All 10 of the largest U.S. meat and dairy companies have lobbied against environmental and climate policies, resisting climate regulations, including rules on greenhouse gases and emissions reporting. This is according to a study by New York University, which examined the political influence of the 10 largest meat and dairy companies in the United States.
I think we need to slow down on placing all the blame on cows and other ruminants. It’s not the farming that’s causing problems, it’s the fact that we’ve gotten away from regenerative agriculture, and how to actually work with the land.
My Wife is a part of a farm that just got the USDA Climate Smart grant. The grant basically outlines how to sequester more carbon into the soil by using cattle and other ruminants and doing pasture grazing rotations, using trees, and some other things. The thing that blows most people away when she talks about it is that cows are and never were the problem – it’s Big Ag.
The way of farming cattle nowadays is very inefficient and a problem for the environment. This is because of the ways cattle are finished before processing. Instead of being grass fed - grass finished, farmers send their cattle’s out to feed lots in the Midwest. They are jam packed in areas where they can’t adequately space out, which leads to an excess of their excrements in one spot. THIS is the problem. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
This problem only stems from the larger issue that Big Ag doesn’t care how land is managed or farmed as long as it’s baseline is about production. But it’s not like non-GMO and organic is easy to do, both growing and the paperwork, so it’s just bad all around….
Grassfed Cattle needs an infeasible amount of land. The only efficient or environmentally ‘friendly’ way would be substituting them with plant-based alternatives. Cows obviously are not the problems. It’s us humans who breed them for the sole purpose of exploiting them when there are other, greener and more eithical alternatives
Edit: here a very informative video addressing most of the arguments in favor of grass-fed livestock
Edit 2: Another one by the same creator about regenerative grazing
You would expect conservatives to give a fuck about efficient use of resources but to them, being filthy rich is an efficient market too
https://ourworldindata.org/less-meat-or-sustainable-meat
What is “Big Ag”?
Big Agriculture. Like Big Pharma or Big Tobacco
Got it, thanks. Thought you meant Big Silver (Ag on Periodic Table)