The majority of beef comes from grass-fed cows. Of the about 1.3 billion cows, only 100 million are fed grain (those in industrialized countries). According to

The majority of beef comes from grass-fed cows. Of the about 1.3 billion cows, only 100 million are fed grain (those in industrialized countries). According to a quick googling, it seems that grass is more sustainable but lower output. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/207/4433/843.abstract http://www.sciencemag.org/content/207/4433/843.abstract Free trade would mean less or no grain-fed livestock, hopefully (here in Uruguay we have almost 7 million cows, all of them grass-fed, neighbour Argentina has 40 million cows, also grass-fed, Australia and New Zealand also have similar numbers of grass-fed cows). In any case, as you argue, cows are not the most efficient means of producing meat, that's why chicken is much cheaper for instance :) . Grass-fed cows probably take more land, but I suspect they pollute a lot less (for example there's a lot of indirect pollution from the grain produced to feed the grain-fed cattle) Edit: about free trade - both the U.S. and Europe have trade quotas and subsidies in place to maintain the local agriculture. I understand not wanting to destroy it entirely due to strategic concerns (and excessive dependency on a provider), but I believe it's gotten out of hand. Edit2: the number of cows in Uruguay was inflated, changed for more reasonable source.