Beef Production, Pork Production and Chiken and Water Use

Meat and Animal Feed

Over the past 50 years, global meat production has almost quadrupled from 84 million tons in 1965 to more 330 one thousand thousand tons in 2017. The IAASTD predicts that this trend will continue, especially because the growing urban middle classes in China and other emerging economies will accommodate to the so-called western diet of people in N America and Europe with its taste for burgers and steaks."The increase in consumption of beast products is, next to population growth, one of the major causes of the in­crease of global fertilizer use. Earth meat consumption (and production) is expected to grow by 70% in the period 2000-2030 and 120% in the period 2000-2050. The production and consumption of pig and poultry meat is expected to abound at a much college speed than of bovine and ovine meat. Over the concluding years there has been a major expansion in big scale, vertically integrated industrial alive­stock systems, and this development is expected to continue over the coming decades. These systems can lead to concentration of manure; although manure is a valuable source of nutrients, concentrated spreading of ma­nure leads to meaning emissions, to air, soil and water." (Global, p. 281)
On average, every person on Globe currently consumes 43.5 kilograms of meat per year. This figure includes babies and adults, meat eaters and vegetarians alike. In 2013, United states citizens consumed 115 kilograms of meat and people in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland 81 kilograms, while citizens in India only ate 3.seven kilos. In general, men eat more meat than women. In the Eu, meat consumption has stagnated recently, with a growing number of people switching to vegetarian and vegan diets. Moreover, beefiness has lost in popularity while the consumption of chicken has increased remarkably. The favourite meat of Europeans is pork. The Chinese too share this appetite for pork. Since 1965, per capita meat consumption in China has increased six-fold. Since the population almost doubled to 1.four billion people over the same menstruation, global demand for meat and animal feed has exploded.

The production of meat, milk and eggs leads to an enormous loss of calories grown in fields, since cereals and oil seeds take to exist cultivated to feed to animals. According to calculations of the United nations Environment Programme, the calories that are lost by feeding cereals to animals, instead of using them straight every bit human being food, could theoretically feed an extra 3.5 billion people. Feed conversion rates from plant-based calories into animal-based calories vary; in the platonic instance it takes 2 kilograms of grain to produce one kilo of chicken, four kilos for i kilogram of pork and vii kilos for one kilogram of beefiness.
By their nature, cattle and sheep swallow grass. More than two thirds of the global agricultural area is used for permanent meadows and pastures. If livestock eat grass and other plants that are not suitable for direct human consumption, they do not compete for cereals but increase food supply and add together significantly to agricultural production. They produce manure, contribute to soil cultivation, serve every bit draught and pack animals, recycle waste and stabilise the food security of their owners."Worldwide, livestock take traditionally been part of farming systems for millennia. Integrated systems provide synergy between crops and livestock, with animals producing manure for utilize equally fertilizer and improvement of soil construction (every bit well as a source of fuel), while crop past-products are a useful source of animal and fish nutrient." (Global, p. 176)

Large parts of the grasslands used today, especially in barren regions, are not suitable for any other agricultural use except extensive grassland direction. Withal, it is no longer possible to essentially increase its product capacity. In some areas of the earth, overexploitation of grasslands, too through traditional livestock husbandry, has become a serious problem. In addition, chickens, pigs and other small animals, which are traditionally kept to brand apply of waste and other past-products, swallow worms or acorns, can complement food production and optimise the apply of resource. >>more

In 2017, effectually 330 meg tons of meat were produced worldwide. For 2018, the FAO forecasts an increment to 335 million tons. If a global average is taken, meat consumption amounted to 43.5 kilograms of meat per person in 2017.

• Food Outlook: Biannual Report on Global Nutrient Markets, p. 8. FAO, Nov 2018

Between 2000 and 2014, the global product of meat rose by 39% and milk production increased by 38%. The FAO estimates that by 2030, meat production volition increment another xix% compared to the menstruum 2015-2017, with developing countries accounting for almost all of the total increment. Milk production is projected to grow past 33% in the aforementioned menstruation.

• Transforming the livestock sector through the Sustainable Development Goals. FAO, 2018

There are billions of farm animals worldwide. In 2016, the cattle population reached 1,474 one thousand thousand animals, up 44% from 1966. The number of chickens grown for human consumption increased from iv.4 billion to 22.vii billion between 1966 and 2016. During the aforementioned menstruum, the pig population grew past 92% to accomplish 981 million heads.

• Production - Live Animals - Stocks. FAOSTAT, 2018

One in eight Brits – or nigh 13% of the population – is at present vegetarian or vegan, with a further 21% identifying as 'flexitarian', according to new inquiry by supermarket chain Waitrose. This means that a third now has meat-free or meat-reduced diets. 60% of vegans and 40% of vegetarians have adopted the lifestyle over the past v years, generally due to animal welfare and wellness concerns.

• Food and Drink Report 2018-19. Waitrose & Partners, November 2018

Livestock is the world'due south largest user of country resources, with pasture and arable state dedicated to the product of feed representing almost 80% of the full agricultural state. 1-tertiary of global arable country is used to grow feed, while 26% of the Earth's ice-free terrestrial surface is used for grazing.

• Animate being Production. FAO, November 2018

Greenhouse gas emissions associated with livestock supply bondage add up to 7.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) per year – or fourteen.5% of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. Emissions are caused past feed product, enteric fermentation, animal waste and country use change. Cattle (beef, milk) are responsible for nearly two-thirds of that total, largely due to methane emissions.

• Livestock solutions for climate modify. FAO, 2017

Research shows that the five largest meat and dairy corporations combined (JBS, Tyson, Cargill, Dairy Farmers of America and Fonterra) are responsible for annual greenhouse gas emissions of an estimated 578.iii Mt – more than major oil companies such as ExxonMobil (577 Mt), Crush (508 Mt) or BP (448 Mt). The combined emissions of the summit 20 meat and dairy companies (933 Mt) even surpass the emissions from entire nations, such equally Frg (902 Mt), Canada (722 Mt) or the U.k. (507 Mt).

• Emissions incommunicable: How large meat and dairy are heating up the planet. GRAIN & IATP, 2018

Nearly 60% of the world's agricultural land is used for beefiness production, withal beef accounts for less than 2% of the calories that are consumed throughout the world. Beefiness makes up 24% of the world'south meat consumption, still requires 30 meg square kilometres of land to produce. In contrast, poultry accounts for 34% of global meat consumption and pork accounts for 40%. Poultry and pork production each employ less than two million square kilometres of land.

• Class A Selection? Solutions for Deforestation-free Meat. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2012

A 2,000 kcal loftier meat diet produces 2.5 times as many greenhouse gas emissions as a vegan diet, and twice as many as a vegetarian nutrition. Moving from a high meat to a depression meat diet would reduce a person'due south carbon footprint by 920kg CO₂e every twelvemonth - equivalent to a return flight from London to New York. Moving from a high meat nutrition to a vegetarian diet would save i,230kg CO_twoe per year.

• Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK. Climatic Change, July 2014, Volume 125

The production of one kilogram of beef requires 15,414 litres of water on average. The water footprint of meat from sheep and goat (eight,763 litres) is larger than that of pork (5,988 litres) or chicken (iv,325 litres). The product of one kilogram of vegetables, on the contrary, requires 322 litres of water.

• Global Assessment of the Water Footprint of Farm Animal Products. Mekonnen/Hoekstra, 2012

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Source: https://www.globalagriculture.org/report-topics/meat-and-animal-feed.html

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