Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlatan
There are negative externalities that most don't even think about when ringing up their groceries at the checkout.
|
You mean the 24-hour supermarket with competitive prices that's a 5-minute walk from my place?
I'm also interested in the front-end cost of producing meat: 7 pounds of corn and soy are required to produce a pound of pork. Now you could imagine how this would scale to other animals. Generally, a pound of meat of any kind requires grain factors of several times to produce it. (Chicken meat requires less, cow meat requires more.) And then you look at the water required. I've seen varying figures, but we're talking at least over 100 gallons of water for just one pound of meat. And then you factor in the water requirement for growing the food the animals eat.
That's a lot of grain and water. I can see why many farmers use corn, soy, and hay to feed their animals. It would explain why we have so many hay, soy, and corn farms growing crops for livestock compared to farms growing crops for human consumption.