Food Security

For every 100 calories of human-edible cereals fed to animals, just 17-30 calories enter the human food chain as meat or milk.

Industrial livestock production relies heavily on the use of human-edible food as animal feed. Current estimates [1, 2] are that 36-40 percent of global crop calories are used as animal feed. Yet, for every 100 calories of human-edible cereals fed to animals, just 17-30 calories enter the human food chain as meat or milk.

UNEP has calculated the impact for food security and found that if the cereals that will be fed to animals in 2050, on a business-as-usual basis, were used instead for direct human consumption, an extra 3.5 billion people could be fed annually.

In fact, in such a business-as-usual scenario, industrial livestock production will put many of the SDGs out of reach.

Alternative high-welfare systems are possible that will allow for increasing productivity without the costs that threaten sustainable development. In 2014, the CFS promoted “supporting animal health and welfare to sustainably increase productivity”. Moreover, according to the OIE, with sufficient access to veterinary services and with improved management regarding animal health and animal welfare, global animal production could be increased by around 20 percent.