We all love a good hamburger or steak, but do you know what it costs the environment to produce the delicious slab of meet on your plate? Did you know that 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of beef? Or that animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gas emission than the transportation industry? Or that the cattle industry is the leading cause of deforestation? The cattle industry impacts entire landscapes due to the demand for land used for pasture or feed crop production. Thirty percent of the Earth’s habitable surface is directly or indirectly used to produce livestock (Livestock’s Long Shadow, 4). With the world’s population at 7 billion and rapidly increasing, farmers and ranchers are faced with securing enough …show more content…
Deforestation at the hands of ranchers is a major concern on multiple levels. First, clearing land for cattle creates land degradation which reduces land productivity leading to the need for further expansion of agriculture lands. A method commonly used to make room for the grazing of cattle and growing of their feed crops is called “slash and burn”. Slash and Burn is where an area is cleared by cutting down and burning the trees and brush. After this method is use the land is only fertile for a couple of years before the nutrients in the soil are used up, causing the rancher to abandon the land and create new grazing areas (Impact of slash and burn Agriculture, AFO). Due to the removal of trees to make room for pasture there is nothing to hold the soil in place causing land erosion which decreasing crop yield and productivity of the land. Second, when clearing the land ranchers destroy the habitats of millions of unique plants, animals and insects found in the extremely diverse and “rare” Amazon forcing them to move elsewhere or die which makes them more vulnerable to predators. Experts estimates the loss of 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species lost a year (Butler). Third, the clearing of trees and erosion of …show more content…
This solution would eliminate the potential expansion of land used for grazing cattle and growing feed crops which is good in theory. However, it is unrealistic in practice due to the increasing demand for beef and the amount of land needed for the success of the cattle industry. The farmers and rancher who …. Stat about how many poor… can not afford to lose out on increased profit that would result from expanding their land to meet the consumer demands. That is why the use of sustainable agriculture practices and land intensification are more realistic solution to this problem that vastly improve the cattle industries impact on the environment. Sustainable agriculture provides high yields without undermining the natural systems and resources that productivity depends on. These practices have been used in the United States for many years and have increased yields, productivity, and reduced farmers and ranchers environmental impact. Crop rotation is a key elements of agriculture sustainability which can be used in growing the cattle feed crop. Crop rotation is the process of growing different crops in the same field in order to replenish the nurturance taken out by the previous crop allowing for more fertile soil and long land use. This will allow farmers