Industrial Livestock Production: The Twin Myths of Efficiency and Necessity

It is widely assumed that food production must increase by 70% to feed the growing world population and accordingly that further industrialisation of livestock production is essential. This would result in poorer animal welfare as even with good stockmanship industrial systems generally have a low potential for delivering satisfactory welfare outcomes. In fact a large increase in food production is not necessary. We already produce more than enough to feed the population of 9.6 billion expected by mid-century. However, over half this food is wasted: 25% perishes post-harvest or is thrown away at retail or consumer levels. 36% of the world’s crop calories are fed to animals but three-quarters of this is wasted due to the low efficiency with which animals convert cereals to meat and milk. The challenge lies not so much in producing more but in wasting less. If waste in all the above forms were just halved the anticipated population of 9.6 billion could be fed without increasing production. Further industrialisation of animal farming would not be necessary. Nor is it desirable as it is an inefficient use of the world’s resources. Industrial livestock production is dependent on feeding grain to animals. For every 100 calories fed to animals in the form of human-edible crops, we receive just 17-30 calories in the form of meat and milk. This is a wasteful use not just of these crops but of the land, water and energy used to grow them.