Sustainability

Red or Dead?

With all of the goings on at COP26 still fresh in our minds, the question of how sustainable the meat industry is has perhaps never been more prevalent. Whether you simply can’t bear to part with your carnal desires, are casting your net into pescetarianism, or are already a fully fledged vegetarian (or even vegan), there is an awful lot for us as a society to consider when plating up.

At the recent Hybu Cig Cymru-Meat Promotion Wales (HCCMPW) annual conference, Diana Rodgers RD did her best to provide delegates with an exploration of how to break down the above query - starting by asking “What is the optimal diet for humans and how can we grow it in a sustainable way?”

Rodgers presents the Sustainable Dish Podcast, is an author of three books, runs a clinical nutrition practice and has served in an advisory role with numerous nutrition and agriculture organizations. Her new initiative, the Global Food Justice Alliance, advocates for a nutritious, sustainable and equitable worldwide food system.

While the meat industry finds itself in a constant state of defending its sustainability as consumers are increasingly cautious about where their food comes from, Rodgers is defiant about meat’s rightful place in the human diet.

“Red meat is completely misunderstood and being unfairly targeted as a scapegoat for our concerns about health and our worries about climate change; it’s much easier to pin our worries on something as powerful and polarising as red meat rather than tackling the world’s complex problems and tackling them in a cleverer and more nuanced way,” she said.

“There is bundled-up propaganda out there that says that meat causes cancer, heart disease, diabetes; that it’s bad for the environment; it’s unnecessary - why eat meat when we can just engineer proteins in labs? - and it is unethical. That those who are “more enlightened” have moved beyond meat eating”.

She told HCC’s conference attendees that this propaganda was not only incredibly damaging - but wrong. “There is no research that has shown a direct cause between red meat and disease; meat is the best source of iron and B12, the most common nutrient deficiencies worldwide. B12 is not available in plant sourced foods and red meat’s iron is in the wrong form in plants. And, most importantly, “the vegan diet is simply a privilege that many don’t have.”

“Let’s look at the environmental case for meat. You can see that cattle on grass in general doesn’t require chemicals, increases soil microbial life and rainfall absorption, promotes a cooler ground temperature, better wildlife habitat, less inputs - that’s chemicals and fertilisers - are required.” by a technical article on regenerative farming provided by the Farming Connect service on Business Wales’ own website. Detailed here is the example of mixedfarming, a ‘regenerative’ agricultural process where livestock is reared in tandem with crops:

“It is proposed that by applying grazing livestock into a crop rotation farmers can directly add nutrients to the soil via dung leading to closed-loop systems. This can reduce external inputs and have significant ecosystem impacts for the field including improved nutrient cycling via dung beetles. Arable farmers could consider utilising livestock from nearby farms rotated in as and when needed to provide benefits that flow both ways.” In Wales, there are fine exponents of this practice such as Llanllyr and Penllyn Estates.

Farming Connect also explains the huge promise of utilising technology in regenerative farming, which can help to optimise the health of soil, crops and pasture - all the while drastically reducing the need for chemicals and fertilisers.

“For livestock grazing, there is potential in virtual fencing GPS systems which allow remote low labour rotational grazing practices across open land without the need for extensive fencing. Realistically, the sector should be looking to combine any and all tools available to move towards more than just a sustainable system, but also one which actively regenerates and flourishes at new lower input equilibriums long term.”

However, Rodgers also acknowledged that mixed farming isn’t always possible - with most land used by livestock not available for other purposes. “Remember, most of the agricultural land around the world is not land that we can crop. Taking animals off the land doesn’t mean we can free up more land for plants or other purposes,” she said.

One such place where this is a case in point is Hafod y Maidd in Conwy. The farm is run by Iwan and Eleanor Davies and registered as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to a large area of it subject to statutory conservation. Hafod y Maidd was one of the family farms which took part in an in-depth analysis of the carbon emissions and sequestration of Welsh sheep and beef farms by HCCMPW and Bangor University in 2020. The overall results showed that Welsh farming was in a strong position in terms of having lower emissions than many types of farming across the world, and had the potential to be world-leading in terms of sustainable farming.

Iwan, a fifth generation farmer said, “The success of our enterprise is all down to what, where and how we produce it. Finding the right breed of cattle that suits our imperfect pastures has meant a minimum of intervention, and in turn we have been able to return to centuries-old farming practices that work with our unique environment and not against it. We are proud to produce nutritious quality meat using sustainable practices – just as nature intended.”