Finding Food Stability

There is so much demand for meat to be produced and because of that, there is also a lot of demand in resources. Did you know that a quarter pound of burger 6.7 pounds of grain to be foraged, 52.8 gallons of drinking water, 74.5 square feet for grazing and growing the feed crops, and 1036 BTU’s for feed production and transport, and that’s enough to power a microwave for about 18 minutes. As you see it requires a lot of resources to produce a small amount of meat. I mentioned earlier that on average 250 tons of meat are consumed worldwide every year. By the year 2050 this number is supposed to double. increases in demand of meat is driven by increases in human population growth. Did you know that 1/3 of the total cereal harvest is used for animal feeding right now. In order to produce 1 calorie in the form of meat, up to 30 calories of vegetable foods have to be used as feed. So overall there’s a big loss for just animal

However, some believe, that a shift in the way we produce food may have some unintended consequences. They contend that poverty in nations such as Africa and Asia, is caused by the low productivity of the unindustrialized farm labor. The U.S. Agriculture Department projects, without reform, there will be over a thirty percent increase in the numbers of the ‘food insecure’ people in those nations over the next decade (Paarlberg 179).

Food is the foundation of human live and people cannot survive without it. Food security is a vital issue facing the governments around the world. However, food shortage is becoming increasingly severe in this day and age. There are several reasons which led to the universal food shortage and they are interconnected to each other. Increasing world population, extreme weather and the wide spread use of biofuels are the main causes of worldwide shortage of food. These factors lead to food price rises rapidly.

In the words of Lester Brown, “We are witnessing the beginning of one of the great tragedies of history.” Numerous people just like Brown believe the urge the United States has to reduce foreign oil will soon cause a major shortage of food. In 2011, the United States used 45% of that year’s corn crop to produce ethanol. With such a high percentage of corn used for ethanol, it causes a shortage of corn for food. The Untied States is not as efficient at making ethanol compared to feeding people. A bushel of corn can produce 2 .77 gallons of ethanol. With the same amount of corn, America can feed 1.4 persons for a day.

Going vegetarian can help preserve the limited land and water system that us humans take for granted sometimes. Factory farming along with free range farming are destroying the earth and its biodiversity. When people think of pollution like unnecessary CO2 emissions and deforestation of rainforests, they do not think about the animals being raised for consumption. In an article, “Concentrated animal Agriculture Is The Biggest

In discussion of meat production one controversial issue has been limited resources. On the one hand you have PETA and other health organizations which argue that meat production is terrorizing our environment. On the other hand, millions of people rely on eating meat. My view would relate to PETA and other health organizations about how the mast production of meat is harmful. As stated by PETA, “Cows must consume 16 pounds of vegetation in order to convert them into 1 pound of flesh. Raising animals for food consumes more than half of all water used in the U.S. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat” (How Does 1.2). Meaning that if we were to put more time into wheat, which creates a wide variety of food like pasta, rice, cereals and other products we would be saving water and other resources. Especially now, you have states in the U.S, like California, who have been in a drought for quite some time and would probably enjoy water like the majority of the country. If the amount of meat being produced and eaten by the average American was reduced, it could be probable that droughts that bad in California could be refrained from happening. Food and water is needed in everyday life to survive, but that’s not the only thing meat production is doing harmfully to our

Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, water pollution, habitat destruction, and other issues (Center for Biological Diversity, 2014). How could this be? This is because about 94% of the US population are meat eaters and the industry does not tell you what happens behind their closed factory doors: the industry is the leading cause in both resource consumption and global warming, their meat can cause diseases that can be prevented, and the industry abuses their animals. Converting to a vegetarian or vegan diet might sound intimidating, or sound like we might not get all of the needed nutrients but there foods that vegetarians can eat to get what they need to get. Despite not eating meat on a regular basis there

Policies on global food production threatened the food security of many countries. First, economically vulnerable countries are subject to the unexpected changes of the international marketplace, food prices, and heavily subsidized produce from the global North that undermine the ability of the former to compete. Second, certain crops, like sugarcane, potato, and corn, are planted to produce biofuels, primarily ethanol, instead of food for poor populations. Wealthy nations that can afford to buy crops for biofuels inflate market prices for food, and then the food still goes to the country willing to pay. Third, nations that are based primarily on exporting products

