Sustainable agriculture and veganism.
Anyone else struggle to find reliable, peer-reviewed resources regarding sustainable agriculture? Not much of what you find on Instagram is true, and the PETA website is loaded with bull****. It's hard enough being vegan without damaging our own cause with fake news and misinformation. I've written this article in the hope to share some reliable facts and resources. As part of my PhD, I'm required to be a member of The Biochemical Society, which means every month, I receive an issue of their magazine, The Biochemist. As it happens, the August 2018 issue was all about food production & sustainable agriculture. An interesting read, straight from the experts who spend their lives studying and researching the fields of agriculture, environmental science, genetics and biodiversity etc. Here I've summed up some of the information for you, and included references at the bottom of the page in the hopes you find it useful (and possibly share it on your own blog - citations included I hope!).
If you want to read the issue yourself it's freely available here.
On the whole, I was quite satisfied with the read, generally, science supports a vegan diet for developed countries. The important thing to emphasise here is that food production needs to be smarter and less wasteful. There needs to be more responsibility across the whole food-chain, and at more local levels, currently most people are so distanced from the food on their plate, that issues regarding agriculture and welfare fail to bother them.
AGRICULTURE 101:
- An estimated 37% of land is used for agriculture of all kinds.
- Around one-third of croplands are used to grow feed for livestock.
(This is land that could be used to grow crops for human consumption)
- The greenhouse gas emissions for the live-stock sector accounts for around 14.5% of all human-induced emissions.
- The biomass of live-stock is over ten-times that of wild mammals.
- The biomass of domestic poultry is three-times that of wild birds.
- Factory farming to livestock is associated with lower environmental impact, but also much lower animal welfare.
Is vegan the answer?
It’s unsurprising that veganism is growing in popularity. In my opinion, in developed countries, veganism is a great solution to many issues. However, in many developing countries, the infrastructure and economy just aren’t available to support a wholly vegan diet. It is estimated that around 1 billion poorer-people depend on livestock economically and for food. However, countering this, I don't personally know any vegans that think the world should *pop* go vegan overnight.
It’s now wholly recognised that an un-supplemented vegan diet can supply you with everything the human body needs. The only (and I mean only) insufficiency is vitamin-B12. This is because it used to be in the water supply, produced by certain bacteria. As we now drink treated water, humans no longer have this available source of B12. HOWEVER, like many things, it has become very common to fortify B12 into many food products. You can find it in milks (dairy and non-dairy), breads, cereals, energy drinks and more. Essentially, you don’t need to worry about your B12 if you eat a variety of foods. If you are worried, a simple test with your G.P is freely available.
If you want to read more, then please do explore the magazine and some of the further reading (references below). Hopefully I’ve given you some food for thought and pointed you in the direction of somewhere useful to go for information in the future.
“Incremental efficiency improvements are insufficient to get us past the fundamental thermodynamic Sisyphean challenge of funneling calories through a living, breathing, metabolizing animal. One could hardly dream up a more inefficient system for creating food.”
– Liz Specht, PhD Biological Sciences –
Taken from ‘Meat by the molecule: Making meat with plants and cells.’
Further reading:
Food Technology (Jan 2018). Is the Future of Meat Animal-Free? http://www.ift.org/~/media/food%20technology/pdf/2018/01/0118_feat1_cleanmeat.pdf
UN Sustainable Development Goals
www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development- goals/
Our World in Data, Global surface area allocation for food production.
ourworldindata.org/wp-content/ uploads/2013/10/Land-use-graphic-01-01-01.png
UN Food and Agricultural Organization, World Livestock 2011: Livestock in Food Security. http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2373e/i2373e.pdf
Clark, M. and Tilman, D. (2017) Comparative analysis of environmental impacts of agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice. Environmental Research Letters.
Giddings, D., Raymo, M.E. and Milo, R. (2017) A model for ‘sustainable’ US beef production. Nature Ecology and Evolution.
Bouvard, V., Loomis, D., Guyton, K.Z., Grosse, Y., Ghissassi, F. El, Benbrahim-Tallaa, L. et al. (2015) Carcinogenicity of consumption of red and processed meat. The Lancet Oncology
