Meat and the use of scarce resources – the facts

Meat production uses substantial amounts of the earth’s resources, much of which could be used more efficiently.

Water

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the world is facing increasing problems of freshwater shortages, scarcity and depletion, with 64 per cent of the world’s population expected to live in water stressed basins by 2025. Scientists predict that much of Canada will face water shortages because of climate change.

Approximately 75 per cent of the available freshwater in the world is being used by agriculture.

Raising livestock and producing meat uses large amounts of water. The production of one kilogram of wheat uses between 1000-2000 kilograms of water, while a kilogram of beef uses between 10,000-13,000 litres.1

Land and food

The industrialization of meat production is increasing the demand for arable land because more of it is being used to grow food for animals instead of food for people.

The increasing demand for grains to feed livestock has helped created shortages of wheat, soybeans and corn, raising the price of these commodities beyond the reach of poor people in developing countries.

If the world’s population today were to eat a Western diet of roughly 80 kilograms of meat per capita per year, the global agricultural land required for production would be about 2.5 billion hectares – two thirds more than is presently used.2

Energy

Animal protein production requires more than eight times as much fossil-fuel energy as does production of plant protein.3

1 UN FAO
2 V. Smil, Popul. Dev. Rev. 28, 599 (2002)
3 D. Pimentel, Cornell University, 1997