Comments on: Meat’ing future food demands https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/ Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:49:31 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/#comment-489735 Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:49:31 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=18048#comment-489735 In reply to Raucous Indignation.

I believe seafood is not mentioned because Emily’s work is on agriculture and comparing those systems, and the data set does not include seafood.

]]> By: Raucous Indignation https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/#comment-489734 Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:38:42 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=18048#comment-489734 Greg,

Why isn’t the contribution of seafood mentioned? Is it so meager a portion of the world’s diet as to not be worth mentioning?

Getting people to give up calorie dense food like cheeseburgers is not as easy as it sounds. Ask you primary care doctor how many obese patients she sees and how many have radically changed their diet.

R.I.

]]> By: Doug Alder https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/#comment-489733 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 13:34:09 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=18048#comment-489733 Emily Cassidy,

I was reminded of an article I ran across a couple of weeks ago regarding a new fad – table to farm to table – http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/09/17/haute-fowl-chickens-exclusively-fed-scraps-from-per-se-other-four-star-restaurants-are-the-latest-trend-in-chefs-farm-to-table-mantra/ – not at all solution to the problem I know but the genesis of my previous comment 🙂

]]> By: Jim Thomerson https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/#comment-489732 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 19:42:04 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=18048#comment-489732 Some years ago, and ecologist, maybe Sokol, did some calculation and concluded the most effective way to slow human population growth was to lengthen generation time; for women to have their first child at an older age.

This is the foundation for the empower women solution, I think. Also providing good healthcare and nutrition for pregnant women and young children cuts down the perceived need to have more children.

]]> By: Jim Thomerson https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/#comment-489731 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 19:37:51 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=18048#comment-489731 At one time my daughter worked for a company which made licorice candy. They would make a batch of one flavor, immediately followed by a batch of another. There would be some mixed up product produced in the transition. This was routinely sold to a local pig farmer for pig food.

I recall reading that pigs grow much better on military slop than on civilian slop.

]]> By: Emily Cassidy https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/#comment-489730 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 18:24:30 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=18048#comment-489730 Doug Alder,

You are right, feeding food waste to swine would be a great benefit to the efficiency of converting plant stuff to meat. However, many countries have policies against such practices. Many worry about the sanitation of feeding waste to pigs.
Incorporating food waste back into a usable feedstock is something that we should put more investment in, in my opinion.

]]> By: G https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/#comment-489729 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 15:16:05 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=18048#comment-489729 Just say Vat Meat. At present we can barely produce artificial meat, but this is considered a problem that can be solved. It will address both the food resource issue and the animal cruelty issue at the same time. Though of course, there is no substitute for family planning and bringing our population down to a sustainable level. This is not an either/or, but an and/both: we need more efficient food production & distribution, and fewer mouths to feed.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/#comment-489728 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 02:42:47 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=18048#comment-489728 Perhaps Emily will chime in here, but I think the 10% doesn’t change with waste, but waste is on top of it. (She does briefly mention waste).

Pigs are more efficient producers of meat than cattle because of their life history parameters, but since you can feed them a wider range of things (including slop) that probably makes a difference as well.

]]> By: Doug Alder https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/#comment-489727 Wed, 30 Oct 2013 20:23:38 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=18048#comment-489727 Perhaps I missed it as I’m at work but I did not hear her deal with the use of wasted food. Using “slop” to feed pigs would take calories/protein she is already attributing to human used food and reuse it in meat production – that could seriously change her 10% ratio if the practice were wide spread. The amount of food that is wasted in first world countries is incredible and could go a long way in producing meat – particularly vegetable crop waste (ever look in a supermarket’s dumpster?).

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/10/30/meating-future-food-demands/#comment-489726 Wed, 30 Oct 2013 18:19:24 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=18048#comment-489726 Good point about the population, but Emily’s expertise is in the agricultural system, so that’s why she focused on that.

Inherently, swine production is more productive than cattle production, so I can imagine that if more humane ways were applied in both cases, the pork production would still be much higher. (Humane up to the point where you kill and eat them, that is.)

]]>