LOVELOCK - How many of you remember a few years ago about research conducted by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization that claimed livestock was responsible for over 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions? This percentage was greater than gases produced by automobiles and other modes of transportation. How many of you have heard of the "Meatless Monday" campaign? This campaign encourages eliminating meat from your diet one day a week to "reduce your carbon footprint." The Meatless Monday campaign goes on to say, "The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide."
What you probably did not know is that last year one of the UN report's authors, Pierre Gerber, acknowledged that the analysis was inaccurate. New research by Jude Capper, Ph.D., Washington State University, published in this month's Journal of Animal Science shows that raising a pound of beef in the U.S. today uses significantly fewer natural resources than 30 years ago. Specifically, Capper's study documents that each pound of beef raised in 2007 used 33 percent less land, 12 percent less water, 19 percent less feed and 9 percent less fossil fuel energy than equivalent beef production in 1977. Waste outputs were similarly reduced, shrinking the carbon footprint of beef by 16.3 percent in 30 years.
According to Capper's research, "The Environmental Impact of Beef Production in the United States: 1977 compared with 2007" (Journal of Animal Science, Dec. 18, 2011) improvements in the way cattle are raised and fed in the United States between 1977 and 2007 yielded 13 percent more total beef from 30 percent fewer animals. Raising more beef from fewer animals maximizes natural resources while providing essential nutrients for the human diet. As the population increases, it is crucial to continue the improvements demonstrated over the past 30 years to meet demand for nutrient-rich beef while reducing resource use and mitigating environmental impact. Turning back the clock on these advancements is not the solution to feeding a world population that recently reached 7 billion and will grow to 10 billion by the year 2050, concludes Capper.
"As the number of mouths to feed increases and the quality of diets in many areas around the world improves, the demand for nutrient-rich protein like beef will increase," Capper was quoted in a news release from National Cattlemen's Beef Association. "At the same time, resources like land, water and fossil fuels will become increasingly scarce. These realities are like two trains speeding toward each other on the same track. If we listen to alarmists shouting at us to slow down, we could face a head-on collision of epic proportions. The only way to avoid this disaster is to accelerate the pace of progress."
Capper attributes much of the reduction in beef's environmental footprint to raising cattle on grass pasture before finishing them on an optimal balanced diet of grasses, grains and other forages in a feedyard. According to previous research conducted by Capper, each pound of grain-finished beef requires 45 percent less land, 76 percent less water and 49 percent less feed and at the same time generates 51 percent less manure and 42 percent fewer carbon emissions than grass-finished beef.
"As we work on solutions for the future it is important to understand how far the U.S. livestock industry has come in reducing its environmental footprint in the recent past and how this significant reduction was achieved," says Capper. "The facts are in. Improved cattle diets in the feedyard and responsible use of science-based technologies to improve the ability of cattle to convert feed to pounds of beef, reduces the amount of land, water and fossil fuels it takes to raise beef."
Capper says focusing resources to provide more nutrient rich foods like beef, which provides more than 10 percent of the daily-recommended value of 10 essential nutrients and vitamins for less than 10 percent of daily calories (based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet), is a critical success factor in meeting nutrition needs at home and abroad.
"Making the best use of resources like land, water and energy to raise nutrient-rich beef is the key to sustainability," Capper says. "The result is delicious, healthful beef you can feel good about."
The impact of livestock on global warming is not the only misinformation provided by the United Nation's scientist. The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scientists wrote that 40 percent of the Amazon rainforest in South America was endangered by global warming. But that assertion was discredited this week when it emerged that the findings were based on numbers from a study by the World Wildlife Federation that had nothing to do with the issue of global warming - and that was written by a freelance journalist and green activist.
The bottom line is, "not all research is created equal."
Source:
New research shrinks beef's shadow, Greg Henderson, Editor, Associate Publisher, Drovers CattleNetwork.
U.N.'s Global Warming Report Under Fresh Attack for Rainforest Claims,, By Gene J. Koprowski
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