The stats of meat consumption and food scarcity

• Ironically, meat production is the main culprit for the looming food crisis:

  • Intensive meat production depends on feedstocks like cereals (in particular maize), soy, manioc, fishmeal, and byproducts from the food industry.

  • Over 60% cereals produced, including the major ones such as Maize/Corn, Barley, Wheat and Rice, are use as feed in meat production.

  • This means 670 million tons of cereal used for meat production, half of which goes to industrialised nations, i.e. To 1/5^th of the population

  • For example, 100% of EU Maize production in 2004 was required just for the meat production in the EU, and this still was not enough for own consumption, requiring imports of extra meat. As example, the Netherlands, an agricultural powerhouse, would have needed to use up 4 times its own size to grow enough feed for its meat production. Just referring to Soy, the EU as whole had to import 39 million tons of soy, mostly from Brazil just to feed its livestock.

  • If we count the space required for the cattle itself and for growing its feed, we come to the conclusion that 78% of agricultural surface is dedicated to meat production

  • To compare, while a vegetarian person requires an average of 180 Kgs of cereals in a year to live, a meat eater requires 930Kgs. That’s 5.16 times more. And this means at least that much more water and ground too.

  • Despite a record harvest in 2007 (2316 million tons according to the Wordwatch Institute Vital Signs 2007-2008 report, i.e., 4% more than the year before), cereal stocks have reached their lowest point in 30 years. This is, however, only partly related to population growth. Although population doubled since 1961, production of cereals has tripled.

  • The problem lies in the growth in meat production, which is supplied by feeds which in 80% of the cases consist of foods that humans also eat. As example, through meat consumption, each American consumes an average of 1230 Kgs of foods, which compares to 90 Kg for the average Zimbabwean.

  • Adding to this is now the Biofuels rage which according to the Worldwatch Institute used up 1/6^th of cereal production in 2007.

  • This raises the question: Shall we feed our cars, cattle, or humans? Several UN reports show this to be a main question in a saturated world. Compassion in World Farming,an organisation, has been using this data to call for 1/3^rd decrease in meat and dairies consumption in rich countries by 2020, and 1/2 by 2050 as a way to a sustainable future.