In a study conducted by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2003, it was estimated that there are approximately 2 billion people that live primarily on a meat-based diet while approximately 4 billion people live primarily on a plant-based diet (Pimentel, 2003). With this information we can deduce just how much of a difference in environmental effects there are between a vegetarian diet and a diet that consumes meat. For example, in this study it was found that the average amount of fossil fuel energy used for 1 kilocalorie of animal-based protein was 11 times more than that for 1 kilocalorie of grain protein. This statistic shows that the mass production of animal meat-based foods requires a much larger amount of the already limited amount of fossil fuels that are on Earth than plant-based food. By examining this fact, it is not a broad leap to assume that in reducing the worlds extravagant use of animal meat for consumption we could not only preserve the natural resources we have but also assist in reducing factors that add to climate change. Although the argument could be made that because both the vegetarian diet and a diet with meat in it use a large amount of resources there would be no difference in reducing the effects that the agriculture industry has on climate change but that is simply not true. While it is true that both diets use a large amount of resources, across the board the meat-based diet uses a much larger amount of resources. In fact, in the study conducted by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition it states, “The meat-based diet requires more energy, land, and water resources than the lactoovovegetarian [vegetarian] diet.” Although both are considered unsustainable, this study provides very valid evidence that the vegetarian diet is more sustainable than that of a meat-based

Now, that is a lot of people to feed! Right now, with a world population of around 7 billion, 1 in 9 people suffer from malnutrition because of the lack of food available to them (Pratta and Reuters; “2016 World Hunger”). Feeding the growing population is going to continue to become a growing problem as we expand housing and using arable land previously used for growing crops. From 2002 to 2012 over 73 million acres of arable land was lost (“2016 World Hunger”). With the use of GMO’s, the yields produced by farmers can be dramatically increased resulting in less land needed to produce enough crop. Another problem arising is that the use of crops are being used for alternative reasons other than food consumption. With the use of ethanol, billions of bushels of corn are taken to the plants instead of processing plants for later food consumption. While some of the corn taken into ethanol plants reenter the feed market, only 12.2% of the total 27.3% of corn used reenter (Jessen). With the use of GMO crops people can help reduce the numbers of crop that could be used for food but it is instead used for biogases. Scientists can create specially modified crops to be targeted for biogasses. Syngenta, a major agribusiness that produces agrochemicals and seeds, have already created, and got approved, a GMO corn crop that is specialized for ethanol production.

We use many gallons of water to produce regular meat. It’s the #1 product that consumes more water. We are already short on our resources. We don’t want to get any shorter. We need water to drink, to make things, etc. Not all of it should be used up for meat. Maybe by changing to a meat substitute, such as Test Tube Meat , can help us boost our water percentage. Test Tube Meat is cheaper to produce than regular meat. Why waste your money on something expensive when you have something similar that is cheaper? It’s better to use your money wisely because you never know when you’re going to need it in a time of crisis. There’s a difference between wanting and needing. The earth wants more meat because it’s delicious and amazing, but we also need to produce other things. More important things. Sometimes you just have to live with the things you have. Be

Global meat production rose to a new peak of 308.5 million tons in 2013, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a more than fourfold increase over the last five decades. Even more startlingly, meat production has grown 25-fold since 1800 (Horrigan, Lawerence &Walker, 2002). Globally, agriculture utilizes nearly 70 per cent of the world 's available freshwater. One-third of that percentage is used to grow grains to feed to livestock (ECOS, 2014). While the global meat industry provides food and a livelihood for billions of people, it also has significant environmental and health consequences for the planet. Over half of the water used in meat production

Consumption of meat by humans creates several problems. First and foremost, raising animals for food compromises the environment. For example, it takes a large amount of natural resources to sustain the meat industry. The use of water, land, and food to raise animals for human consumption is not an efficient use of our limited resources. In contrast, it is more efficient to feed humans directly than to use land, food, and water to feed animals to be used as food. There are shortages of fertile land, clean water, and food in several third world countries. Many of these countries’ resources are allocated to produce feed for animals in developed countries around the world. As a result, the citizens of these countries are stricken with water and food shortages, while their crops are feeding cattle from across the globe. However, this problem can be solved by adopting a vegan diet. The vegan diet will allow a more efficient use of resources that in turn can be used to feed starving men, women, and children throughout the world. Consequently, more people in the world could be fed if the land used to grow feed for animals was used to grow food for humans.

Food is the foundation of human live and people cannot survive without it. Food security is a vital issue facing the governments around the world. However, food shortage is becoming increasingly severe in this day and age. There are several reasons which led to the universal food shortage and they are interconnected to each other. Increasing world population, extreme weather and the wide spread use of biofuels are the main causes of worldwide shortage of food. These factors lead to food price rises rapidly.

For the economic benefits of vegetarian, a vegetarian diet could offer substantial savings on the cost of food. One research shows that the vegetarians are able to save around three thousand dollars per year. Meanwhile, the elimination of pork and beef from the diet could reduce the medical expenses. The New York Times said, “The medical costs of meat consumption may be similar to the tens of billions of dollars it costs per year to care for smokers.” (Gary Null, 2011)