Burgers, Broccoli… and Cow Farts (Yes, Cow Farts)

Killer title, right? Well, it got you to start reading, so in that way it was a success. It might be hard to believe these three things have anything to do with one another, but they do. In the world of livestock farming, there's more to it than meets the eye (and nose).

What these three things have in common is the same thing that's most important to our survival as a human race: water.

One pound of beef

Think about a pound of beef. You can walk into any grocery store, in any city, and buy one right now. All we think about is what to do with it. A great meatloaf? Two cheeseburgers? A spicy chili? But what about how that meat was raised, fed, packaged and delivered to you? We don't usually like to think about that, but that's on us. As responsible meat-eaters, and responsible citizens, we should know how our food ends up on our plate.

So, how much water do you think it takes to produce one pound of beef?

The number you're probably not thinking of is about 1,800 gallons. Globally, beef has an average water footprint of about 15,400 liters per kilogram. Vegetables average about 322 liters per kilogram.¹ Pound for pound, that's dozens of times more water for beef.

It sounds unrealistic, but it adds up. Beef production starts the moment a calf is born. The fields have to be watered to grow the feed the cattle eat, and the cow needs to drink every day. Stretch that over its entire life and the numbers climb fast.

The poop problem

Our water is also affected by pollution from animal farming. Manure and fertilizer from farms can wash into rivers, lakes and coastal waters, carrying excess nitrogen and phosphorus. Those nutrients feed algae blooms that use up oxygen, harm fish and can make water unsafe to drink.²

That's a lot of poop, and we don't want it in our water. Humans aren't the only ones who depend on clean water to live, and we're not the only ones who deserve it.

So, about those cow farts

What does all this have to do with cow farts? Well, those aren't great for the environment either. It's a funny problem, but a real one. Cows produce a lot of methane as they digest their food [insert fart joke here]. Fun fact: most of it actually comes out as burps, not farts.

Why is that so bad? Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, trapping about 27 to 30 times more heat than CO2 over 100 years.³ Overall, livestock is responsible for about 14.5% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.⁴

Let's see a politician try to say "cow farts" with a straight face.

So what can you do?

This article isn't about convincing you to swear off beef forever. Quite the contrary. We encourage you to buy locally raised, responsibly farmed beef from a farmer's market, eat it a little less often, and lean less on mass-produced beef. Fill more of your plate with plant proteins like beans and lentils.

Believe it or not, your choices make an impact. Next time you have a red meat craving, either fight it or go for it. Cook a juicy steak or a jalapeño burger. But buy the beef in a way that's kind to the Earth… and enjoy it in a way that would make Ron Swanson proud.