It's all about our consumption of red meat you know!! Or is it?

The UK cannot go climate neutral much before 2050 unless people stop flying and eating red meat almost completely, a report says.

The claim comes from the government-funded research group Energy Systems Catapult, whose computer models are used by the Committee on Climate Change, which advises government. It warns that livestock production for dairy and meat may need to be cut by 50% rather than the 20% currently envisaged by the Committee on Climate Change. 

But a spokesman from the National Beef association, Neil Shand, told BBC News that “scientific studies typically underestimate the role of livestock in capturing carbon in the soil”. He says this because British beef are largely grass fed and grassland is good at capturing carbon. 

He went on to say “It does seem rather unfortunate that the report links beef production and aviation in this way. The timing is more than a little ironic; the shops are full of people panic-buying and it seems clear that the nation’s food sector relies very heavily on imports, and the associated transport that brings them into the UK”.

However, much of the information you read about the planet-wrecking capability of cows is based on the most extreme scenario. I agree that cattle grazing pasture land in South America that used to be rain-forest, is massively destructive to biodiversity, coupled with the fact that the tree felling also releases a lot of carbon dioxide. 

Also, cattle kept on huge, very intensive coral type ranches in the US Midwest, do use a lot of water and create a large amount of pollution. 

But there is an easy way to avoid this – buy British. In Britain, beef cattle tend to be kept outdoors on permanent pasture. So the Government needs to differentiate between pasture fed UK cattle and those that are intensively raised overseas. They also need to factor in the transportation footprint of foreign raised beef.  

I wrote on this subject on the 17^th February (see below) and still wonder why the Government bangs on all the time about “red” meat production being such a problem in this country? UK farming contributes 10% of the UK’s greenhouse emissions, with just 4.5% coming from livestock – that’s ALL livestock.

An English scene - not the sort of image normally portrayed of world beef production

The result of this bombardment is that British consumers are substituting red meat for chicken, in an effort to live a greener lifestyle. As Greenpeace has said “they may be unwittingly contributing to the razing of rain-forests”.

With sales of chicken rising in Britain, Greenpeace warned of the hidden climate impact of raising these birds, whose feed is mainly grown in South America. This means rising consumption could further endanger rain-forests, which are already shrinking by millions of hectares each year. 

Furthermore, a survey of 23 leading British supermarkets, fast-food restaurants and food companies found none were tracking whether soya used for animal feed in their supply chains was linked to deforestation.

The UK imports roughly 3.2 million tonnes of soya each year, with a further 600,000 tonnes already embedded in imported meat and other products. Approximately 68% of UK soya imports come from countries in South America, where soya is driving deforestation.

Chicken is by far the most popular meat in the UK – and the biggest driver of our soya consumption. The UK is the third largest producer of chicken in Europe, slaughtering over one billion chickens annually. People in the UK eat more than twice as much chicken as beef or lamb. Over the past 20 years, overall demand for beef, lamb and pork has fallen sharply, but this drop has been offset by a 20% increase in consumption of chicken – partly as a result of a switch from red meat driven by health and environmental concerns.

I said in my blog of the 11^th February that the National Farmers Union president Minette Batters, announced the NFU’s ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions for agriculture by 2040. I think that the Government can help farmers achieve this with some much clearer thinking, because at the moment there is a mass of confusion and misinformation driving peoples eating habits.