2/21/19 Climate Change, Sustainable Agriculture, Cattle, Plant-based - - PDF document

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Oct 21, 2022 279 likes •376 views

2/21/19 Climate Change, Sustainable Agriculture, Cattle, Plant-based Diets Climate change is a reality What are the Issues and What are the Real Facts? Donald K. Layman, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus Department of Food Science & Human

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Climate Change, Sustainable Agriculture, Cattle, Plant-based Diets … What are the Issues and What are the Real Facts? Donald K. Layman, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Climate change is a reality What is the impact of agriculture?

Judging Fairness, Bias, and Profit Motives

Plant-based agenda vegans & vegetarians Animal-based agenda paleo & keto PETA, HSUS, ASPCA

Big Pharma

Kellogg’s, General Mills Pillsbury, Quaker Oats Pepsi & Coke Dupont, Cargill, ADM Bayer (Monsanto) DSM & BASF Nestle, Kraft, Unilever Impossible Foods & Beyond Burger American Heart Association Farmers National Dairy Council American Egg Board National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn Pork Board (omnivores)

“Environmental Vegetarianism”

Animals are inefficient at converting

grains into food calories

World hunger could be eliminated if we

stopped feeding grains to animals

Meat production is an elitist political

decision

The debate: plant-based versus animal-based diets

United Nations:

Food & Agriculture Organization (2006)

Livestock are a major cause of climate change … produce over 30% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGE) … but, livestock also produce over 1/3

f world’s protein

GHGE of food groups Protein Carbohydrates

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The “Trilemma”

How to balance … diet quality – agriculture production – environmental impact

The “Trilemma”

Must avoid …

“unintended consequences”

Defining Environmental Impact Optimizing Diets Optimizing Land Use

The “Trilemma” Debate:

How should we balance these competing factors?

? Three assumptions that underpin current narrative:

1) Ruminant animals are major contributors to climate change 2) Protein consumption is excessive and can be replaced by carbohydrates (i.e. plant-based diet) 3) Lands used for cattle should be used for cropland

Layman Nutrition Today 53(4):160,2018

Defining Environmental Impact

The “Trilemma” Debate: Claim: ruminants are a major cause of climate change. How should we measure that? Greenhouse Gas Emissions

(GHGE)

GHGE = CO2 + CH4 + N2O

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Defining Environmental Impact

The “Trilemma” Debate: For agriculture, the approach being used is called: “Lifecycle Assessment (LCA)”

Metric = GHGE/food calorie produced

Methane is a Greenhouse Gas … … produced by microbes digesting plant materials

Enteric Fermentation

Sources of Methane

EU-28 508

(Land Use Change & Forestry)

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World population distribution … 47% of world population lives in SE Asia

Layman Nutrition Today 53(4):160,2018

USDA food intake data

(www.USDA.gov/factbook/chapter2.pdf)

31% milk 26% red meat

residential commercial industry

Energy Usage 4.6 million people 10 million cows 60 million sheep Ranks 62 in GHGE

United States

World cattle inventory (2017):

% of total x million head

1. India

30.4% 303

2. Brazil

22.6 226

3. China

10.1 100

4. USA

9.4 93

5. EU

8.9 89

13. New Zealand

1.0 10

FAS/USDA, 2017

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Brazil has over 226 million cattle 80% destined for export to China and EU Since 1970, Brazil has destroyed more than 230,000 sq. miles of rainforest (for cattle and soybean production) U.N. estimates >30% of GHGE associated with clearing and burning of the rainforest

Claims that ruminants are a major cause of climate change

1800 there were ~80 million buffalo in U.S. 2018 there were ~93 million cattle

Are ruminants really a major cause of climate change? 1800 there were ZERO cars and trucks in U.S. 2017 there were over 270 million

Defining Environmental Impact Optimizing Diets

The “Trilemma” Debate: GHGE’s of food groups W e n e e d t

r e a t e a m

e p l a n t

a s e d d i e t !

Creating a Plant-based Diet:

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Source: USDA Economic Research Service = 70% of daily kcals = 30% of daily kcals

Distribution of Food Calories in the U.S.

Guidelines from NIH & USDA (2010)

Highlights protein, reduces grains

2015 Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee Report

Importance of Protein in Diet Planning

Peters et al, Elementa, 2016. doi:10.12952/journal.elementa.000116

LCA models reduce protein intake and increase carbohydrates

Lys content (%: w/w) Protein required (g/day) g protein 100 kcal Kcals consumed

wheat 2.6 131 3.5 3700 maize 4.0 88 2.5 3500 soy 5.1 69 7.5 920 beef 9.0 40 16.7 240 Lysine content of food proteins and calories required to meet daily amino acids need (3.4 g/day) Plant-based diets dilute protein quality

Layman Nutrition Today 53(4):160,2018

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“nutrient insecurity” Protein, Ca, Fe, Zn, A, D, E, B12, niacin, Essential Fatty acids

International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC

Cows are “pumped full of hormones and antibiotics” Somatatropin (rbST) “growth hormone” used in dairy cows

(peptide hormone not absorbed or functional in humans)

Steroid hormones as implants in beef

estrogen in steers
testosterone in heifers

Estrogenic activity of beef (ng/500g) Beef from non-implanted steer 5 – 8 Beef from implanted steer 7 - 11 Normal amounts produced PER DAY: pre-puberal children 41,000 ng/d adult man 136,000 ng/d adult woman 513,000 ng/d pregnant woman 19,600,000 ng/d Estrogenic activity of common foods (ng/500g) Beef from non-implanted steer 5 – 8 Beef from implanted steer 7 - 11 Milk (8 oz glass) ~23 Eggs (1 egg) ~65 Peas 2,000 Cabbage 12,000 Peanuts 100,000 Pinto beans 900,000 Tofu >1,000,000 Soy flour >1,000,000 Defining Environmental Impact Optimizing Diets Optimizing Land Use

