Meat Eater vs. Vegetarian debate

[Stargate525]

Though I love eating meat I have to admit it would be a lot more efficient to replace the majority of beef farms with grain. While a cow will feed maybe 10 people, the grain that it is fed on throughout its life could feed hundreds.

Except that for the majority of beef farms (ie, cattle ranches), you CAN'T. very hilly areas, more arid land, a lot of those areas are where these ranches are. Grain farms there would require massive irrigation, annoying amounts of leveling the land, or both.

[KerbMav]

Except that for the majority of beef farms (ie, cattle ranches), you CAN'T. very hilly areas, more arid land, a lot of those areas are where these ranches are. Grain farms there would require massive irrigation, annoying amounts of leveling the land, or both.

Let me just ask a question - two actually:

Where does the grain come from that is fed to the livestock and what would be done with it if would not be fed to livestock?

[vger]

There is an argument to be made for mixed mode farms to utilize the available resources, but that isn't where your food is coming from. 85% of the worlds soybeans are ground into meal, and 95% of that meal is fed to livestock (source). If you live in a western country, the animals that end up on your plate aren't grazing in marginal farmlands, they are produced and fed industrially.

In spite of what some will tell you about soy being one of the greatest health foods ever, soy can wreak havoc with thyroid function. Like olive oil it's quite healthy in small portions, but to be eating it all the time? We would probably be looking at an epidemic if the whole world jumped on the soy bandwagon.

[Kerbin Dallas Multipass]

In spite of what some will tell you about soy being one of the greatest health foods ever, soy can wreak havoc with thyroid function. Like olive oil it's quite healthy in small portions, but to be eating it all the time? We would probably be looking at an epidemic if the whole world jumped on the soy bandwagon.

The point is that today's livestock is fed with soy beans that come from industrial farming on irrigated land (and often imported from overseas), not from patches of land that are unusable for other farming.

This land could indeed be used to produce food for humans, which does not necessarily have to be soy beans.

[vger]

The point is that today's livestock is fed with soy beans that come from industrial farming on irrigated land (and often imported from overseas), not from patches of land that are unusable for other farming.

This land could indeed be used to produce food for humans, which does not necessarily have to be soy beans.

Yeah, you've got me wondering about farming efficiency now.

Granted, this is probably going too far into speculative territory now, but I wonder how good our farming would be if we actually had to go completely natural. If the pesticides and the GMO concerns actually prove to be legit (and if something in either of those is actually responsible for the decline of the honey bee), would crops still be capable of higher efficiency? I doubt there's even any effective way to research that at this point.

[Vanamonde]

Folks, some of you are getting pretty angry about this, and if the discussion here degenerates into name-calling, we'll have to close the thread. Please remember that your fellow forum members are not enemies.

[Duxwing]

You should be ashamed for even thinking we should do that.

Erm... are you serious or just sarcastically agreeing?

-Duxwing

[YourEverydayWaffle]

Bacon is meat candy. Ain't no way I'm giving that up for ANY reason.

[sal_vager]

Gentlemen this is one of those discussions that has no answer and no end, and is about as far from KSP and rocketry as one can get, it would not even be a topic suited for the Space Lounge.

The discussion above has touched on Religion, Politics, and various fallacies such as appeals to tradition and just plain old gut feelings.

This will be closed to prevent it going off the rails as threads like this so often do, and to protect us, whether we are fond of meat or prefer to avoid it, from undue and unwanted argument as to why we are wrong in our own personal choice of what we eat.

Good food should be enjoyed by all, it should never be a cause for division.