How so? Growing environmentally friendly crops is obviously cheaper and better for the planet than growing 10 times that amount and feeding it to a cow for meat.
for some people it’s cheaper. for some it’s not. for everyone though, regardless of how many beans you buy, the meat dairy and egg industries continue to pollute in ever greater amounts.
If we used all the pasture land viable for farming we would have abundant and varied produce at a budget cost. Unfortunately that’s not the case.
That doesn’t sound right. A big part of the reason why beef keeps getting expensive much faster than pork or chicken is because it’s getting a lot more expensive to raise pastured animals than factory farming feedlots. It’s also why, historically, a culture’s preference for pork over beef (or vice versa) could be predicted by looking at how urbanized that culture is.
Not all meat is equal, and beef is particularly inefficient at turning plant biomass (and water) into meat, and needs a lot more land area for traditional methods. Even modern feedlot methods don’t actually help that much in terms of competition with other meat animals, because chickens and pigs are also easier to feed in feedlot settings.
Vegetarian diets are pretty cheap for meeting the bare minimum nutritional requirements. Legume+grain is the staple food for many cultures for a reason.
But also in the real world, most people want variety and taste, and meat is often a cheaper and easier way to provide that higher level of enjoyment, compared to the work necessary to process non-animal sources into certain tastes and textures that are easier to find from animal sources. So when we’re talking about the diets of rich societies, who can afford to spend money and effort well beyond the bare minimum to keep us alive, we’re spending plenty of effort on adding non nutritive flavors, including stuff like spices or fermented sauces.
So you’re probably right when focused only on the rich western societies where it is true that the typical vegan spends more on food than the typical omnivore in the same rich society. But it’s not broadly true across the board, and at the very upper ranges of luxury spending, I’m not sure that still holds up (some meats and seafoods can get quite expensive at the very very high end).
In short, If we converted all pasture land that did have agricultural viability to be used as crop fields instead we would have more competitive non-meat produce prices worldwide.
That’s fair, I was more speaking on principle. I know that retooling the production chains that feed millions of people isn’t as easy.
Personally I am a vegetarian, I enjoy milk, cheese and eggs way too much to not eat any. I am very conscious about where I source my food from though, and luckily I am German and we have a robust and reasonably affordable selection of organic and local produce to choose from.
Having recently visited Germany I agree your available for a vegetarian diet is much better than mine and I would say the majority of places. The German people are more health conscious(likely due to average earnings) than many other developed nations.
How so? Growing environmentally friendly crops is obviously cheaper and better for the planet than growing 10 times that amount and feeding it to a cow for meat.
for some people it’s cheaper. for some it’s not. for everyone though, regardless of how many beans you buy, the meat dairy and egg industries continue to pollute in ever greater amounts.
No, reduced demand will wreck the prices for the producers, who will reduce supply and thereby reduce the overall volume of production, which will reduce the volume of pollution, water usage, etc. Beef production in the U.S. has been relatively stable since 2000, despite the population growth and increased consumer spending on food. The market responds to input costs and demand, and things like drought conditions drop production significantly.
meat production grows every year
Yes, but so has demand. I’m saying if demand goes down, so will production.
whatever your excuse, being vegan has not decreased meat production
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That doesn’t sound right. A big part of the reason why beef keeps getting expensive much faster than pork or chicken is because it’s getting a lot more expensive to raise pastured animals than factory farming feedlots. It’s also why, historically, a culture’s preference for pork over beef (or vice versa) could be predicted by looking at how urbanized that culture is.
Not all meat is equal, and beef is particularly inefficient at turning plant biomass (and water) into meat, and needs a lot more land area for traditional methods. Even modern feedlot methods don’t actually help that much in terms of competition with other meat animals, because chickens and pigs are also easier to feed in feedlot settings.
Vegetarian diets are pretty cheap for meeting the bare minimum nutritional requirements. Legume+grain is the staple food for many cultures for a reason.
But also in the real world, most people want variety and taste, and meat is often a cheaper and easier way to provide that higher level of enjoyment, compared to the work necessary to process non-animal sources into certain tastes and textures that are easier to find from animal sources. So when we’re talking about the diets of rich societies, who can afford to spend money and effort well beyond the bare minimum to keep us alive, we’re spending plenty of effort on adding non nutritive flavors, including stuff like spices or fermented sauces.
So you’re probably right when focused only on the rich western societies where it is true that the typical vegan spends more on food than the typical omnivore in the same rich society. But it’s not broadly true across the board, and at the very upper ranges of luxury spending, I’m not sure that still holds up (some meats and seafoods can get quite expensive at the very very high end).
I think I may have been careless with my wording.
In short, If we converted all pasture land that did have agricultural viability to be used as crop fields instead we would have more competitive non-meat produce prices worldwide.
That’s fair, I was more speaking on principle. I know that retooling the production chains that feed millions of people isn’t as easy.
Personally I am a vegetarian, I enjoy milk, cheese and eggs way too much to not eat any. I am very conscious about where I source my food from though, and luckily I am German and we have a robust and reasonably affordable selection of organic and local produce to choose from.
Having recently visited Germany I agree your available for a vegetarian diet is much better than mine and I would say the majority of places. The German people are more health conscious(likely due to average earnings) than many other developed nations.