11-18-2011, 12:06 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-18-2011, 12:15 AM by Bring4th_Austin.)
(11-17-2011, 11:05 PM)Bring4th_Monica Wrote:(11-17-2011, 10:37 PM)Pickle Wrote: The petroleum issue is a biggie. But, a huge amount goes into the farming of feed for the cows.
...
The animal farming issue would make a huge dent in the petroleum industry. A side effect would be a surplus of land for actual firsthand food rather than secondhand(getting nutrients by eating something that ate those nutrients)
It does not take much land or effort to grow food that goes straight to the mouth. It takes a lot more land and effort to grow enough food for the animals in order to eat them. Why so much effort?
The meat industry is so grossly inefficient and harmful to the environment that it's pointless to talk about sustainability...there's just no comparison.
Sustainable grass-fed beef systems are often self-contained systems with minimal inputs. I know of a farm here with literally no inputs for their cows. They graze on pastures their entire life, and any hay that is needed comes from the farm itself, all harvested with bio-diesel equipment.
As far as sustainable agriculture goes, systems with livestock have less inputs than systems without livestock. It's nearly impossible to grow crops without fertilizer inputs from outside sources without your own livestock. Cover crops and rotational systems only go so far. If you don't have 50+ acres to cultivate, you need some way to return nitrogen to your soil besides cover cropping, and this is either with synthetic fertilizer, imported compost, or livestock fertilizer. After it's all worked out, it becomes a more efficient closed system to raise animals along with crops. And very often, an organic farming operation gets most if its fertilizer from a livestock operation, usually chicken.
There has been some progress in the study of bio-char, a practice which imitates old agricultural practices of slash and burn, but it is hardly applicable yet without the use of livestock manure. Not to say there isn't progress to be made.
This is the state of sustainable agriculture at this moment.
I should also note that, at the rate consumers in America eat meat, these sustainable systems could not nearly fill the demand. There would have to be a major decrease in meat consumption for these systems to feed the communities they are intended for.
_____________________________
The only frontier that has ever existed is the self.
The only frontier that has ever existed is the self.