[wyager]

That’s because cows eat soy meal, which is inedible to humans. The economic demand for soy is almost entirely human consumption - they just give the by-products to cows because they can save a few cents by not throwing it away.

[raphael_kimmig]

That is completely false.

The numbers may vary, but any credible source you are going to find will show that the vast majority of soy is grown for animal feed.

https://ourworldindata.org/soy

[wyager]

Yeah, by mass. Look into the actual dollar numbers. It’s not economically viable to feed human-edible soy to cattle. There are much cheaper food sources. Cows just get the scraps (which outweigh the human-destined product). It’s not grown “for cattle” in the sense that cattle have essentially zero effect on the amount of soy that gets grown. https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/soy

[raphael_kimmig]

This isn't true at all. The majority of soy produced all over the world is feed grade soy which isn't destined for human consumption.

Other than that I just can't find any sources that corroborate what you say. Every single source I could find that has actual numbers contradicts your statement.

Take the US for example

Just over 70 percent of the soybeans grown in the United States are used for animal feed, with poultry being the number one livestock sector consuming soybeans, followed by hogs, dairy, beef and aquaculture. The second largest market for U.S. soybeans is for production of foods for human consumption, like salad oil or frying oil, which uses about 15 percent of U.S. soybeans. A distant third market for soybeans is biodiesel, using only about 5 percent of the U.S. soybean crop.

from https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/coexisten...

[wyager]

> This isn't true at all. The majority of soy produced all over the world is feed grade soy which isn't destined for human consumption.

Yeah because that’s how soy beans work dude. I think there must be some miscommunication here - the majority of the harvested soy bean is physically not palatable to humans.

Perhaps you are misunderstanding what “70 percent of the soybeans” means. 70 percent of the harvested soy material is not salable to humans. It’s called “soy meal”, look it up. It’s not like if you count all the beans that get picked, 70% of them go to cows. Each harvest is mechanically separated into its component parts and shipped to different consumers, and only a minority of the mass is suitable for oil production or direct consumption.

[raphael_kimmig]

No, this is not about the percentage of harvested material. I’m having trouble believing that you are having this exchange in good faith, so I’m gonna end this here.

And just so we don’t end this discussion with misinformation I’m gonna leave a final quote here:

About 85 percent of the world’s soybeans are processed, or "crushed," annually into soybean meal and oil. Approximately 98 percent of the soybean meal that is crushed is further processed into animal feed with the balance used to make soy flour and proteins.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170112075924/http://www.soyate...

Have a great day!

[wyager]

Literally just google “soybean meal” and you’ll understand what they’re talking about. I feel like I’ve explained this pretty thoroughly. I can’t get my head around how you feel the need to conflate percent mass with percent quantity. Is there some language or conceptual barrier here?