The Hidden Cost of Meat

According to information compiled by the United States Department of Agriculture, over ninety percent of all the grain produced in America is used for feeding livestock -- cows. pigs, lambs and chickens -- that wind up on dinner tables

The process of using grain to produce meat is incredibly wasteful. Information from the USDA's Economic Research Service shows that only one pound of beef is produced for every sixteen pounds of grain consumed.

In his book "Proteins: Their Chemistry and Politics," Dr. Aaron Altshul notes that, "In terms of calorie units per acre, a diet of grains, vegetables and beans will support twenty times more people than a diet of meat.

If the earth's arable land were used primarily for the production of vegetarian foods, the planet could easily support a population of twenty billion and more.

In a report submitted to the United Nations World Food Conference (Rome, 1974), Rene Durmont, an agricultural economist at France's National Agricultural Institute, made this judgement , "The over consumption of meat by the rich means hunger for the poor."