Trump says Democrats and environmental whackos are waging a war on beef. But corporations, not politicians or activists, are leading the post-meat revolution
“It’s up there with giving VA benefits to ISIS,” McElwee says. “That’s the tension the left has to struggle with; Democrats eat meat, too. But even minor improvements could create massive gains for public health and the environment.”
Beef production is the worst climate offender in the agricultural sector. That WRI report on food sustainability calculated that beef creates about seven times as many greenhouse gas emissions per unit of protein as chicken or pork, and 20 times as many as peas or lentils. One reason is that grass-eating ruminants like cows release huge amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 30 times as potent as carbon dioxide.
The more significant problem with meat production is that it uses enormous amounts of land, both for grazing and growing grain for cattle feed. Pastures and farms that are used to fatten cattle often replace forests, wetlands and grasslands that store enormous amounts of carbon. Even America’s relatively efficient beef production takes up more than 40 percent of U.S. agricultural land to produce just 3 percent of U.S. calories.
Overall, U.S. animal agriculture only produces about 4 percent of direct U.S. emissions, much less than its competition abroad. That’s partly because the U.S. emits so much carbon from gasoline and fossil-fueled electricity, but it’s partly a triumph of efficiency; the average dairy cow in California produces four times as much milk as a cow in Mexico and 23 times as much as a cow in India. Kester argues that if Green New Deal advocates succeed in reducing U.S.
"Politically, farmers tend toward the Trump camp, and when they hear all this finger-pointing about farting cows, they just shut down" —Conglomerates like Wal-Mart, McDonald’s and General Mills have been setting emissions reduction targets for their suppliers, which will ratchet up pressure on farmers and ranchers to green their operations.
If meat producers can set aside their skepticism about the Green New Deal, and Green New Deal supporters can set aside their skepticism about meat, there’s potential for a compromise that would provide more lucrative opportunities for meat producers to go green. Jacy Reece is the research director at an anti-meat think tank called the Sentience Institute, and the author of a new book called, but he says that for now he’s excited about reforms that could make animal farming more sustainable.
Beyond Meat’s strategy relies more on the meat aisle of supermarkets like Whole Foods and Kroger’s; it’s now in 38,000 locations in 20 countries, touting itself as “a better way to feed the planet.” A University of Michiganfound that the company’s burgers—made with peas, potato starch, beets and other vegetarian ingredients that mimic the chewiness, juiciness and tastiness of ground beef—produce 90 percent fewer greenhouse gases per pound than conventional meat.
“It used to be just activist groups saying you need to eat less meat to save the planet. We’re alarmed that it’s creeping into the mainstream,” says Hannah Thompson-Weeman, a vice president with the Animal Agriculture Alliance.
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