Meat Cattle Deforestation.

[hakama]

I have just watched an interesting program on tv. about meat cattle and deforestation. Should we be starting to cultivate and eat insects to save the planet, what do you all think.

[Urabug]

Absolutely no chance, I like my steak and meat pies.

 

Put a little seaweed in there diet, apparently that stops cattle farting, and aiding global warming. 

 

What would all the crofters do if we stopped eating meat,breed bluebottles, and slaters  instead !

[hakama]

I am sorry but you obviously do not understand what cattle ranching is doing to the planet and you have no concern for furure generation that is if there is any.

[George.]

Can Krill End World Hunger?

Edited November 27, 2019 by George.

[Urabug]

I am sorry but you obviously do not understand what cattle ranching is doing to the planet and you have no concern for furure generation that is if there is any.

Cattle is providing a living to thousands of farmers and crofters , and we all have to make a living to pay our way and survive. "man shall not live by bread alone"

 

Some restrictions to stop monopolization throughout farming and other industries,so as to share things more equally,perhaps but never to stop folks livelihoods and provide the food we "all" need. 

[Wheelsup]

We need to stop importing food from abroad and eat what can be grown locally. That would probably solve a lot of issues., by cutting down on unnecessary transportation.

[Colin]

I like my steaks as well but, I have cut back to no more than twice a month. 

 

Cattle take up a very large portion of ground and other resources compared to vegetable farming and, you can easily feed many more people by just growing veg on the same acreage.

 

This isn't really about "jobs".  It's about survival !!!.  and, if I may say so, if the man that breeds beef cattle for a living were to get off his @rse and tend vegetables instead then, it might just make some difference.

 

Has anyone given any thought about the amount of de-forestation in the Amazon is almost directly attributable to Britains beef supply ?  I read a report that claimed 80% of our beef comes from Brazil.  Go figure.

[Ghostrider]

I have just watched an interesting program on tv. about meat cattle and deforestation. Should we be starting to cultivate and eat insects to save the planet, what do you all think.

 

Are you bemoaning the loss of natural habitats, the alleged 'pollution' as a result of commercial livestock farming, or both?

 

At the end of it all, anything else is a scapegoat, as it is homo sapiens that is the underlying problem, there's far too many of us for the planet to continue to sustain us much longer at the current rate of population growth, and our desire to get things for nothing or as near nothing as we can.

 

Blaming anything else is a red herring, as a collective we need to breed less and be prepared to pay a little more for our food so as keep food miles to an absolute minimum. There is absolutely no need whatsoever for Europe to be contributing in any way to anything that may be happening anywhere else in the world as a result of beef farming, we have potential capacity to produce far more than we need on our own doorsteps. Likewise, nobody has any genuine need to source fruit and vegetables from the other side of the globe, just because they're out of season here, and somebody 'wants' them.......and supermarkets, sensing a moneymaker are shoving them down everybody's throat........ The list goes on and on......

Edited November 27, 2019 by Ghostrider

[Urabug]

We need to stop importing food from abroad and eat what can be grown locally. That would probably solve a lot of issues., by cutting down on unnecessary transportation.

Totally agree, I occasionally buy smoked fish from the Co-op, that same fish probably landed at Cullivoe transported all the way south where it is processed and smoked then transported all the way back to Shetland, and still sold cheaper than I can buy it locally processed.

 

Same can be said for many other things no doubt.

 

We need our own infrastructure abattoirs/freezers, here in Shetland to handle and store (freeze) our own meats,fish ect but it has to be able to compete on price with the imported products or it is no use.

 

Probably this is an area that should get funding from our reserves as it is something that would benefit us all, because we all have to eat. 

[hakama]

Ghostrider is correct. We must get the birth rate down. I do not know much about it but some flour is made from ground up insects, Our crofters perhaps should look into it as it may be profitable and i do think that in the future it is a way to feed the population. Very large poly tunnels perhaps.

[lochend]

I like my steaks as well but, I have cut back to no more than twice a month. 

 

Cattle take up a very large portion of ground and other resources compared to vegetable farming and, you can easily feed many more people by just growing veg on the same acreage.

 

This isn't really about "jobs".  It's about survival !!!.  and, if I may say so, if the man that breeds beef cattle for a living were to get off his @rse and tend vegetables instead then, it might just make some difference.

 

Has anyone given any thought about the amount of de-forestation in the Amazon is almost directly attributable to Britains beef supply ?  I read a report that claimed 80% of our beef comes from Brazil.  Go figure.

 

British imports are reducing and are currently less than 35% of what we consume of those imports around 80% are from Ireland so i would suggest that the figure 80% of our beef coming from Brazil is false by at least one order of magnitude. To be clear i do not condone what is happening in the Amazon but it need a political solution and will not be fixed by people in the UK eating less meat.

[Colin]

Yes, I think I got it the wrong way round.  I meant to say that 80% of BRAZIL'S beef exports were to the UK.

[lochend]

Have a look at this as far as i can see even the whole of Europe does not feature as a significant export destination for Brazil.

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/july/brazil-once-again-becomes-the-world-s-largest-beef-exporter/

[mikeyboy]

Looking at just at the export of cattle is only seeing part of the problem. The major cause of deforestation is the growing of Soya which is used as animal feed.

[BigMouth]

I once read that beef wouldn’t be so tasty if we weren’t meant to eat it.