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by guerby 850 days ago
After looking into it I chose to still consume beef (grass-fed) but I buy it from a local organic farmer (farm is about 20km from my home).

As for price depending of the part of the animal you buy it varies a lot.

According to:

https://ourworldindata.org/land-use

Two thirds of agricultural land is pasture and unsuitable for growing human edible plant food.

If a cow needs two hectares on average (specific number depends a lot on the state of pasture) that's about 1.5 billions cows using 0% of arable land.

There's about 1 billions cows in the world.

1 comments

> Two thirds of agricultural land is pasture and unsuitable for growing human edible plant food.

Can you clarify which part of the link supports that statement?

"Croplands make up one-third of agricultural land, and grazing land makes up the remaining two-thirds."
This doesn't make grazing land unsuitable for cropping. As an example, a lot of dairy farming is done on fertile volcanic soil that would also be suitable for root vegetables.
According to FAO:

https://www.fao.org/3/Y4171E/Y4171E20.htm#p4990_295868

"Cropland ... Includes: All land from which crops were harvested or hay was cut. All land in orchards, citrus groves, vineyards and nursery and greenhouse crops. Land in rotational pasture and grazing land that could have been used for crops without additional improvements. Land used for cover crops, legumes, and soil improvement grasses, but not harvested and not pastured. Land on which crops failed. Land in cultivated summer fallow."

By definition cropland is where you could grow crops, the rest is grassland.

I think "grazing land that could have been used for crops without additional improvements" (emphasis mine) doesn't include e.g. established pasture which could be easily but not trivially used as cropland, right? I would have assumed it was a catch-all for dual purpose crops etc.