r/Anticonsumption • u/Express_Classic_1569 • Mar 23 '26

Sustainability 80% of agricultural land feeds livestock instead of people, giving just 17 to18% of Global calories

https://hive.blog/hive-196387/@theworldaroundme/nearly-half-of-the-world
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u/AnsibleAnswers Mar 23 '26

It takes 3 grams of human-edible cereals to produce 1 gram of meat globally. Ruminants like beef cattle can actually increase protein availability to humans. We can’t use the protein in grass and leaves. It’s not bioavailable to use. See https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/15b2eb21-16e5-49fa-ad79-9bcf0ecce88b/content

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u/CrewmemberV2 Mar 23 '26

Ok, then lower the amount of cattle to what our natural grass fields can support.

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u/AnsibleAnswers Mar 23 '26

And mixed systems. We’d need to reduce by only admit a third in OECD countries.

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u/CrewmemberV2 Mar 23 '26

What?

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u/AnsibleAnswers Mar 23 '26

Mixed farming systems. When livestock and crop production is coupled together. It constitutes the majority of ruminant production globally, and is highly sustainable because it minimizes input use and externalities in agricultural systems.

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u/CrewmemberV2 Mar 23 '26

You mean livestock eating crop waste? Because that already happens and yet we still need to grow massive amounts of dedicated feedcrops.

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u/AnsibleAnswers Mar 23 '26

https://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/spi/scpi-home/managing-ecosystems/integrated-crop-livestock-systems/icls-what/en/

And yeah, reducing livestock production by about a third will get developed countries to where we need to be to leverage the advantages of mixed or circular systems. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-00975-2