Chapter 21: Agriculture: Raising Livestock

A Carnivore’s Conundrum: Disease, Pollution, and The True Costs of Meat

Story Abstract & Additional Information

This chapter explores how affluence affects diet, increasing the demand for animal food products. Current approaches to rearing livestock in an industrial setting produce a lot of affordable meat and dairy products but also produce negative health and environmental impacts. While meat and dairy products can be part of the solution to feeding the world, the trade-offs associated with current industrial practices are making many rethink the environmental and ethical soundness of these methods.

Here are some of the key points in the story for this chapter:

How does affluence affect diet and health?

The past few decades have been witness to an unprecedented rise in global affluence. As wealth increases, so does the consumption of animal products, such as meat and eggs. In developing countries, meat and dairy products mean more and better sources of protein. But overconsumption of meat—which occurs primarily in developed nations—has been associated with a wide range of health problems, from cardiovascular disease and diabetes to gout and some cancers. A Harvard School of Public Health study examined the link between red meat consumption and cancer and mortality:
It isn’t just the overconsumption of meat that is the problem—it’s overconsumption in general. A diet high in calories, fat, and sugar, coupled with declines in physical activity, is increasing rates of obesity worldwide. Learn more about this epidemic from the World Health Organization (WHO):

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the methods we use to produce meat?

To accommodate the globe’s growing appetite for animal products, we have dramatically altered the way we rear livestock. Instead of traditional mixed farms, where crops and livestock are rotated, or grown side by side, we now rear animals in concentrated animal feed operations (CAFOs), factory-like operations where livestock are densely packed and rapidly grown. So far, CAFOs have enabled us to grow many thousands more food animals than Mother Nature would ever allow. CAFO managers say that’s a good thing: Such dramatic increases in production have made meat cheaper and thus more accessible to people. But critics contend that this easy availability of meat has brought with it serious consequences for human health, environmental safety, and animal rights:

Grass-fed farms are one alternative to CAFOs, with the disadvantage that cattle raised in CAFOs are ready for market sooner than those raised on free-range farms. Joel Salatin runs Polyface Farms in Virginia, where he raises multiple animals, rotated through in a way that maximizes food for each:

What factors influence agricultural policy decisions in the United States and around the world?

The U.S. Farm Bill was created in the 1930s during the Great Depression to help encourage struggling farmers to keep farming by protecting them against price volatility and environmental calamity. The bill includes subsidies to help ensure that farmers earn at least as much money as it cost to produce the food. The bill is updated every five years, and debate has recently centered on whether the subsidies are still needed, or whether they’re now helping factory farms at the expense of small- and mid-sized operations:
Different regions around the world face different problems and each needs its own solution about the best way to raise livestock. Learn more about the FAO’s recommendations on how to address these issues:

Additional information about other topics from this chapter:

E. coli

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently decided to retire the familiar “food pyramid” nutrition guidelines with a new program called “Choose My Plate,” to help Americans determine what percentage of food to eat from the five major food groups each day:

Consumer Choices

Another component of supporting alternatives to CAFOs could be to eat more fruits and vegetables and less meat, as proposed by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma: