I sent your request to an email listserv called SANET-mg, dealing with
sustainable agriculture. Below are the messages I received in response to
your questions.
(SANETers, sorry for the long post but many of you requested this be sent to
the whole group.)
FIRST MESSAGE
--------------
Sending this to you, Lisa, since I don't know who the original poster is!
You probably know about these two books, but just thought I'd throw them in
the list of considerations...
I think you could get some pretty good approximations to these answers by
checking out Lappe''s most recent edition of "Diet for a Small Planet" and
Robbins' "Diet for New America." And, of course, there are many citations
in each of those books for further research.
Oh, also, the people at Ecology Action in California, John Jeavons, et al,
have been researching question #1 for almost 20 years. Through their
biointensive agriculture approach, they've managed to work out sustainable
and prolific crop production in very small plots. See "Growing More
Vegetables", by John Jeavons.
Hope this helps,
Scott
$$$$$$$$ Elections that are For Sale Are Not Free $$$$$$$$$$$
Scott Barber sbarber@mindspring.com
SECOND MESSAGE
-------------
Lisa
You're inquiry is rather circuitous, but these are my guesstimates
#1 About .25 acre per year for vegetable, .2 acre per year for grains
.15 acre per year fruit and nut per person and about .4 acre per person
for meats , milk and egg products. I don't know about fish. Therefore
1000 people need about 1000 acres
#2 About 2.50 acres per beef animal combined pasture, hay and grains
per year. One average market size animal can supply about 10 people for
a year with average beef consumption. Therefore you need about 100
animals for 1000 people. 250 acres for production.
#3 100 as described in 2
#4 Few beef are pastured in this country anymore. Most are confined fed
at huge feedlots which require tremendous amounts of antibiotics to fend
off epidemic bacterial and viral infections and extensive use of
synthetic hormones to push the animal to production early to reduce
mortality because of all the diseases and stressors they encounter. The
number of acres of course depends on where you operate. Pasture is not
useful in northern temperate from Nov thru April. If I tried to raise
1000 in central Indiana I would need at least 1500 acres of productive
pasture and 1500 acres of productive hay and crop land to bring 1000
beef to market size from birth operating organically and sustainably.
Conventionally , it could probably be done on 1250 and 1250 with
resultant destruction of natural ecosystems and degradation of many of
our resources and human health. 2500 acres for 1000 beef animals same as
#3 times 10. (3000 for sustainable organic production)
THIRD MESSAGE
--------------
Hello,
#1. Under Ideal conditions, How many acres of farmland are necessary
>to support one thousand people for a year ?
eak: I am going to throw you a curve ball. Forget about existing farming.
Consider the temperate zone of the world. The figure is going to go down
drastically when you move to consider the tropics. It takes about 15 acres,
managed efficiently, to support a family of 5 inland with some fishing. On
the ocean it takes about 10 acres to support a family of 5. In the tropics
cut these figures in half.
>#2. Under ideal, and current consumption amounts, how many acres of
>grazing land are necessary to support the cattle consumed as meat by
>one thousand people in one year ?
eak: A single dairy cow which can support a family of 5 will take about 8
efficiently run acres per year. Poultry and a couple of hogs another two
acres.
>#3. How many cattle are slaughtered each year to fulfill the meat
>consumption of the USA (per 1000 people)?
eak: Don't know, but meat and livestock product consumption is growing most
rapidly among nations other then the US, Canada and the EU.
>#4. If I was going to raise 1000 cattle and feed them on my own ranch,
>how many acres would I need of pasture land?
eak: Question needs to be revised. In the desert it would take everything,
in the luxuriant and well managed tropics the figures can be very small
comparative to the temperate zone. A small but stable amount of grain, at
appropriate times, along with access to legumes is essential for the most
rapid growth and best tasting and cutting quality livestock products. If you
want a tough piece of meat, it can be raised on less pasture, etc. High
quality pasture and winter feed is essential. Generalizations need to be
placed in the context of climate, geography and water availability.
Best Regards, Eric Kindberg
FOURTH MESSAGE
-------------
The resource that answers these questions under conventional
conditions is Francis Moore Lappes "Food First". One must consider
that under alternative growing conditions, all these figures change
drammatically. For example it is traditionally considered that one cow
requires one acre of ground, but on rotational grazing systems upwards
of 6 cows can be produced on six acres. How many people can be fed on
one acre varies under conventional production and intensive bed
production. One must consider the production system, and the limits to
production (ie natureal resources). Not an easy point to ponder.
JJ Haapala
Oregon Tilth Research and Education
FIFTH MESSAGE
-------------
From: D.B.Sullivan <Buffalob@mhtc.net>
To: Lisa Bauer <sare003@unlvm.unl.edu>
Cc: Shizznik@Sover.net
Subject: Re: Help-
Also---check with
www.usda.com
http://www.beeftoday.com/
or www.cowtown.org
====
<<snip>>
>Dear SIr,
>#1. Under Ideal conditions, How many acres of farmland are necessary
>to support one thousand people for a year ? 1300 acres currently
check out organic farming websites - 5-10 families could be fed under
intensive organic production per acre but it won't be beef.....
=====
The diverse American diet requires a minimum of about 1.3 acres of
cropland per person; about 1.7 acres are available now.
Doubling of population within 60 years would reduce this to 0.8 acres
per capita, decreasing food variety and raising domestic food prices 300-500%.
=======================
>#2. Under ideal, and current consumption amounts, how many acres of
>grazing land are necessary to support the cattle consummed as meat by
>one thousand people in one year ?
Caught In The Beefnet
Animal unit calculations
by Steve Suther
When Maryland and USDA grazing conservation specialist Ben H. Cooper
(bcooper@md.nrcs.usda.gov) posted guidelines for Animal Unit Equivalents (AUE)
in grazing livestock, he set off a discussion on the relative value of a
calculator in planned grazing. Cooper listed a basic animal unit (1.0) as being
equivalent to a 1,000-lb. dry cow, while a nursing pair would take a factor of
1.35. The discussion was on the Graze-L discussion list.
Alberta consultant Ross Gould (srgould@agt.net) wrote of a need to adjust AUE's
to allow for "the 20% to 40% heavier cow" since the introduction of Continental
breeds in the 1970s. "We also find a wide variation in average mature cow
weights among our beef herds, depending on the genetics."
Switching terminology to the more familiar Animal Unit Month (AUM) to include
the suckling calf, Gould posted a range of precise factors up to 1.21 AUM for a
1,400-lb. cow, and figures for heifers, steers and bulls—while allowing that
the factors may need further adjustments for calf intake and genetics.
Wisconsin beef producer Stephen Castner (slc@execpc.com), wrote, "A 20%
adjustment factor for a 1,400-lb. cow should argue for the elimination of
large-frame females unless they can be shown to produce calves without
assistance, that survive to weaning and gain efficiently."
Purdue Beef Research and Teaching Center Manager Rick Griebenow
(rgrieben@www.ansc.purdue.edu) noted that body condition score can swing a
mature cow's weight by 250 lb. His postgraduate thesis research showed the most
efficient weight for a cow in management intensive grazing is between 1,100 lb.
and 1,250 lb., body condition score 5, given high milk potential and the calf
born after April 15.
Castner agreed with Gould's final comment: "The art of modern grazing
management is in the observation of the condition of both the forage and the
grazing stock. Observations are then used to adjust stocking pressure and
timing to maintain the optimum condition of both,"
he says. "Unless we run our grazing animals through the chute and across the
scale weekly, we can hardly use such refined data."
Yet refined data kept coming in. Rupert Jones detailed the Fodder Unit
equivalency formula he helped develop in South Africa: "It fits all livestock,
with only three easily remembered adjustment factors according to lactation,"
Jones explains.
One Fodder Unit is an animal that eats 10 kg (22 lb.) DM per day. Estimate any
animal's Fodder Unit equivalence by the formula 0.01
(Weight ** 0.75) * Factor, where Factor = 1 for all nonlactating animals, 1.2
for lactating ewes or beef cows, and 1.5 for dairy cows. So a steer of 465 kg
(1,023 lb.) is one Fodder Unit, a suckling beef cow of 465 kg is 1.2 and her
50-kg calf is 0.19.
"To raise a weight [W] number to the power 0.75 on most pocket calculators,
enter W, hit the square root key twice [not too rapidly], the X [multiply] key
twice, and the = key twice." Example, 350 Rt Rt X X = = gives 80.9, so this dry
animal is 0.81 Fodder Unit and has a DM intake capacity of 8.1 kg/day. "The
quality of the DM depends on whether you want maintenance, slow growth or rapid
growth," Jones wrote.
SIXTH MESSAGE
---------------
FYI Here is data that could help from three published papers
from Cornet University Professor David Pimentel
Also---check with
www.usda.com
http://www.beeftoday.com/
or www.cowtown.org
===
(FOOD PRODUCTION THREATENED BY U.S. POPULATION GROWTH)
(Future water and energy shortages predicted to change face of American
agriculture)
(EIGHT MEATY FACTS ABOUT ANIMAL FOOD)
===========================================
<<snip>>
>Dear SIr,
>#1. Under Ideal conditions, How many acres of farmland are necessary
>to support one thousand people for a year ? 1300 acres currently
check out organic farming websites - 5-10 families could be fed under
intensive organic production per acre but it won't be beef.....
=====
The diverse American diet requires a minimum of about 1.3 acres of
cropland per person; about 1.7 acres are available now.
Doubling of population within 60 years would reduce this to 0.8 acres
per capita, decreasing food variety and raising domestic food prices 300-500%.
=======================
>#2. Under ideal, and current consumption amounts, how many acres of
>grazing land are necessary to support the cattle consummed as meat by
>one thousand people in one year ?
More than 302 million hectares of land are devoted to producing feed
for the U.S. livestock population -- about 272 million hectares in pasture and
about 30 million hectares for cultivated feed grains
>#3. How many cattle are slaughtered each year to fullfill the meat
>consumption of the USA (per 1000 people)?
Around 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 annual for US market
check with
www.usda.com
http://www.beeftoday.com/
or www.cowtown.org
>#4. If I was going to raise 1000 cattle and feed them on my own ranch,
>how many acres would I need of pasture land?
In Wisconsin it would be around 1000 , out west it could run
10,000 to 40,000 acres
><snip>>
=======
FOOD PRODUCTION THREATENED BY U.S. POPULATION GROWTH
New Study Shows
$40 BILLION EXPORT INCOME AT RISK
Earth Day rounder and Former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson
Sees Crisis Looming
Cornet University Professor David Pimentel, a renowned expert on the
energy, land and water requirements of U.S. agriculture will present
the findings of his new study "U.S. Food Production Threatened by Rapid
Population Growth" at a
NEWS CONFERENCE
2 PM, Thursday, October 30, 1997
National Press Club, Zenger Room, Washington, D.C.
Earth Day founder and former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson wilt
introduce Dr. Pimentel. The study shows that the United States
currently exports 20% of the food it produces, generating $40 billion in trade
income.
"This exportable U.S. food surplus and the $40 billion annual income
generated will likely be reduced to nearly $0 by 2025. if present U.S,
population growth and farmland loss trends continue," Dr. Pimentel commented.
His new study is part of an ongoing, definitive investigation into the effects
of current and projected U.S. population growth on future U.S. food
production capability.
Former U.S. Senator and Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, who will
introduce Dr. Pimentel1 commented, "It is clear from Dr. Pimentel's
study that a crisis looms both for sustaining adequate levels of food
production for domestic consumption and maintaining the United States' $40
billion export income from it, unless we stop U.S. population growth soon."
Dr. Pimentel's study contains these alarming findings:
Over I million acres of land will continue to be lost annually to
urban,transportation and industrial expansion, of which about half are from
the 470 million acres of arable land now in cultivation. Another 2
million acres of farmland are lost annually to erosion, salinization, and
waterlogging related to unsustainable agricultural practices. In sum,
we will continue to lose about 3 million acres of land a year, unless we
stop U.S. population growth and halt unsustainable agricultural practices.
Thus, given U.S. population growth of about 3 million per year, for
each person added to our population, about 1 acre of tend is lost.
With nearly 270 million people today, the United States is third most
populated nation on earth, after only China and India. Our population
is currently growing at annual rate of 1.1% nearly 3 million net per year
(over 55,000 per week). If this rate continues, our population will
double to 540 million in 60 years.
The diverse American diet requires a minimum of about 1.3 acres of
cropland per person; about 1.7 acres are available now.
Doubling of population within 60 years would reduce this to 0.8 acres
per capita, decreasing food variety and raising domestic food prices 300-500%.
As Dr. Pimentel notes, "If we do not stop U.S. population growth and
farmland loss soon, most Americans will be unable to enjoy a typical
Thanksgiving feast in 2050." The way to avoid this harsh future is
clear: stop immigration-driven population growth, and conserve our land,
water and energy resources4
Agriculture consumes 85% of U.S. water resources; groundwater provides
31% of agricultural water, and is being depleted 160% faster than its
replenishment rate in the U.S. A doubled U.S. population in 2055 will
have only about 700 gallons of water per day/capita--the bare minimum for
all human needs including agriculture.
About 400 gallons of oil equivalents are used to feed each American
for one year, about 17% of all energy used. Domestic oil production is
declining by 500.000 barrels per year. Imports now comprise 54% of
our consumption and will approach 100% in 20 years. 92% of U.S.
energy needs are met by rapidly dwindling finite fuels like oil.
Solar energy, which is renewable would require about 20% of total U.S.
land area to meet just half of current domestic energy consumption.
The chief culprit in this grim future of declining agricultural
production and variety, rapidly increasing food prices, and severe water and
energy shortages and cutbacks is our domestic population growth. Sixty
percent of the net increase of 3 million per year is caused by foreign
immigration, a portion that will rise to 90% in the coming decades, if current
immigration law and enforcement are not changed.
Dr. Pimentel will be available for interviews with the media on
Thursday, October 30 and Friday, October 31 as well as at the news
conference in Washington. D.C.
Copies of "U.S Food Production Threatened By Rapid Population Growth!"
are available free of charge for the news media and $12 for all others from
CCN;
2000 P Street, NW; Suite 240; Washington, D.C. 20038.
Carrying capacity Network is a national, non-profit organization which
advocates national revitalization, economic sustainability, population
stabilization, resource conservation, and immigration reduction as
essential components of solutions to the economic, social and
environmental challenges facing America today.
========
Future water and energy shortages predicted to change face of American
> agriculture
>
> FOR RELEASE: Aug. 7, 1997
>
> Contact: Roger Segelken
> Office: (607) 255-9736
> E-Mail: [1]hrs2@cornell.edu
>
> MONTREAL -- From one ecologist's perspective, the American system
> of farming grain-fed livestock consumes resources far out of proportion
> to the yield, accelerates soil erosion, affects world food supply and
> will be changing in the future.
>
> "If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were
> consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed
> would be nearly 800 million," David Pimentel, professor of ecology in
> Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,
> reported at the July 24-26 meeting of the Canadian Society of Animal
> Science in Montreal. Or, if those grains were exported, it would boost
> the U.S. trade balance by $80 billion a year, Pimentel estimated.
>
> With only grass-fed livestock, individual Americans would still get
> more than the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of meat and dairy
> protein, according to Pimentel's report, "Livestock Production: Energy
> Inputs and the Environment."
>
> An environmental analyst and longtime critic of waste and inefficiency
> in agricultural practices, Pimentel depicted grain-fed livestock
> farming as a costly and nonsustainable way to produce animal protein.
> He distinguished grain-fed meat production from pasture-raised
> livestock, calling cattle-grazing a more reasonable use of marginal
> land.
>
> Animal protein production requires more than eight times as much
> fossil-fuel energy than production of plant protein while yielding
> animal protein that is only 1.4 times more nutritious for humans than
> the comparable amount of plant protein, according to the Cornell
> ecologist's analysis.
>
> Tracking food animal production from the feed trough to the dinner
> table, Pimentel found broiler chickens to be the most efficient use of
> fossil energy, and beef, the least. Chicken meat production consumes
> energy in a 4:1 ratio to protein output; beef cattle production
> requires an energy input to protein output ratio of 54:1. (Lamb meat
> production is nearly as inefficient at 50:1, according to the
> ecologist's analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics.
> Other ratios range from 13:1 for turkey meat and 14:1 for milk protein
> to 17:1 for pork and 26:1 for eggs.)
>
> Animal agriculture is a leading consumer of water resources in the
> United States, Pimentel noted. Grain-fed beef production takes 100,000
> liters of water for every kilogram of food. Raising broiler chickens
> takes 3,500 liters of water to make a kilogram of meat. In comparison,
> soybean production uses 2,000 liters for kilogram of food produced;
> rice, 1,912; wheat, 900; and potatoes, 500 liters. "Water shortages
> already are severe in the Western and Southern United States and the
> situation is quickly becoming worse because of a rapidly growing U.S.
