Share

Does eating meat reduce world food supply?

AAAS Conference briefs:
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Paper: Inputs and Outputs From Livestock Production
Author: G. Eric Bradford, professor emeritus, Department of Animal Science
Symposium date and time: Friday, Feb. 16, 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Symposium name: The Livestock Revolution -- Implications for Human Nutrition, Resource Use and Environment
Online program: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/6016.00.htm

As the rapidly growing global population increases the demand for food, it's frequently suggested that livestock and poultry are actually depleting rather than contributing to the world food supply for humans. Not so, says Bradford. In addition to grains, which humans also eat, livestock consume large quantities of feeds that are inedible to humans such as crop residues, byproducts of food and fiber processing, and forage from land unsuitable for farming. In so doing, they make a net contribution to the food supply and help recycle nutrients and byproducts that otherwise would have to be disposed of. The overall effect of animal production on the human food supply varies according to the animal species, the product they yield, production methods and the type of feed they consume. The best available estimates indicate that feeding human-edible feeds to food-animals results in a slight reduction in the total human food supply, but is balanced by the yield of meat, milk and eggs that are of higher nutrient density than the grains those animals consumed.

Contact: G. Eric Bradford, Animal Science, 530-752-7602, gebradford@ucdavis.edu.

EDITOR'S NOTE: News from AAAS is embargoed until the time of each symposium presentation or news briefing, whichever comes first.

Share

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.