The World of Farming Needs A Revolution
60% of the world's agricultural area is dedicated to cattle ranching, although it only makes up 24% of global meat consumption.
That's an incredible statistic!
This is a lot of land which could be better utilised. In Brazil, much of the land used by cattle ranchers in recent years has come at the expense of the Amazon rainforest.
We need to feed people. No one's disputing that. The problem is how we feed them and what with. Cattle ranching is an inefficient use of land and a poor way to feed the more than 7 billion people on the planet.
A major problem is the amount of freshwater consumed in the process of farming meat.
1kg of beef requires 15,415 litres of water, while a kilo of potatoes requires 287 litres. This is a huge difference and one which has a big impact when you consider the amount of food thrown away each year.
Estimates put the amount of water wasted globally in growing crops that never reach the consumer, at 550 billion cubic metres.
What's the solution?
Switching to a plant-based diet, or eating less meat is a start. Given how intensive the process of farming meat is, eating less is much better for the planet.
A technological revolution which could improve food production is vertical farming.
Vegetables are grown indoors in large UV lit warehouses. While they would still require water, this would free up lots of land to be rewilded, preventing the release of greenhouses gases through fertilisers such as nitrous oxide.
Humans are an innovative species. When faced with a challenge we can rise to the occasion.
Food production will become more of an issue with the expected increase in population over the coming years.
But with some foresight and change in our habits, there's no reason we can't provide food to feed everyone and protect the environment.