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Pasture farming on marginal land is part of the solution. Industrial meat farming is part of the problem. They're two different things.
by himinlomax 3y ago
Pasture farming on marginal land is part of the solution. Industrial meat farming is part of the problem. They're two different things.
- alex_duf 3y agoBut would pasture farming on marginal land scale to the level of consumption we have today?
- CalRobert 3y ago"Pasture farming on marginal land is part of the solution" Can you elaborate? I don't see how this is superior to leaving it fallow? I have a few acres fallow and am right next to a quaint organic farm and I do see quite a few more bees in my tall grass and wildflowers than I do in their grazed land...
- a_c 3y agoLands are not equal. They all have different conditions. Some land for example can't grow food but is good for grazing. Grazing, done correctly, is beneficial to the land too. E.g. grazing brings dungs to the land. The dungs give nutrients to both plants and insects. Stamping the land aerate the soil and exposes insect for birds, hence limiting pest. Birds spread seeds. Everything is in balance. Food is ultimately created from sunlight. Industrial farming, on the other hand, simplifying heavily, is converting fossil fuels into food.
- CalRobert 3y agoI don't understand how that shows human involvement in these landscapes is necessary.
- danielheath 3y agoGreece has lots of land that's either too steep for humans to walk on, or too rocky to grow anything but grass on, or both. As a result, traditional Greek cuisine has lots of lamb and goat meat.
- myshpa 3y agoPag in Croatia too ... it's called "island of paski cheese" iirc ... it's mostly rocky desert with patches of grass and herds of islands and goats, but leave the island and suddenly the landscape is green and lush. "Historically, Pag had more forested areas than it does today. The island used to be covered with oak and pine forests, but due to centuries of human activity, including grazing, deforestation, and the collection of firewood, much of the original forest cover has been reduced. Over time, the vegetation has adapted to the island's specific conditions, such as strong winds and limited freshwater sources." The land is rocky to grow anything on exactly because of those lambs and goats. They don't give the land the change to reforest. We tend to underestimate the damage that has already been done before we came here.
- myshpa 3y agoherds of sheep and goats, chance to reforest
- danielheath 3y ago> The land is rocky to grow anything on exactly because of those lambs and goats. Are you suggesting that ruminants transport rocks to the site?
- myshpa 3y agoRuminants deplete the vegetation on the land, leading to erosion caused by wind and water, which gradually erodes the top layer of soil, leaving behind only large rocks.
- danielheath 3y agoThere are ruminants in plenty of other places without the land becoming inhospitable to most plants, though, so that's not a sufficient explanation (although I can clearly see how it contributes).
- 3y ago
- himinlomax 3y agoDairy is important for human nutrition because it has an excellent level of production of valuable proteins per acres and that can be done on marginal land that can't really be used for anything else anyway. You could get those proteins from soy, but that would have to be done on farm land, with fertilizer, irrigation and so on. How are those bees going to fare there? And that's assuming grazing is entirely hostile to bees, which it's arguably not that much considering how it doesn't require pesticides. You know, the thing that kills insects.
- SuoDuanDao 3y agoas always, it depends on practices. Here's a pretty good presentation on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z75A_JMBx4&t=783s&pp=ygUbY2F0dGxlIGNhcmJvbiBzZXF1ZXN0cmF0aW9u https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z75A_JMBx4&t=783s&pp=ygUbY2...
- Lutger 3y agoThey are, but pasture farming implies eating less meat. We are currently near a billion cows worldwide, we don't have marginal land for all of them. That means meat is going to be expensive and you'd rather eat avocado toast instead. Unless demand suddenly drops or we scale growing meat from a lab.
- Reason077 3y agoMeat being more expensive would reduce consumption, but that probably isn’t a bad thing in terms of health outcomes. Many people eat too much meat anyway. So long as affordable, healthy, accessible alternatives exist, of course.