Meat Management Column: Under Fire but a Positive Story to Tell

This column was originally published in Meat Management in August 2019.

by Dan Soper

Increasingly, the meat industry is under fire from many angles. Be it arguments about animal welfare, sustainability, or climate change. The industry is facing a huge challenge at a time when people are being told to eat less meat, and an increasing number of people are going vegan (according to The Guardian, 1 in 8 Brits is now vegetarian or vegan). Ultimately, this challenge is one of communication.  

I recently attended a conference on the role ruminants play in sustainable diets. It was jointly organised by representatives of both the meat and dairy industry and focused, in part, on how to communicate the positive messages around animal agriculture; as well as the positive roles animal agriculture plays in other ways.

First, arable and animal agriculture have a symbiotic relationship. The former relies on the latter for natural fertilisers; and the latter consumes waste from the former (in California livestock are fed on waste from over 400 unique crops!). Hypothetically, if animal agriculture were to disappear, arable crops would need more synthetic chemical fertiliser. There is still much debate about the impact these chemicals have on ecosystems. Moreover, there would be huge amounts of waste generated through crops unfit for human consumption not being used as animal feed.

Second, animals are kept on marginal land – land which cannot be used to grow crops for human consumption. Marginal land makes up two-thirds of all agricultural land globally. Therefore, ruminants and other livestock perform an important ‘upcycling’ process, turning inedible plants into edible meat. The scarcity of arable land will only be exacerbated by the growing global population (estimated to reach 9 billion by 2050). It would be almost impossible to feed that amount of people using just one-third of the global agricultural land.

How the meat and livestock industries communicate the above to consumers is key. At the conference Judith Bryans, CEO of Dairy UK, made a pertinent point: the challenge isn’t about arguing with vegans. Their minds are already made up. Rather, it’s first about understanding the challenges facing the industry and the arguments against it (for example, greenhouse gas emissions from cattle). Then it is about engaging with the families who eat meat maybe five times a week and ensuring they continue to do so. It’s not about dismissing all negative stories as ‘fake news’ but engaging in a more nuanced and balanced debate about the role of animal agriculture in society, ecology, and diets.

Whilst these are challenging times for public discourse around food and food production, I believe the meat industry does have a positive story to tell. Understanding and emphasising the positive role of meat in global food security, the livelihoods of rural communities, and agricultural efficiency is key to overcoming this challenge. I would also argue, as some in the industry advocate, that we need to be more joined up as an industry in telling our story both on a national and an international level. There are many fragmented campaigns with good intentions but without that connectivity it is difficult to see how the message will have the reach required.