Less meat
Triple win for people, planet and animals or elitist and unrealistic?
Livestock is raised in environments that resemble the animal’s natural habitat. People in high income countries consume less meat. Civil society and governments call for more small scale, localised systems of farming and urge people to eat foods that can be grown in their area rather than import them from abroad.
Summary
The livestock in this scenario are raised on land where you can’t grow crops for human food; cows and sheep eat grass supplemented with agricultural waste residues. Fewer pigs and poultry are raised since they are more dependent on feed grains that humans could be eating directly. Animal and cropping systems are reintegrated, in a shift away from more separated intensive systems of production, with animal manure feeding the next generation of crops. Meat is therefore produced on land and resource ‘leftovers’ and because less of it can now be produced, it costs more.
TABLE resources
- Less meat, more veg
Blog post - Better by half: A roadmap to less and better meat and dairy
Research Library - Experts say leftovers can be safely fed to pigs
Research Library - China’s new dietary guidelines encouraging citizens to eat less meat
Research Library
