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Having people eat the soy directly instead of feeding it to cattle yields massive efficiency gains by removing an entire trophic level.
by Forbo 6y ago
Having people eat the soy directly instead of feeding it to cattle yields massive efficiency gains by removing an entire trophic level.
- randomdata 6y agoBut growing soybeans year after year after year doesn't work very well, ecologically speaking[1]. Crop rotation is essential for soil and crop health. For a whole lot of practical reasons, animal feed is more efficient to add to the rotation than, say, a fruit crop. Good or bad, agriculture does not operate in one dimension. [1] Source: I grow soybeans for the human market. To which I'll add that human grade soybeans themselves are less efficient to grow than animal grade soybeans. They command a pretty sizeable premium to reflect that added cost of production. It's not exactly as simple as shifting your diet to eating animal feed.