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Ok, meat calories will need to be replaced with something. Or are we going to eat grass?

by rimliu 10y ago

CalRobert 10y ago
Given that it takes 10,000 calories of feed to make 1,000 calories of beef, you're still talking about a massive reduction in the number of vegetation calories produced.
- rimliu 10y ago
  Is it calories or mass? I.e. cow eats 10kg of grass to produce 1kg of beef, we eat 10kg of beaf to gain 1kg of weight? And in any case it does not really answer the question.
  - CalRobert 10y ago
    My recollection is of calories but I cannot find a source for that right now. Regardless, my point was that if you grow plants to feed to cattle to feed to humans you are taking more resources than if you grow plants to feed to humans. However, it is complex - it depends a lot on the landscape. http://www.economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2013/12/livestock http://www.economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2013/12/livest...
    - logfromblammo 10y ago
      You also can't ignore the energy cost of running the farm and transportation. I suspect that it may actually be more efficient to skip pesticide applications and harvesters, and use domesticated insects to harvest grains and fly those food calories directly to a local processing facility. Certain species are already natural grain harvesting machines. Certain species are already natural pest predators. Those could be exploited and bred for a purpose. Humans plant the corn. Domesticated insect-predator insects patrol the fields and protect the corn from unauthorized eating before it is ready to harvest. They return to the hive, breed for the next season, and get eaten. Domesticated harvester insects then mature, fly out to eat the corn, and then fly back to the hive, breed for the next season, and get eaten. Whatever is not eaten directly by humans can be fed to farmed fish or poultry.
jbattle 10y ago
let them eat cake! Seriously though - I suspect the majority of american calories already comes from a grass (corn & derived products)
codebolt 10y ago
One calorie of vegetables is a lot less carbon-intensive to produce than a calorie of meat. As for meat replacement alternatives to help people adjust to a diet with less/no meat: Plant-based meat substitutes (these have become a lot better in recent years), in vitro meat production (still a few years off), or just more beans/lentils in the diet to replace the lost protein.

Ok, meat calories will need to be replaced with something. Or are we going to eat grass?

by rimliu 10y ago

Ok, meat calories will need to be replaced with something. Or are we going to eat grass?

Given that it takes 10,000 calories of feed to make 1,000 calories of beef, you're still talking about a massive reduction in the number of vegetation calories produced.

rimliu 10y ago
Is it calories or mass? I.e. cow eats 10kg of grass to produce 1kg of beef, we eat 10kg of beaf to gain 1kg of weight? And in any case it does not really answer the question.
- CalRobert 10y ago
  My recollection is of calories but I cannot find a source for that right now. Regardless, my point was that if you grow plants to feed to cattle to feed to humans you are taking more resources than if you grow plants to feed to humans. However, it is complex - it depends a lot on the landscape. http://www.economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2013/12/livestock http://www.economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2013/12/livest...
  - logfromblammo 10y ago
    You also can't ignore the energy cost of running the farm and transportation. I suspect that it may actually be more efficient to skip pesticide applications and harvesters, and use domesticated insects to harvest grains and fly those food calories directly to a local processing facility. Certain species are already natural grain harvesting machines. Certain species are already natural pest predators. Those could be exploited and bred for a purpose. Humans plant the corn. Domesticated insect-predator insects patrol the fields and protect the corn from unauthorized eating before it is ready to harvest. They return to the hive, breed for the next season, and get eaten. Domesticated harvester insects then mature, fly out to eat the corn, and then fly back to the hive, breed for the next season, and get eaten. Whatever is not eaten directly by humans can be fed to farmed fish or poultry.

jbattle 10y ago

let them eat cake! Seriously though - I suspect the majority of american calories already comes from a grass (corn & derived products)

codebolt 10y ago

One calorie of vegetables is a lot less carbon-intensive to produce than a calorie of meat. As for meat replacement alternatives to help people adjust to a diet with less/no meat: Plant-based meat substitutes (these have become a lot better in recent years), in vitro meat production (still a few years off), or just more beans/lentils in the diet to replace the lost protein.