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Yet most crops are grown to feed farmed animals. Remove the farmed animals inefficiency coefficient from the equation and suddenly the world is overwhelmed with

Yet most crops are grown to feed farmed animals. Remove the farmed animals inefficiency coefficient from the equation and suddenly the world is overwhelmed with an abundance of food, most of which is healthier anyway.

belorn 4y ago
Animal feed is usually not suitable for human consumption, so while technically there would be an abundance of food, it would not be edible by humans. Farm areas that can grow human edible food tend to not be used for animal feed. Animal feed is also created by the by-product of human edible food, which if we didn't give it to animals it would just be made into compost. The efficiency coefficient of food turned into compost is not that great with a lot of it turning into methane, get eaten by bacteria, and runoff into the oceans and water supplies. For corn for example, 7% of the harvest is suited for human consumption. The efficiency coefficient is pretty terrible if we throw away the remaining 93%. Wheat and rice has similar problemsd. Vegetarian oil create a lot of by-product, much which goes to animal feed.
- 0daystock 4y ago
  > Farm areas that can grow human edible food tend to not be used for animal feed. This (crop monoculture) is a consequence of animal agriculture, not justification for it. If anything, we could stop cutting down all the rainforests to make room for cattle and their soybeans.
- myshpa 4y ago
  > Animal feed is usually not suitable for human consumption, so while technically there would be an abundance of food, it would not be edible by humans. > For corn for example, 7% of the harvest is suited for human consumption. The efficiency coefficient is pretty terrible if we throw away the remaining 93%. We don't need to produce those 93% of corn at all. We can reforest fields/pastures used for meat production and store a busload of CO2 in the process - https://climatehealers.org/the-science/animal-agriculture-position-paper/ https://climatehealers.org/the-science/animal-agriculture-po... > Farm areas that can grow human edible food tend to not be used for animal feed. I don't know ... 75% of fields are used for animal agriculture, so one can easily get to that conclusion, but in my experience, those areas are intermixed (is it a word?). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_meat_production#/media/File:Land-use-of-different-diets-Poore-Nemecek.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_meat_p... > The efficiency coefficient of food turned into compost is not that great with a lot of it turning into methane, get eaten by bacteria, and runoff into the oceans and water supplies. How much methane does composting produce depends on composting method, aerobic composting is significantly better in this regard and in the end, composting is better than putting the food/organic materials into landfills. Feeding the soil bacteria and enhancing the soil profile (with compost) is a good thing. We need more of those little critters. Not so sure about the runoff - I think that argument applies to pesticides/herbicides, where it's a big problem. Compost is an organic matter, a soil in the end - but soil erosion is a problem, so I tend to agree :) https://www.compostmagazine.com/compost-benefits/ https://www.compostmagazine.com/compost-benefits/ > Vegetarian oil create a lot of by-product, much which goes to animal feed. Seed oils are not healthy, not for us, not for animals, not for people eating those animals - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kGnfXXIKZM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kGnfXXIKZM

belorn 4y ago

Animal feed is usually not suitable for human consumption, so while technically there would be an abundance of food, it would not be edible by humans. Farm areas that can grow human edible food tend to not be used for animal feed. Animal feed is also created by the by-product of human edible food, which if we didn't give it to animals it would just be made into compost. The efficiency coefficient of food turned into compost is not that great with a lot of it turning into methane, get eaten by bacteria, and runoff into the oceans and water supplies. For corn for example, 7% of the harvest is suited for human consumption. The efficiency coefficient is pretty terrible if we throw away the remaining 93%. Wheat and rice has similar problemsd. Vegetarian oil create a lot of by-product, much which goes to animal feed.

0daystock 4y ago
> Farm areas that can grow human edible food tend to not be used for animal feed. This (crop monoculture) is a consequence of animal agriculture, not justification for it. If anything, we could stop cutting down all the rainforests to make room for cattle and their soybeans.
myshpa 4y ago
> Animal feed is usually not suitable for human consumption, so while technically there would be an abundance of food, it would not be edible by humans. > For corn for example, 7% of the harvest is suited for human consumption. The efficiency coefficient is pretty terrible if we throw away the remaining 93%. We don't need to produce those 93% of corn at all. We can reforest fields/pastures used for meat production and store a busload of CO2 in the process - https://climatehealers.org/the-science/animal-agriculture-position-paper/ https://climatehealers.org/the-science/animal-agriculture-po... > Farm areas that can grow human edible food tend to not be used for animal feed. I don't know ... 75% of fields are used for animal agriculture, so one can easily get to that conclusion, but in my experience, those areas are intermixed (is it a word?). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_meat_production#/media/File:Land-use-of-different-diets-Poore-Nemecek.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_meat_p... > The efficiency coefficient of food turned into compost is not that great with a lot of it turning into methane, get eaten by bacteria, and runoff into the oceans and water supplies. How much methane does composting produce depends on composting method, aerobic composting is significantly better in this regard and in the end, composting is better than putting the food/organic materials into landfills. Feeding the soil bacteria and enhancing the soil profile (with compost) is a good thing. We need more of those little critters. Not so sure about the runoff - I think that argument applies to pesticides/herbicides, where it's a big problem. Compost is an organic matter, a soil in the end - but soil erosion is a problem, so I tend to agree :) https://www.compostmagazine.com/compost-benefits/ https://www.compostmagazine.com/compost-benefits/ > Vegetarian oil create a lot of by-product, much which goes to animal feed. Seed oils are not healthy, not for us, not for animals, not for people eating those animals - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kGnfXXIKZM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kGnfXXIKZM