![]() The GRAIN/IATP study found that the world’s top five meat and dairy producers-JBS, Tyson, Cargill, Dairy Farmers of America, and Fonterra-produce more combined emissions every year than oil industry giant Exxon.įurther, the study showed that the emissions of the world’s top 20 meat and dairy companies combined surpass the emissions of Germany, a country with the seventh-largest carbon footprint in the world. To illustrate the enormity of livestock emissions, the report points to a 2018 study produced by the nonprofits GRAIN and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) in 2018. It estimates that industrial animal farming could be responsible for up to 21 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, taking calculations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and an Oxford University study into account. The three largest soybean producers, the U.S., Brazil, and Argentina, account for 70 percent of this pesticide use.Īccording to the report, livestock’s share of global greenhouse gas emissions is understated. Currently, 4 million tonnes of pesticides are sprayed on crops each year-a large proportion of which are considered highly hazardous to human and environmental health. The report warns that the expansion of animal agriculture entails severe environmental consequences, pointing out that livestock farming and soybean cultivation are the two main drivers of global deforestation.įeed crop cultivation, in turn, is driving global pesticides use which has doubled since 1990. As industrial meat production continues to rise, the area used to grow feed crops is expected to expand further. And the world has to understand that cheap meat is not a promise of luxury-its severe collateral damages pave the way to the destruction of our planet.”Īnimal agriculture currently takes up 77 percent of global agricultural land and more than one-third of global crops, including almost 80 percent of global soy, as animal feed. ‘Less and better’ has to be the new narrative. “Industrial livestock also massively destroys biodiversity and puts global health under pressure. “And this is not only about the climate crisis,” Chemnitz said. “The countries in the Global North will need to reduce their meat consumption at least by half in the coming years if they want to fulfill their fair share of the goals.” Christine Chemnitz from Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, co-author of the report, told Sentient Media. “The enormous increase of meat consumption and production will prevent the world from reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030,” Dr. Without political intervention, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expect meat production to increase to 366 million tonnes per year by 2029. The report attributes the increased productivity of animal agriculture to technological innovations and growing numbers of animals being raised intensively in indoor settings or on densely populated feedlots, with 75 billion animals being killed for food every year. According to the report, global meat consumption has doubled over the past two decades, reaching 320 million tonnes in 2018.
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