> population that requires more water for all of its needs, especially
> agriculture," Pimentel observed.
>
> Livestock are directly or indirectly responsible for much of the soil
> erosion in the United States, the ecologist determined. On lands where
> feed grain is produced, soil loss averages 13 tons per hectare per
> year. Pasture lands are eroding at a slower pace, at an average of 6
> tons per hectare per year. But erosion may exceed 100 tons on severely
> overgrazed pastures, and 54 percent of U.S. pasture land is being
> overgrazed.
>
> "More than half the U.S. grain and nearly 40 percent of world grain is
> being fed to livestock rather than being consumed directly by humans,"
> Pimentel said. "Although grain production is increasing in total, the
> per capita supply has been decreasing for more than a decade. Clearly,
> there is reason for concern in the future."
>
> EIGHT MEATY FACTS ABOUT ANIMAL FOOD
>
> >From "Livestock Production: Energy Inputs and the Environment"
>
> By David Pimentel
>
> -- WHERE'S THE GRAIN? The 7 billion livestock animals in the United
> States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the
> entire American population.
>
> -- HERBIVORES ON THE HOOF. Each year an estimated 41 million tons of
> plant protein is fed to U.S. livestock to produce an estimated 7
> million tons of animal protein for human consumption. About 26 million
> tons of the livestock feed comes from grains and 15 million tons from
> forage crops. For every kilogram of high-quality animal protein
> produced, livestock are fed nearly 6 kg of plant protein.
>
> -- FOSSIL FUEL TO FOOD FUEL. On average, animal protein production in
> the U.S. requires 28 kilocalories (kcal) for every kcal of protein
> produced for human consumption. Beef and lamb are the most costly, in
> terms of fossil fuel energy input to protein output at 54:1 and 50:1,
> respectively. Turkey and chicken meat production are the most
> efficient (13:1 and 4:1, respectively). Grain production, on average,
> requires 3.3 kcal of fossil fuel for every kcal of protein produced.
> The U.S. now imports about 54 percent of its oil; by the year 2015,
> that import figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.
>
> -- THIRSTY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. U.S. agriculture accounts for 87
> percent of all the fresh water consumed each year. Livestock directly
> use only 1.3 percent of that water. But when the water required for
> forage and grain production is included, livestock's water usage rises
> dramatically. Every kilogram of beef produced takes 100,000 liters of
> water. Some 900 liters of water go into producing a kilogram of wheat.
> Potatoes are even less "thirsty," at 500 liters per kilogram.
>
> -- HOME ON THE RANGE. More than 302 million hectares of land are
> devoted to producing feed for the U.S. livestock population -- about
> 272 million hectares in pasture and about 30 million hectares for
> cultivated feed grains.
>
> -- DISAPPEARING SOIL. About 90 percent of U.S. cropland is losing soil
> -- to wind and water erosion -- at 13 times above the sustainable
> rate. Soil loss is most severe in some of the richest farming areas;
> Iowa loses topsoil at 30 times the rate of soil formation. Iowa has
> lost one-half its topsoil in only 150 years of farming -- soil that
> took thousands of years to form.
>
> -- PLENTY OF PROTEIN: Nearly 7 million tons (metric) of animal protein
> is produced annually in the U.S. -- enough to supply every American
> man, woman and child with 75 grams of animal protein a day. With the
> addition of 34 grams of available plant protein, a total of 109 grams
> of protein is available per capita. The RDA (recommended daily
> allowance) per adult per day is 56 grams of protein for a mixed diet.
>
> -- OUT TO PASTURE. If all the U.S. grain now fed to livestock were
> exported and if cattlemen switched to grass-fed production systems,
> less beef would be available and animal protein in the average
> American diet would drop from 75 grams to 29 grams per day. That, plus
> current levels of plant-protein consumption, would still yield more
> than the RDA for protein.
*************************
Lisa Bauer
Communications Specialist
North Central Region SARE
13A Activities Bldg.
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68583-0840
402-472-0265
402-472-0280 (fax)
sare003@unlvm.unl.edu
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/ncrsare
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".