3 charts reveal animal agriculture’s devastating impact on the Australian environment.

Few Australians are aware of the livestock industry’s massive role in driving deforestation, climate change, and grain-use in this country.

There are 3 ways farming animals for food and fibre harms our environment that every Aussie should know about:

1. Animal agriculture is by far Australia’s biggest driver of deforestation and habitat loss. It is responsible for ¾ of nationwide land clearing.

Three-quarters (76%) of land clearing and deforestation in Australia is for animal agriculture. An average of 334 thousand hectares of forest land were cleared per year to graze and intensively rear farm animals between 2015 and 2019, according to the latest figures available in Australia’s National Inventory Report.¹ ² Only 4% of land clearing was for crop farming by comparison.³ Every ‘other’ purpose combined, from plantations to mining to residential infrastructure, amounted to 20%. Really, there is one main driver of Australia’s deforestation problem: animal agriculture.

2. The livestock industry is the country’s 2nd largest emitter of greenhouse gases. In the 2010s, it produced 20% of Australia’s emissions. Meat was worse for climate change than driving cars.

Animal agriculture was responsible for one-fifth (20%) of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions in the 2010s.⁴ The livestock industry produced 1.1 billion tonnes of emissions over the decade according to government figures.⁵ Most of these emissions are from the methane released by farm animals⁶ and forest land cleared for grazing.⁷ For comparison, crop farming emitted only 3% of Australia’s greenhouse gases.⁸

The livestock industry is the country’s second largest emitter behind the energy industry.⁹ That also makes it a bigger contributor to climate change than the entire transportation sector. Rearing animals for food and fibre releases more emissions than travel by cars, trucks, buses, rail and domestic flights combined. Deep cuts in our emissions require deep cuts in our meat intake.

3. Two-thirds of domestic grain-use is for feeding and fattening farm animals. Animal products require much more grain than plant-based alternatives.

It takes a lot of grain to make a bit of meat. The livestock industry is ‘by far the largest domestic market for Australian grain,’ according to the industry’s own Feed Grain Supply and Demand report.¹⁰ The latest industry figures reveal that two-thirds (68%) of grain-use within Australia went towards feeding livestock in 2017–18.¹¹ It reached nearly 11 million tonnes of grain. For comparison, only 3 million tonnes of grain were needed to satisfy Australia’s demand for flour. As a food source, animal products are far more grain-intensive and inefficient compared to plant-based alternatives.

Notes:

[1] Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. (2021). National Inventory Report 2019: Volume 2. https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/April%202021/document/national-inventory-report-2019-volume-2.pdf. See pp. 313–324, Table 6.L.2 Activity in ABARES Land Use regions, 5 years to June 2019 (kha).

Data also available at: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. (2021). Data Tables — Activity Table 1990–2019 — LULUCF. https://ageis.climatechange.gov.au/QueryAppendixTable.aspx

[2] Forest land clearing for animal agriculture includes the primary conversion and re-clearing for the following categories: ‘2.1 Grazing native vegetation,’ 3.2 Grazing modified pastures,’ 4.2 Grazing irrigated modified pastures,’ and ‘5.2 Intensive animal production.’

[3] Forest land clearing for crop farming includes the primary conversion and re-clearing for the following categories: ‘3.3 Cropping,’ ‘3.4 Perennial horticulture,’ ‘3.5 Seasonal horticulture,’ ‘3.6 Land in transition,’ ‘4.0 Production from irrigated agriculture and plantations,’ ‘4.3 Irrigated cropping,’ ‘4.4 irrigated perennial horticulture,’ ‘4.5 Irrigated seasonal horticulture,’ ‘4.6 Irrigated land in transition,’ and ‘5.1 Intensive horticulture.’

[4] Over the decade (2010 to 2019), Australia’s net emissions reached 5.5 billion tonnes of CO2-e.

[5] Emissions related to animal agriculture is calculated by adding together two sub-categories found in the ‘agriculture’ section, ‘enteric fermentation’ and ‘manure management,’ with ‘grassland’ emissions recorded in LULUCF for years 2010–2019. Spanning this period, CO2-e emissions reached 575 million tonnes for enteric fermentation, 73 million tonnes for manure management, and 478 million tonnes for grassland. It combines to a total of 1,126 million tonnes CO2-e across the decade.

Data available at: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. (2021). National Greenhouse Gas Inventory — Paris Agreement Inventory. https://ageis.climatechange.gov.au/

[6] Enteric fermentation and manure management measure the methane and nitrous oxide emissions that are released by livestock and their waste products.

See: Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. (2020). National Inventory Report 2018: Volume 1. https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/nga-national-inventory-report-2018-volume-1.pdf. See pp. 283–285.

[7] Grassland measures emissions from land-cleared and managed areas that ‘are used for extensive grazing of both sheep and cattle.’

See: Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. (2020). National Inventory Report 2018: Volume 2. https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/nga-national-inventory-report-2018-volume-2.pdf. See p. 15.

[8] Crop farming emissions are calculated by taking the total emissions from the ‘agriculture’ section less ‘enteric fermentation’ and ‘manure management’ and then adding ‘cropland’ emissions from the LULUCF section. It amounted to 0.2 billion tonnes CO2-e from 2010 to 2019.

[9] In the 2010s, CO2-e emissions reached 2.2 billion tonnes for energy industries, 0.9 billion for transport, and 0.4 billion for manufacturing industries and construction.

[10] Spragg, J. (2018). Australian Feed Grain Supply and Demand Report 2018. Feed Grain Partnership/JCS Solutions. http://www.feedgrainpartnership.com.au/items/1023/FGP%20Feed%20Grain%20Supply%20and%20Demand%20Report%20Oct%202018.pdf. See p. 22.

[11] Spragg, J. (2018). Australian Feed Grain Supply and Demand Report 2018. Feed Grain Partnership/JCS Solutions. http://www.feedgrainpartnership.com.au/items/1023/FGP%20Feed%20Grain%20Supply%20and%20Demand%20Report%20Oct%202018.pdf. See p. 25, Table 6.

Originally published at https://vstats.substack.com.