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by peterbraden 715 days ago
Are there any reliable numbers on the holistic impact of ruminants? All of the carbon they emit came from the atmosphere via their plant diets, and a huge volume of that carbon is sequestered in the soil via their excrement. Ruminants help the soil, as opposed to modern agriculture which is largely reliant on fossil fuel derived fertilizer.

I have yet to see a paper that models this. Most of the estimates are purely based on output, which seems disingenuous at best.
2 comments
ch0wn 715 days ago
This is propaganda from the livestock lobby that has been disproved again and again. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/15/beef-f...
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peterbraden 715 days ago
What is propaganda? I was asking for a proper carbon model, not a link to an opinion piece.
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jacobgorm 715 days ago
In Denmark the pigs are fed soy imported from areas of the world where rainforests had to be cut down to make room for production. The short distance between Danish fields and sea, which is no where greater than 50kms, means most fertilizer from the pigs runs off into the sea, causing algae blooms that kill all other marine life.
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peterbraden 715 days ago
Thats not really what I asked.

But in this situation would you not be better off taxing the soy imports and fining waste outflow?

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