A recently published study on greenhouse gas emissions produced by livestock is placing the blame on the beef industry.
The work of scientist Gidon Eshel from Bard College in New York was released last week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He calculated air and water emissions and water and land used in the lifetime production of beef, pork, poultry, dairy and eggs. Pork, poultry, dairy and eggs all had comparable environmental footprints, while cattle ended up highest on the list.
Compared with other animal proteins, raising beef cattle produced five times more heat-trapping gases per calorie, put out six times the nitrogen, takes 11 more times the water for irrigation and used 28 times the land.
Another study published in the journal Climatic Change earlier this month found similar results. That study estimated livestock greenhouse gas emissions from 237 countries and found that more than half of the emissions came from beef cattle, followed by dairy cattle (17 percent), sheep (9 percent), buffalo (7 percent), pigs (5 percent) and goats (4 percent).
The studies do not take into account every factor involved in raising animals for meat and may not tell the whole story. Variety also exists between operations, and pounds of feed per pound of gain, pasture use, technologies adopted and geography all play a role. And in reality, the U.S. beef industry actually produces less greenhouse gas emissions than any other beef producing country in the world, according to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
In fact, in an effort to become more sustainable, the U.S. beef industry reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2 percent, soil emissions by 7 percent and water emissions by 10 percent between 2006 and 2011. The industry has also used 4 percent less land, 3 percent less water and 2 percent less energy during that same time period as a result of the Beef Checkoff's sustainability project.
