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Are more animals killed growing vegan food versus meat farming?

Are more animals killed growing vegan food versus meat farming?

It has been claimed that because various small mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates may be killed during crop growing and harvesting, growing more vegan foods would kill more animals overall than would be killed for meat consumption.

The most obvious question that can begin to unravel this argument is – what do animals grown for meat consumption eat? A recent paper published by the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) showed that 75% of soy is used to feed farm animals and as little as 6% of soy is used for direct human consumption (1). Similar comparisons can be made for other crops, for example in Australia roughly six million tonnes of hay is produced, predominantly to feed animals, every year, which is double the amount of wheat grown for human consumption (2). Estimates for animals killed during crop harvesting vary as accurately understanding the many factors involved, such as the likeliness of an animal hearing and escaping certain machinery compared to others, is difficult. However, all estimates are tens of billions less than the number of animals killed for human consumption each year. Taking these points in combination, it therefore follows that to reduce crop deaths and improve food growth efficiency, a reduction in animals grown for human consumption is required.

Food efficiency can also be looked at in more detail. In the US alone, over 127 million acres of land is used to grow crops for animal feed vs. just over 77 million acres for direct human consumption (3). Once the 654 million acres of land used for animals at pasture is considered, the data shows that the US uses ten times more land for farming animals for human consumption than for farming plants for human consumption. This is something that is not only seen in the US but worldwide as 83% of all global agricultural land is used for animal farming (4). Furthermore, a human shift to a plant-based diet would free up 75% of currently used agricultural land worldwide, equating to an area the size of the US, the EU, China and Australia combined (4). Once this huge land inefficiency is considered alongside the tens of billions of animals that are killed for human consumption every year, it is clear that a shift towards humans eating more plants and less animals would result in fewer animal deaths.

 

(1) Walter Fraanje, Tara Garnett, 30 Jan 2020, The global growth in the production of soy and its use for different types of foods has been, and continues to be, a major contributor to land use change in the Amazon and other regions in South America, https://www.doi.org/10.56661/47e58c32

(2) Peter Martin, July 2009, The Australian Fodder Industry An overview of production, use and trade, https://agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/plugins/pdf-analytics/tracking.php?file=wp-content/uploads/publications/09-001.pdf

(3) Dave Merrill, Lauren Leatherby, 31 July 2018, Here’s How America Uses Its Land, https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-us-land-use/?in_source=embedded-checkout-banner

(4) J. Poore T. Nemecek ,Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers.Science360,987-992(2018).DOI:10.1126/science.aaq0216, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaq0216

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