This is somewhat disengeneous.
It’s only measuring carbon. Of course a factory will be more efficient per unit of output.
The total environmental footprint is more important as is which markets that output serves.
Here in NZ, with a population of 5m we export enough dairy and meat to feed 40m. So we could avoid all the local environmental impacts and those of transporting that output to the world and still feed the entire population with only ~10% of the industry output.
Transportation is a tiny portion of any agricultural emissions, it’s really producing it in the first place that matters. If global consumption levels don’t reduce, then this is just an accounting shell game with emissions happening elsewhere
Transport is a small contributor to emissions. For most food products, it accounts for less than 10%, and it’s much smaller for the largest GHG emitters. In beef from beef herds, it’s 0.5%.
Not just transport, but all processes in the supply chain after the food left the farm – processing, transport, retail and packaging – mostly account for a small share of emissions.
This data shows that this is the case when we look at individual food products. But studies also shows that this holds true for actual diets; here we show the results of a study which looked at the footprint of diets across the EU. Food transport was responsible for only 6% of emissions, whilst dairy, meat and eggs accounted for 83%.
https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local
New Zealand needs larger reduction in cattle sizes than just a 10x in many areas for other environmental impacts. For instance, the dairy production in Canterbury is so high that there needs to be a 12x reduction in size to keep water at safe drinking levels because of its nitrate pollution
The large footprint for milk in Canterbury indicates just how far the capacity of the environment has been overshot. To maintain that level of production and have healthy water would require either 12 times more rainfall in the region or a 12-fold reduction in cows.
I suspect that the transport costs for NZ exports are much higher than the global or EU average because we are really far away from everyone else, also we don’t get the bigger more efficient ships.
Also, Canterbury and Waikato share more of the cattle burden than the rest of the country so they’d need a much bigger drop to compensate.
Shipping is generally a lot more efficient per kg than you would think. For instance the article looked at 9000 km boat transportation for beef
Transporting food by boat emits 23 grams of CO2eq per tonne of product per kilometer. Transporting the 9000 kilometers from Central America to the UK, therefore, emits 0.207 kilograms CO2eq [9000km * 23g per tonne-kilometer / 1000 / 1000 = 0.207 kg CO2eq per kg]. This is equivalent to 0.35% of the total footprint of 60 kilograms of CO2eq per kilogram of beef.
We could change that to be New Zealand to Iceland (on the complete top of the globe and far away laterally too), but we’d still find it’s a small portion of emissions. We’d bump up our distance to 15900 km or so meaning ~1.76x more distance than what they did the math on, putting it at ~0.6-0.7% of total beef emissions. Still not a significant driver compare to eating beef in the first place
Cool, nice to have figures!
Of course a factory is more effective than a bunch of punks with hammers.
I love beef and meat products and I always have and probably always will.
But after spending the majority of my life trying to eat right and take care of my health … I figured out that eating beef and meat is the worst thing you can do for yourself and the planet. Eat some but only very minimally.
Otherwise, a vegan, or a more vegan diet is by far a more economical solution for everyone and the planet in many ways. Eating more vegan increases your health and lengthens your lifespan, as well as the quality of your lifespan.
A cow requires acres of land in order for it to be raised to its full size and harvested for its meat over a two year life span … if the same land area were converted over to growing and producing vegan protein products like beans, it would produce and generate ten times more protein and calories than raising one cow on that same land area.
On top of that, eating too much and too often animal proteins only leads to serious lifelong health problems that in the end require you spend money to try to make yourself well again … you pay for the food twice! … once to buy and consume it and a second time to try to undo the damage the food caused … three times if you really want to think about it because the cow that was raised led to environmental degradation that you or someone else has to pay for anyway.
The alternative is eating vegan or more vegan diets … you pay for the food once and it only benefits your health leading to longer life and a more enjoyable lifespan, while also benefiting the environment
I love eating bbqs, hot dogs and hamburgers like most of my family … but after thinking about it for years, I’ve come to realize that it makes far more economical sense to eat more vegan, not just for me, but for everyone else as well.
It also doesn’t have to be all beef or no meat at all; individuals can reduce their carbon footprint by switching a portion of their beef consumption to poultry instead.
Reducing meat consumption is generally a win all around, and easier than going directly to zero.
That’s what I’ve been doing.
Most of the meat I end up eating is at a party or event someone else hosted.
If we care about the ethical side, we really should not be advising switching to poultry or other meats. The number of chickens or other animals slaughtered per kg are far higher because of their lower slaughter weight. This comes with tons of other environmental and disease problems from the super high concentration of chickens and other birds. The emissions are also still quite high for poultry, it’s just beef is extremely high
Reduction of meat consumption overall should be the better aim instead
There’s a couple of good vegan recipe communities here on lemmy if you want/need inspiration for other meals
