This data is based on the global median land use of different food products as presented in Poore and Nemecek (2018). This meta-analysis looke
- This data is based on the global median land use of different food products as presented in Poore and Nemecek (2018). This meta-analysis looked at the environmental impacts of foods covering 38,7000 farms in 119 countries. For some foods there is significant variability from the median land use depending on how it is produced. We look at these differences here.
Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987-992.
- An estimated 65% of land used for grass for grazing cattle is not suitable for growing crops.
Mottet, A., de Haan, C., Falcucci, A., Tempio, G., Opio, C., & Gerber, P. (2017). Livestock: on our plates or eating at our table? A new analysis of the feed/food debate. Global Food Security, 14, 1-8.
Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987-992.
- Hayek, M. N., Harwatt, H., Ripple, W. J., & Mueller, N. D. (2020). The carbon opportunity cost of animal-sourced food production on land. Nature Sustainability, 1-4.
- Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987-992.
- Note that this breakdown of agricultural land use differs slightly from the breakdown of global land use from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for a few reasons. First, this view only includes cropland and pasture used to produce food. Allocation of crops towards industrial uses e.g. biofuels is not included. In UN FAO breakdowns, it is included. Secondly, the amount of land that qualifies as ‘pasture’ depends on definitions surrounding livestock density and other aspects of land management. The extent of ‘rangelands’ – land used to raise livestock but at a relatively low density – can vary from study-to-study. So, while the UN FAO data suggests 50% of habitable land is used for agriculture, Poore and Nemecek (2018) put this figure at 43%.
- This data is sourced from the meta-analysis study by Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek (2018), published in Science. Many other studies have looked at this question and found exactly the same result: that if everyone shifted to a vegan diet, we would need less agricultural land (and cropland) specifically.
Hayek, M. N., Harwatt, H., Ripple, W. J., & Mueller, N. D. (2020). The carbon opportunity cost of animal-sourced food production on land. Nature Sustainability, 1-4.
Searchinger, T. D., Wirsenius, S., Beringer, T., & Dumas, P. (2018). Assessing the efficiency of changes in land use for mitigating climate change. Nature, 564(7735), 249-253.
- There is a strong rich-poor split across countries: people in poorer countries get most of their calories from cereals as they cannot afford much meat and dairy. This means they cannot afford to divert cereals towards livestock or biofuels. In India, 93% of cereals are consumed by humans; 95% in Kenya; and 96% in Botswana.
- Tilman, D., & Clark, M. (2014). Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health. Nature, 515(7528), 518-522.
Shepon, A., Eshel, G., Noor, E., & Milo, R. (2016). Energy and protein feed-to-food conversion efficiencies in the US and potential food security gains from dietary changes. Environmental Research Letters, 11(10), 105002.
- This is shown as the average conversion efficiency. It can vary a bit depending on the breed of livestock, what they’re fed, and how they’re managed. But the overall magnitudes are similar.
Alexander, P., Brown, C., Arneth, A., Finnigan, J., & Rounsevell, M. D. (2016). Human appropriation of land for food: The role of diet. Global Environmental Change, 41, 88-98.
- World Health Organization, & United Nations University. (2007). Protein and amino acid requirements in human nutrition (Vol. 935). World Health Organization.
- One way of comparing the quality of different protein sources is using their Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS). This score looks not only at the total protein they provide but also digestibility, and whether there are particular deficiencies of specific amino acids. Cereals in particular are often limited in the amino acid, lysine. This gives them a low PDCAAS score of 42, compared to beef which achieves 92.
Schaafsma, G. (2000). The protein digestibility–corrected amino acid score. The Journal of Nutrition, 130(7), 1865S-1867S.
Young, V. R., & Pellett, P. L. (1994). Plant proteins in relation to human protein and amino acid nutrition. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 59(5), 1203S-1212S.
- As we noted earlier, protein quality can be scored in terms of its Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS). Soy achieves a PDCAAS of 0.92, comparable to beef at 0.94.
Schaafsma, G. (2000). The protein digestibility–corrected amino acid score. The Journal of Nutrition, 130(7), 1865S-1867S.
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