The Meat which is Devouring the Planet

Silvia Ribeiro

29/08/2014

Opinión

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More than 15,500 litres of water are used to produce one single kilogram of beef. To produce a kilo of corn, with an irrigation system, 31 times less water is needed: some 500 litres. For potatoes it’s 255 litres and 131 litres/kg for carrots. 70% of the world’s fresh water supply is used in agriculture, and three quarters of this volume is used in industrial agriculture, even though the food that it produces only reaches 30% of the global population. This data is from the Meat Atlas, published in 2014 by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, in collaboration with several other organisations.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that approximately half a cubic metre of water is required to produce 1000 calories’ worth of cereal produce. Four cubic metres are required to produce the same amount of meat, and more than six cubic metres for dairy products. These are purely averages, as the breeding method changes the consumption: a cow which is bred industrially and in confinement consumes a lot more water than one which grazes outdoors. The same can be said for other animals which are bred for their meat: The rural and backyard breeding of pigs, poultry and goats uses a fraction of the huge volumes of water used for industrial breeding facilities which are getting bigger and bigger and are literally consuming most of the planet’s water and arable land.

It’s not that the animals are drinking so much water or taking up so much land; the majority of the water consumption is attributable to the fact that animals in confinement are more and more exclusively consuming grains and fodders which have been produced industrially, the production of which demands huge volumes of water and energy. The vast majority of genetically modified soya and corn produced in the world is for this purpose. WWF estimates that an average of 6.5 kg of grain, 36 kg of fodder and 15,500 litres of water are used to produce one single kilogram of meat.

It should be added that the animal breeding industry is an important factor in the contamination of surface water and groundwater sources by phosphorus and nitrates which are derived from manure and fertilisers. Manure, which is a fertiliser that helps the soil and fertility in free-range farming, becomes a huge problem when it ferments anaerobically in large tanks and facilities used in the industrial breeding of confined animals. Over-fertilisation is actually a bigger problem than the lack of fertiliser. Seepages through to groundwater sources also reach springs and wells, making the water undrinkable. According to the Meat Atlas, “If the authorities check nitrate levels, people can avoid drinking it, but such checks do not take place in many areas”.

The livestock industry is also devouring the vast majority of the planet’s agricultural land. Out of the 14,000 million hectares of cultivated land on the planet, one third is used to produce fodder. If we also consider the oils, straw, hay, ensilage and the rapeseed, grape and soya bean pastes which go into the troughs, three quarters of the cultivated land is reserved for animal feed. According to the United Nations Development Project (UNDP), 78% (!) of all the planet’s agricultural land is reserved for animal husbandry, including the production of animal feed, fodder and pasturage.

As a global average – with large differences between regions – more than half of the cereals which are grown are used for animal feed. Such a figure is inconceivable in Africa, where people consume over 80% of the cereals and the cattle graze on pasturelands. Our thirst for land used for animal production is also a cause of deforestation in many parts of the world. It’s considered the biggest factor behind the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, adding to the brutal rise in the cultivation of genetically modified soya – to feed cattle in other parts of the world – on the Cerrado, a unique tropical savannah ecosystem whose destruction is also wearing away at the Amazon.

The industrial confined breeding of animals uses and also gives off an enormous amount of chemicals and toxins. Due to the overcrowded conditions, and to make them grow more quickly, they use an enormous volume of antibiotics and antiviral drugs, the same as those used by humans. In many cases, they add the antibiotics to their food to encourage them to fatten up. This practice is illegal in Europe and some other countries, but the industry will lift its restrictions if they claim it’s for veterinary reasons. The World Health Organisation (WHO) points to this industry as being one of the main factors behind the creation of multiresistant super-bacteria, accelerated resistance in viruses and the development of new illnesses which affect humans, such as bird flu and swine flu.

The consumption of a range of local free-range meats from small farms – without chemicals and in small quantities – is a good complement to one’s diet. These requisites are not satisfied, however, by anything which comes from this thriving multinational animal breeding industry or its related practices. Quite the opposite: as well as devouring and poisoning our land, water and forests, it’s making us ill, hindering small-scale rural production and preventing healthy consumption.

(Translated by Thomas McGuinn)

- Silvia Ribeiro is an investigator for the ETC Group - http://www.etcgroup.org.

For more on this subject, check out the article “Carnivorous Greed”, ALAI 15/8/2014.

https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/102879