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FORA.tv Series: Where's the Beef? The Future of Beef Production and Consumption

What's for Dinner: Food and Politics in the 21st Century

Chautauqua Institution
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MikeC Avatar
MikeC
Posts: 2
Posted: 05.24.09, 02:13 PM
If these men were to get what they want the result would be famine. Not one suggestion was given about how to feed the billions of people on this planet without using all the methods we now use (factory farms, fertilizer etc.). It would be laughable to see the citizens of NYC all trying to live by farming organically, not to mention the throngs of people living in the cities of India, China or Europe.
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thom.reuss Avatar
thom.reuss
Posts: 1
Posted: 05.26.09, 12:48 AM
MikeC: Check out vertical farms, a totally viable solution to what you think would cause famine.
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MikeC Avatar
MikeC
Posts: 2
Posted: 05.27.09, 05:37 PM
thom,
Think of the price of real estate within 20 miles of a major city. Factor in the cost of building a ten acre area of (hydroponic?) grow space 64 floors high. That is one square mile of crop land. You will need lots of lights needing lots of juice. I say if you can do it and make a profit, knock yourself out. Stop bitching (not you, them) and show this skeptic the way. I'd be happy to level the playing field and do away with all subsidies.
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Ketchum Avatar
Ketchum
Posts: 3
Posted: 09.11.09, 10:00 AM
I'd also like to add a point of this conversation. We don't actually need to have all of this meat that we're devoting so much resource to. You damper the demand for such large qualities of beef and chicken and you could, logically, have enough room to have cows graze naturally again. We could also make a more diverse diet for ourselves which would include more fruits and vegetables. No one is complaining that there won't be enough space for lettuce. Keep in mind I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian.

Some supporting facts:

Average chicken consumption has tripled between 1960 and 2000:

Beef tends to stagger more over time, but we eat about equal amounts of chicken and beef. If you include all meat, based on the 2000 study above, we eat about half a pound of meat a day. While I think meat can be very good for you, it's more than necessary.
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philip steir Avatar
philip steir
Posts: 1
Posted: 09.11.09, 12:54 PM
The guy in the foie gras lecture is one of the most pathetic selfish sad little man I've ever heard speak. It's new chefs like these men that are really ethically blind and dishonest about what is cruel humane and NECESSARY. What a sad lecture!!! What a sad time we live in.
Does this man really believe that whole planet can live off of farms like this and eat well? His math his moral understanding of the world is why our planet is collapsing into a waste land of over crowded animal farms. After watching this guy I want to become one of those vegans who attack chefs!!!!
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Sarah999 Avatar
Sarah999
Posts: 3
Posted: 12.05.09, 04:38 PM
This guy is not in reality. It is IMPOSSIBLE for us to continue to eat meat, in the quantities we eat now, and raise the meat compassionately, without harming ourselves or the planet. That being the case, we need to do 1 of 2 things:

1)drastically cut down (by 90%) our consumption of meat
or
2) drastically cut down the number of humans on the planet.

Our choice.
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