Environmental security

Which Is Worse For The Environment -- Poultry Or Beef?

A study published in 2014 by the National Academy of Sciences, "Land, irrigation water, greenhouse gas, and reactive nitrogen burdens of meat, eggs, and dairy production in the United States," says beef is worse.

In fact, the study focuses on a single aspect of raising 9 billion land animals for food in the U.S., of whom 8 billion are chickens: feeding them. It quantifies the impact on land, air and water of cattle grazing and the impact on land, air and water of growing crops for poultry and pigs in confinement. The researchers conclude that "beef production demands about 1 order of magnitude more resources than alternative livestock categories"; hence, "minimizing beef consumption mitigates the environmental costs of diet most effectively."

Without disputing the data specific to this study, I do dispute the implication that the answer to cattle pollution is to eat more poultry or any other animal product. The environmental impacts of global animal production are vast, complicated, and worsening. The poultry industry in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States is a microcosm of the global expansion of the poultry industry and its baleful effect on land, air, water, and human and animal wellbeing.