The “Trilemma” Debate:

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Land-use Assumptions

Calories used by cattle can be equally used by humans

(grains: corn, soybeans and oats)

Land used for feeding cattle should be converted

to cultivating crops

(cattle require a lot of space)

“Cattle are massive consumers of calories and water”

Statement assumes all calories are equal: primary “feedstock” for cattle are non-human editable biomass: grass, silage, wheat straw, cotton millings, distillers wastes, The water calculation includes the rain that falls on the grasslands in North Dakota and Montana, the wheat fields in Nebraska, and the cotton fields in Mississippi > 85% of “feed” (metabolizable energy) consumed by cattle is not digestible by humans

Cattle convert 0.6 g of poor quality plant proteins into 1.0 g of high quality protein

53% 20% 5% 12% 10%

Distribution of Iowa Corn Use

Et hano l fo r car s Ch icken & P or k Be ef & Dair y HFCS Expo rt s

Assumption is that cattle take calories from humans Premise: All lands can be equally used for grazing or cropland

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Over 50% of vegetables and fruits grown in U.S. come from a small region of California. Plus, >50% of fruits and >20%

f vegetables consumed in the

U.S. are imported.

Defining Environmental Impact Optimizing Diets Optimizing Land Use

The “Trilemma” ü Need for a global perspective … but with local solutions ü Diet quality; food systems need “protein-centric” focus ü Continue to evaluate land use and production methods

Layman Nutrition Today 53(4):160,2018

2/21/19 1

Climate Change, Sustainable Agriculture, Cattle, Plant-based Diets … What are the Issues and What are the Real Facts? Donald K. Layman, Ph.D.

Climate change is a reality What is the impact of agriculture?

Judging Fairness, Bias, and Profit Motives

“Environmental Vegetarianism”

grains into food calories

stopped feeding grains to animals

decision

The debate: plant-based versus animal-based diets

United Nations:

Livestock are a major cause of climate change … produce over 30% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGE) … but, livestock also produce over 1/3

GHGE of food groups Protein Carbohydrates

2/21/19 2

The “Trilemma”

How to balance … diet quality – agriculture production – environmental impact

The “Trilemma”

Must avoid …

“unintended consequences”

Defining Environmental Impact Optimizing Diets Optimizing Land Use

The “Trilemma” Debate:

How should we balance these competing factors?

? Three assumptions that underpin current narrative:

1) Ruminant animals are major contributors to climate change 2) Protein consumption is excessive and can be replaced by carbohydrates (i.e. plant-based diet) 3) Lands used for cattle should be used for cropland

Defining Environmental Impact

The “Trilemma” Debate: Claim: ruminants are a major cause of climate change. How should we measure that? Greenhouse Gas Emissions

(GHGE)

2/21/19 3

Defining Environmental Impact

The “Trilemma” Debate: For agriculture, the approach being used is called: “Lifecycle Assessment (LCA)”

Metric = GHGE/food calorie produced

Methane is a Greenhouse Gas … … produced by microbes digesting plant materials

Sources of Methane

2/21/19 4

World population distribution … 47% of world population lives in SE Asia

Energy Usage 4.6 million people 10 million cows 60 million sheep Ranks 62 in GHGE

World cattle inventory (2017):

% of total x million head

30.4% 303

22.6 226

10.1 100

9.4 93

8.9 89

1.0 10

2/21/19 5

Brazil has over 226 million cattle 80% destined for export to China and EU Since 1970, Brazil has destroyed more than 230,000 sq. miles of rainforest (for cattle and soybean production) U.N. estimates >30% of GHGE associated with clearing and burning of the rainforest

Claims that ruminants are a major cause of climate change

1800 there were ~80 million buffalo in U.S. 2018 there were ~93 million cattle

Are ruminants really a major cause of climate change? 1800 there were ZERO cars and trucks in U.S. 2017 there were over 270 million

Defining Environmental Impact Optimizing Diets

The “Trilemma” Debate: GHGE’s of food groups W e n e e d t

r e a t e a m

e p l a n t

a s e d d i e t !

Creating a Plant-based Diet:

2/21/19 6

Distribution of Food Calories in the U.S.

Guidelines from NIH & USDA (2010)

Highlights protein, reduces grains

Importance of Protein in Diet Planning

LCA models reduce protein intake and increase carbohydrates

wheat 2.6 131 3.5 3700 maize 4.0 88 2.5 3500 soy 5.1 69 7.5 920 beef 9.0 40 16.7 240 Lysine content of food proteins and calories required to meet daily amino acids need (3.4 g/day) Plant-based diets dilute protein quality

2/21/19 7

Cows are “pumped full of hormones and antibiotics” Somatatropin (rbST) “growth hormone” used in dairy cows

Steroid hormones as implants in beef

The “Trilemma” Debate:

2/21/19 8

Land-use Assumptions

to cultivating crops

“Cattle are massive consumers of calories and water”

Cattle convert 0.6 g of poor quality plant proteins into 1.0 g of high quality protein

Distribution of Iowa Corn Use

Assumption is that cattle take calories from humans Premise: All lands can be equally used for grazing or cropland

2/21/19 9

Over 50% of vegetables and fruits grown in U.S. come from a small region of California. Plus, >50% of fruits and >20%

U.S. are imported.

Defining Environmental Impact Optimizing Diets Optimizing Land Use

The “Trilemma” ü Need for a global perspective … but with local solutions ü Diet quality; food systems need “protein-centric” focus ü Continue to evaluate land use and production methods

The “Trilemma”

How to balance … diet quality – agriculture production – environmental impact

Thank you!