4 ms·

I'm generally against corn subsidies, but grass-fed vs grain-fed beef is actually fairly complicated when it comes to greenhouse gases. Depending on the region,

I'm generally against corn subsidies, but grass-fed vs grain-fed beef is actually fairly complicated when it comes to greenhouse gases. Depending on the region, finishing on grain may be better from a greenhouse gas perspective: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/08/13/746576239/is-grass-fed-beef-really-better-for-the-planet-heres-the-science https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/08/13/746576239/is... The issue is generally that grass-finishing is slower, so cows (may) end up producing more methane overall. However, grass-fed is definitely better from an animal welfare perspective. Some of your other claims seem difficult to support; for example, I'm not sure it's well-understood what is driving obesity, and so claiming that it's corn seems like a bit of a stretch. Similarly, corn does actually have nutritional value, which is why people have grown it for a very long time, even before subsidies.

tsjq 5y ago
>what is driving obesity High Fructose Corn Syrup, no ?
- raducu 5y ago
  Because regular sugar won't make you obse?
  - brailsafe 5y ago
    My hunch is that HFCS is more versatile and cheaper than other sugar products, and it can compensate for garbage food in the same way. Therefore passably good tasting food is cheaper and more readily available than anything else.
  - belorn 5y ago
    High Fructose Corn Syrup is about half the price of regular sugar. It would be an interesting thought experiment about what would happen to obesity levels if prices were taxed to the point where the price difference would be eliminated.
    - ThePadawan 5y ago
      Isn't that thought experiment just Europe?
- JetSetWilly 5y ago
  In the UK we are fairly obese and we don't grow corn, we don't have HFCS subsidies, and we don't have have HFCS in everything either - eg coca cola is just plain old sugar here. So I doubt that the US getting rid of corn subsidies will make any difference to obesity - some other sugar would be used instead, sugar cane or sugar beet.
avnigo 5y ago
When you look at air pollutants like NOx, NH3, NMVOC, etc. excreta deposited by grazing livestock has a lower emission factor than those deposited in yards/housing, where corn-fed cattle are usually kept. [0] > The more time grazing livestock are housed, the smaller the proportion of their excreta deposited on grazed pastures will be, and hence the smaller the emissions from those pastures. [0]: https://www.eea.europa.eu/ds_resolveuid/8e90ca718fd34d5786c12c331aa7a262 https://www.eea.europa.eu/ds_resolveuid/8e90ca718fd34d5786c1...
loceng 5y ago
I'm guessing the cows are healthier with grass fed since they're getting more nutrients and therefore a better end product as well, to balance into the equation?

tsjq 5y ago

>what is driving obesity High Fructose Corn Syrup, no ?

raducu 5y ago
Because regular sugar won't make you obse?
- brailsafe 5y ago
  My hunch is that HFCS is more versatile and cheaper than other sugar products, and it can compensate for garbage food in the same way. Therefore passably good tasting food is cheaper and more readily available than anything else.
- belorn 5y ago
  High Fructose Corn Syrup is about half the price of regular sugar. It would be an interesting thought experiment about what would happen to obesity levels if prices were taxed to the point where the price difference would be eliminated.
  - ThePadawan 5y ago
    Isn't that thought experiment just Europe?
JetSetWilly 5y ago
In the UK we are fairly obese and we don't grow corn, we don't have HFCS subsidies, and we don't have have HFCS in everything either - eg coca cola is just plain old sugar here. So I doubt that the US getting rid of corn subsidies will make any difference to obesity - some other sugar would be used instead, sugar cane or sugar beet.

avnigo 5y ago

When you look at air pollutants like NOx, NH3, NMVOC, etc. excreta deposited by grazing livestock has a lower emission factor than those deposited in yards/housing, where corn-fed cattle are usually kept. [0] > The more time grazing livestock are housed, the smaller the proportion of their excreta deposited on grazed pastures will be, and hence the smaller the emissions from those pastures. [0]: https://www.eea.europa.eu/ds_resolveuid/8e90ca718fd34d5786c12c331aa7a262 https://www.eea.europa.eu/ds_resolveuid/8e90ca718fd34d5786c1...

loceng 5y ago

I'm guessing the cows are healthier with grass fed since they're getting more nutrients and therefore a better end product as well, to balance into the equation?