I’d think letting cattle eat wild grass would take less water and pesticides than corn/soy. Dunno about growing hay.
Edit: Boy is it fun trying to find an unbiased answer to this question. You’ll find a site, but then realize it’s tied to someone’s business. Then you’ll find a site with opposite data and again it will be tied to some bias (like paid for by the beef industry). Best i could figure out — grass fed beef saves water until you supplement that diet with alfalfa (which is common). Corn takes more water than soy, and soy is on about the same level as wheat. And free range grass fed beef possibly has additional benefits to the environment (though with a url like “grassfedjunction” I suspect yet another agenda).
This article is so weird because its like, “go ahead and eat whatever beef you want because cows will still fart so its still bad for the climate.” Such a strange perspective.
A cow’s diet does effect the amount of methane they expel. For example, studies have shown that letting them eat some kinds of white clover, or some strains of seaweed cuts emissions from cows. This research is important because people are going to continue to eat beef. You’d think the article would dive into that.
And no mention of the exhaust from gas-powered machinery used to raise, harvest, spray, and transport the food raised to feed the cattle.
I’d think letting cattle eat wild grass would take less water and pesticides than corn/soy. Dunno about growing hay.
Edit: Boy is it fun trying to find an unbiased answer to this question. You’ll find a site, but then realize it’s tied to someone’s business. Then you’ll find a site with opposite data and again it will be tied to some bias (like paid for by the beef industry). Best i could figure out — grass fed beef saves water until you supplement that diet with alfalfa (which is common). Corn takes more water than soy, and soy is on about the same level as wheat. And free range grass fed beef possibly has additional benefits to the environment (though with a url like “grassfedjunction” I suspect yet another agenda).
https://www.grassfedjunction.com/learn/environmental
This article is so weird because its like, “go ahead and eat whatever beef you want because cows will still fart so its still bad for the climate.” Such a strange perspective.
A cow’s diet does effect the amount of methane they expel. For example, studies have shown that letting them eat some kinds of white clover, or some strains of seaweed cuts emissions from cows. This research is important because people are going to continue to eat beef. You’d think the article would dive into that.
And no mention of the exhaust from gas-powered machinery used to raise, harvest, spray, and transport the food raised to feed the cattle.
https://8billiontrees.com/carbon-offsets-credits/carbon-footprint-of-corn-production/
Even just growing soy can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. (Most corn and shoot is raised for animal feed).
https://research.iastate.edu/2024/11/25/growing-soybeans-has-a-surprisingly-significant-emissions-footprint-but-its-ripe-for-reduction/
Of course climate change contribution isn’t the only problem with pen-raised beef either.