From: altar@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ted Wayn Altar)
Subject: Vegetarian ecology
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 19:19:22 GMT


     "Land, energy and water resources for livestock agriculture
     range anywhere from 10 to 1000 times greater than those
     necessary to produce an equivalent amount of plant foods.
     And livestock agriculture does not merely *use* these
     resources, it *depletes* them.  This is a matter of
     historical record.  Most of the world's soil, erosion,
     groundwater depletion, and deforestation -- factors now
     threatening the very basis of our food system -- are the
     result of this particularly destructive form of food
     production" (Keith Acker, p. 81)


IS LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION A GOOD USE OF LAND UNSUITABLE FOR CROPS?

There is no doubt that livestock `agriculture' is far more
inefficient compared to plant food agriculture.  Some will argue,
however, that these figures are irrelevant since the livestock
industry uses land not suitable for growing crops (land too
steep, rocky or infertile).  Here are just 3 good arguments
that Acker's formulates against this view:

(1) Grazing cattle on land competes with numerous nonfood land
uses, most importantly that of forests (between 1967 to 1975 2/3
of 70 million acres of lost forest went to grazing).  This is
single GREATEST CAUSE OF WORLD WIDE DEFORESTATION both
historically and currently.  Analysis of use conversion of
forests in the U.S.  estimates that over 2/3 were for grazing.
Between 1950 and 1975 the area of man-created pasture land in
Central America more than doubled, almost all of it at the
expense rain forests.  With the "success" of the like of
MacDonald's, this trend continues.

(2) Grazing systems requires large tracts of land and the
consequences of overgrazing and soil erosion are very serious
ecological problems.  By conservative estimates, 60% of all U.S.
lands are overgrazed resulting in billions of tons of soil lost
each year.  The amount of U.S.  topsoil lost to date is about
75%, and 85% of that is directly associated with livestock
grazing.  Overgrazing has been the single LARGEST CAUSE OF MAN-
MADE DESERTS.

(3) Especially with present grain prices, "feedlot" or "factory
farms" are more economic and are fast increasing.  These systems
do not use grazing land but use feed grown on croplands.  Feedlot
cattle yield a fattier, more palatable meat and such cattle can
be brought to market faster.  It has been estimated that in the
U.S., 80% of the corn and 95% of the oats grown are fed to
livestock.

(1)  The above is taken from Keith Acker's book,  "A VEGETARIAN
     SOURCEBOOK", 1989, he cites some very impressive information
     from respectable sources on this issue of vegetarian
     ecology.  Some of his sources include the following:

(a) U.S.  Department of Agriculture, "1980 APPRAISAL", pt.  I, p.
     50.

(b) Land and Food: The Preservation of U.  S.  Farmland" AMERICAN
     LAND FORUM REPORT/NO 1, Spring, 1979 (Washington, D.C.:
     American Land Forum, 1979).

(c) Neil Sampson (1981).  FARMLAND OR WASTELAND: A TIME TO
     CHOOSE.  Penn.:Rodale Pr.

(d) J. Schechter (1977).  Desertificaion processes and the search
     for solutions.  INDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH REVIEWS, 2(1):
     36(Mar).

                                         ted