Industrial livestock: Magic or mayhem?

Peruvian anchoveta

• Peruvian anchoveta – world’s largest single-species fishery

• Supplies one-third of world’s fishmeal• 80% of all landings by weight for fishmeal• 31% of sector revenue; $1.1 billion• Compared with $2.4 billion, 69% revenue

from fish for human consumption.

Dependencies & characteristics

• Feed based on arable land & ocean• Waste • Routine over-use of antibiotics• High saturated animal fats

Feeding factories or people?

• Cereals alone – 3 billion people• Soya meal alone – c1 billion people• At commodity prices, worth US$280 billion

pa• Grain to livestock conversion = 3:1• Lost: 2.6 billion people’s worth of calories• Commodity price, cost of US$186 billion pa

Food waste

Worldwide, UN (2013) estimates:

• A third of food is wasted• = 28% of agricultural land• Cost of US$750 billion• Equivalent to GDP of Switzerland

Binned!

Every year:

• Britain bins 110 million animals• Worth £2.4 billion

• Globally, 12 billion animals• Worth US$486 billion

Antibiotic resistance• Farm animal use = half world antibiotics• 80% in the USAEuropean Commission, 2011:• Sub-set of drug-resistant bacteria =• 25,000 deaths per annum• Healthcare & productivity cost:

€1.5 billion

Health Economics Research Centre

• Cardiovascular disease - £29 billion pa• Lancet estimates 30% reduction in meat

consumption = 15% reduction in disease• Potential saving - £4.35 billion pa

Obesity-related health costs

• Meat from intensive grain-fed vs grass-fed:• Higher in saturated fats• Lower in essential nutrientsBy 2030, obesity-related health costs expected

to rise by:• $48 billion in the US• £1.25 billion in the UK

Policy measures• Encourage land-based farming through

policies, subsidies & tax incentives• Set targets for reduction in grain-based

livestock feeding• Reduce over-use of antibiotics• Tax incentives for better diets (e.g. Fat tax)• Reduce & recycle food waste

UN Food Security Report

“When livestock are raised in intensive systems, they convert carbohydrates and protein that might otherwise be eaten directly by humans and use them to produce a smaller quantity of energy and protein. In these situations, livestock can be said to reduce the food balance.”

World crop harvest

Wasted!

European Commission• EU wastes 90 million tonnes of food pa• 180 kg per person paIN ADDITION:100% calories fed to farm animals yields a 30%

return (70% lost in conversion)• 117 million tonnes of cereals for animal feed• 234 kg per person pa

European Nitrogen AssessmentEU27, cost/benefit of N-fertiliser per annum:• Primarily for growing animal feed.“Human use of livestock in Europe, and the consequent

need for large amounts of animal feed, is therefore the dominant human driver altering the nitrogen cycle in Europe”, ENA 2011

• Benefit of N-fertiliser = • €10-100 billion• Environmental damage from agricultural N = • €20-150 billion