Essay About Impact of Farming on Global Warming

“An estimated 870 million people still lack sufficient caloric intake, while a billion or more suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. Another 1.4 billion suffer from being overweight or obesity” (Dobermann & Nelson).  Considering the amount we hear about problems surrounding food and how much we try to set goals and deadlines to get the world feed, hearing these numbers makes it sound as if no change has been made. Solving this crisis is significantly more difficult and almost impossible to find a clear solution. The policies, regulations, systems, and the primary mindset surrounding food all need major overhauls to even start to see a sustainable solution (Rosset). In addition, handing food over to hungry people is inefficient at creating a lasting change (Rosset). So before anything, we as a global society need to overhaul the global agriculture system. With the global population expected to reach 9.5 billion by 2050, we need to work fast to change (Sergelidis). To begin with, the demand for meat is rising, but currently, the industry cannot keep up with that demand without destroying our future. To add to that, the meat industry uses a mountain of land and resources. Whether we start farming insects or even grow our meat in a lab, a change needs to come. Our current global agricultural system is incapable of providing adequate protein to everyone and cannot be sustained in the future unless major changes come.

The demand for protein, specifically meat, is rising and the current industries cannot keep up with demand without inflicting major harm to our future. There are a plethora of problems with the animal agriculture industry. And with increasing demand and these problems ever so growing, a need for new protein sources arises (Bonny et al.). First off, the demand from the meat industry is expected to increase by 50-73% to maintain per capita demand (Bonny et al.). The demand for meat has already risen by 60% between 1990 and 2009 (Sergelidis). Furthermore, growing and raising livestock is very inefficient. A concerning fact is that the cost to produce one kilogram of beef uses 50 times more land, and emits over 100 times more greenhouse gasses than the same one kilogram of vegetables (vans Huis & Oonincx). And a stat from 2008 claims that 15 kg of plant materials are needed to produce just one kilogram of meat, feeding our meat costs the planet nearly 50% of the global grain harvest (Bonny et al.). The meat industry cannot continue the way it is. Meat production costs more, feeds less, and is unsustainable. Something needs to be done to either improve the meat industry or we need to find a new way to abstract our protein.

The amount of resources and land the animal industry uses is astronomical (Eshel et al.). In 2017, over 330 million tons of meat were produced (van der Weele et al.). This number has already increased since then and will continue to increase due to rising demand. Already with livestock being the largest user of the planet’s land, which is 80% of all the agricultural land while only producing 20% of the planet’s calories. Keeping up with that demand is near impossible without further destroying the planet (Eshel et al.). From the land that livestock takes, 60% of that agricultural land for livestock is used to raise cattle. However, beef only supplies 2% of the calories consumed despite cattle being one of the most inefficient livestock animals (Eshel et al.). To produce one kilogram of beef costs over 15,000 litres of water while a kilogram of vegetables usually takes a little over 300 litres of water (van der Weele et al.).

Just criticizing something without giving solutions is not helpful. While it does spread awareness, it does not solve the problem. Many solutions for alternative protein sources have been proven effective and efficient, and one of those methods is insect farming. Edible insects are protein-rich, and pack many important nutrients and minerals, thus making them a great source of food (Tanga). Many farmers are willing to adopt the concept and insects can be harvested no matter the climate. This method of farming has already proven efficient in many parts of Africa (Tanga). This farming method is gaining popularity, over 1000 farms that grow black soldier flies and crickets pop up every year (Tanga). And currently, black soldier fly farms alone produce 9780 metric tons of dried protein annually (Tanga). To put into perspective, compared to a fish meal, a meal that’s the main source of protein consists of house flies decreases land use by 98%, global warming potential decreases by 61%, and energy usage lowers by 31% (van Huis & Oonincx). Many people wouldn’t even think of putting an insect in their bodies, however, the concept of insect farming cannot be ignored. Clashing views over various things about how the world can solve global hunger are holding us back, it does not matter if you like it or not, if it is conventional is what matters (Dobermann & Nelson).

Another solution to the meat industry is lab-grown meats or artificial meat. The prospect of lab-grown meat has already proven tons of potential. “Lab grown meat is produced by culturing adult muscle stem cells in a collagen matrix obtained from either live or dead animals and providing the necessary sources of energy required for their proliferation and differentiation into skeletal muscle tissue strips” (Sergelidis). Originally in 2013, a lab-grown meat burger cost $300,000, two years later the price dropped to $11.36 (Sergelidis). That is still a lot of money considering we can go to a fast food joint and buy that burger for a dollar. However, lab-grown meats hold potential for health benefits. The meats can be genetically modified to enhance amino acids, fats, and vitamins (Sergelidis). And sometimes in conventional animal agriculture, there runs a risk of food-borne pathogens, viruses, and more due to the hygiene of the facilities and other factors. But with lab-grown meat, that risk is completely nullified to almost zero (Sergelidis). And as technology improves and more people realize the potential of lab-grown meat, the price will be sure to drop (Dobermann & Nelson). Lab-grown meat, if succeeded properly, can reduce energy consumption and land usage by 99% and reduce water usage by 90% when compared to traditional meat agriculture (Bonny et al.). “The 20 billion domesticated food-producing animals produce between 5.6 and 7.5 Gt CO2 equivalents per year, cattle being responsible for 64–78% of these emissions” (van Huis & Oonincx). Also feeding our meat takes 50% of the global grain harvest (Bonny et al.). So by simple logic, growing meat in a lab does not emit the same, we don’t need to feed it as much, and is overall more sustainable. And if you care about ethics, lab-grown meat does not kill the animal. We just take some stem cells from the animal and then grow the meat from there (Dobermann & Nelson).

Unless something changes, the current direction of the meat industry is steering everyone to doomsday. The increase in demand for meat cannot be sustained in the future. The massive amounts of land, resources, and emissions meat requires are already destroying the planet and will only continue to worsen. The meat industry cannot continue the way it is, so it is crucial to find alternatives to that protein. Insect farming and lab-grown meat are much less resource-intensive, require less land, emit less, and overall are more sustainable. “Sustainability in an agricultural setting can be defined as practices that meet current and future societal needs for food and fiber, for ecosystem services, and for healthy lives and that do so by maximizing the net benefit to society when all costs and benefits of the practices are considered” (vans Huis & Oonincx). It is crucial that we move on from the current day meat industry and move to more sustainable options, whether that is fixing the current system, modifying current methods, or changing the entire thing.