Cutting out the Middle-Cow
Currently, the vast majority of crops grown across the world are fed to livestock. This practice is tarnishing the meat and dairy industry, giving the impression that these inputs are innately required to farm livestock. But there’s more to this story than meets the eye.
It is easy to assume that we could skip the middle-man (livestock) and just consume these crops ourselves; therefore bypassing the inefficient, polluting stage that is intensive livestock farming. What a brainwave! Could it be too good to be true?
Before we run outside and start chomping our way through the fields gleefully, let us dig deeper.
Why are we feeding human food to cows?
This is what’s known as a false dilemma. We’re working on the premise that these crops are suitable food for humans. They’re not. It’s mostly by-products and waste from producing human food. Grains that are too small, too damp or dusty. Vegetables that are too misshapen, rotten or big. Feeding this produce to animals can be a very efficient use, turning waste products into valuable nutritious animal products.
Ah, but a great quantity of crops are grown intentionally to feed livestock, are they not? Yes, but even those crops are not human food. Here in the UK, many farmers exclusively grow what’s known as ‘feed wheat’, which is a grain of different quality, protein, yield and growing methods, solely intended to be processed to feed animals. This is not human food. A loaf of bread made from this stuff would be of better use as a rugby ball than sliced for toast.
When it comes to a crop like soy; grown on a major scale in the United States and South America, I stand even firmer in the ‘it’s not human food’ camp. Soy carries a number of negative health implications for humans, including being a hormone disruptor.
Root problems?
But the problem remains. The growing of these crops remains destructive. The feeding of the crops to the livestock remains inefficient. The self-righteous vegans remain… well, vegan.
As we should expect, there is no simple answer to this equation. You can’t stop the crop farmers growing the crops and you can’t stop the cow farmers feeding their cows. At surface level it’s a stalemate. So what’s fueling the cycle?
Over supply. We are just too damn good at cheaply growing grain. Over supply drives the price down to the point where it becomes economical to feed livestock grain.
Fossil Fuels. Cheap oil and cheap fuel means transportation and processing is cheap also.
Subsidies and insurance. If growing low quality grains is not only easy and profitable but also low-risk due to subsidisation and crop insurance, is there any incentive to change?
Centralised Agriculture. With a glut of grain in a handful of countries around the world, the distribution bottle-neck is eased by the feeding of grain to livestock.
Is there an alternative?
Yes and it’s already happening. Farmers are at the forefront of the change, whilst being lifted by a ground level consumer movement towards good food and good farming. Many farmers are changing their growing practices to build resilience on their farm and reduce dependency on fossil fuels, chemicals, subsidies and contracts.
Either proactively or out of necessity, many livestock farmers are moving towards grazing based systems, with grain playing a smaller and smaller role in the game.
Last but not least, consumers are learning the importance of real food, farmed well. What’s best is that they vote with their wallet. Where money goes, attention flows!
