, trucks, ships and planes.”
But “cattle raising is becoming environmentally friendlier,” says Human Progress. “Livestock production uses a lot of land, but the intensification of animal agriculture is reducing that requirement. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the amount of land used for pasture has fallen to levels not seen since the 1970s. There is also some evidence that cattle populations are shrinking, at least in developed countries. David Fickling, a Bloomberg columnist, credits techniques like intensive feedlots, which can get cattle to slaughter weight far more rapidly than grazing.”
Bloomberg News notes that
From a peak of more than a billion head of cattle in the mid-2000s, stocks at the start of next year will fall to 923 million head, a record low in their data.That may seem inconsistent with a world in which beef demand is still growing, but in fact it’s not. In crowded developed countries, animals spend much of their lives in intensive feedlots, where they’re given a grain-based ration to get them to slaughter weight in 18 months or less. This is much more productive than having grass-fed cattle living semi-wild on rangelands….As major producing regions such as Brazil, the US and China intensify their beef production processes and focus on the breeds that grow fastest, we are eking more beef out of a smaller herd. This intensification means pasturelands already cover less area than at any time since the 1970s.
