Interesting article, though I have to say I question your statistic that in the UK "65% of agricultural land is unsuitable for crops" - would you provide a source for this, as living in the UK, it just seems incorrect! I do think meat reduction is necessary, we are eating more than ever, and we now have other ways to get the same nutrients from plant based whole foods and natural supplements that are much friendlier to the planet. However, I do think it should be factory farmed meat (which is actually 85%+ of worldwide supply) that should be cut first - so maybe a first step is to go back to how it used to be where people would eat meat once a week and where people are prepared to pay more for meat, so that we can at least reduce the bulk of animal suffering, then concentrate on reducing animal suffering across the board in a slow and sustainable way.
If you take a look in Scotland, Lake District, Wales and other areas, then the "65 percent is unsuitable for crop production" will probably be higher. And even if it is suitable, then how are crops produced? No/less manure means more artificial fertilizers. Certainly when you have to swap from animal food products to plant food products. "and we now have other ways to get the same nutrients from plant based whole foods" => have you looked at the ingredient list of such products? And even if they would not be packed with E-numbers, do they have the same nutritional density and bio-availability of meat, eggs and/or dairy?
I still very much struggle to see that being 65%! Would love to know the basis of that statistic. My guess would be it includes on land that is currently depleted of nutrients. However, with a little time, this can be regenerated and repurposed.
How are crops produced? Well there are plenty of ways without artificial fertilisers and pesticides (which kill micro organisms). I would use a crop to drop mulch method to first restore the nutrients in the ground, which is also very beneficial to wildlife in general. Then just grow your crop consciously - as well as crop to drop mulching, there are other methods like mixed planting, no till or use of nitrogen fixing plants, that all help preserve the ground quality.
And with plant based whole foods- I do not mean the processed rubbish! I am strongly against things like Beyond burger personally, which I'm sure is made via monocropping and probably full of rubbish! I mean just following a simple plant based diet - with whole foods, you can get enough protein from beans, lentils, nuts, seeds etc. You just need to supplement B12. Which you may say is unnatural, BUT most animals are supplemented with B12 anyway these days as there is no cobalt left in the soil (which ruminants need to create B12) so you may as well go straight to the source!
I'd also add that even the junk vegan food is far better than the junk meats out there. Especially for the planet, as 80% of Soya for example is used for animals, only a small amount for humans and most of that is grown sustainably in europe or similar. Cattle ranching accounts for 80% of current deforestation throughout the Amazon.
My issue is not with smaller farmers, it is with the animal agriculture industry and most people just have no idea of how vast and damaging it is to the planet.
Interesting article, though I have to say I question your statistic that in the UK "65% of agricultural land is unsuitable for crops" - would you provide a source for this, as living in the UK, it just seems incorrect! I do think meat reduction is necessary, we are eating more than ever, and we now have other ways to get the same nutrients from plant based whole foods and natural supplements that are much friendlier to the planet. However, I do think it should be factory farmed meat (which is actually 85%+ of worldwide supply) that should be cut first - so maybe a first step is to go back to how it used to be where people would eat meat once a week and where people are prepared to pay more for meat, so that we can at least reduce the bulk of animal suffering, then concentrate on reducing animal suffering across the board in a slow and sustainable way.
UK Government official statistics 2020: "Utilised Agricultural Area" is 17.3 million hectares, "total croppable area" is 6 million hectares.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/agriculture-in-the-united-kingdom-2020
If you take a look in Scotland, Lake District, Wales and other areas, then the "65 percent is unsuitable for crop production" will probably be higher. And even if it is suitable, then how are crops produced? No/less manure means more artificial fertilizers. Certainly when you have to swap from animal food products to plant food products. "and we now have other ways to get the same nutrients from plant based whole foods" => have you looked at the ingredient list of such products? And even if they would not be packed with E-numbers, do they have the same nutritional density and bio-availability of meat, eggs and/or dairy?
I still very much struggle to see that being 65%! Would love to know the basis of that statistic. My guess would be it includes on land that is currently depleted of nutrients. However, with a little time, this can be regenerated and repurposed.
How are crops produced? Well there are plenty of ways without artificial fertilisers and pesticides (which kill micro organisms). I would use a crop to drop mulch method to first restore the nutrients in the ground, which is also very beneficial to wildlife in general. Then just grow your crop consciously - as well as crop to drop mulching, there are other methods like mixed planting, no till or use of nitrogen fixing plants, that all help preserve the ground quality.
And with plant based whole foods- I do not mean the processed rubbish! I am strongly against things like Beyond burger personally, which I'm sure is made via monocropping and probably full of rubbish! I mean just following a simple plant based diet - with whole foods, you can get enough protein from beans, lentils, nuts, seeds etc. You just need to supplement B12. Which you may say is unnatural, BUT most animals are supplemented with B12 anyway these days as there is no cobalt left in the soil (which ruminants need to create B12) so you may as well go straight to the source!
I'd also add that even the junk vegan food is far better than the junk meats out there. Especially for the planet, as 80% of Soya for example is used for animals, only a small amount for humans and most of that is grown sustainably in europe or similar. Cattle ranching accounts for 80% of current deforestation throughout the Amazon.
My issue is not with smaller farmers, it is with the animal agriculture industry and most people just have no idea of how vast and damaging it is to the planet.