According to a study published in Elementa Science, it showed a vegan diet was not as beneficial to land use vs. a <40% omnivorous diet.
The same study also mentioned that “livestock production is the largest land user on Earth,” and that people need to incorporate more plant-based diets.
The reason why mainstream media interpreted this study to counter veganism is because of its assumption that grazing land can only be used for livestock. It stacked the available land against the vegan model. It did not take into account perennial cropland which could grow human-friendly grains like wheat, millet, sorghum, rye, or cereal rye which can grow in arid, low fertility soil. It is currently used to grow grains that are being to fed to livestock, but the study did not assume this land could be used to feed people. With this consideration, a vegan diet’s land use would surpass all other diets.
The study also removed all forest land from a vegan diet. This is incorrect since forest farming can grow greens, berries, mushrooms, nuts, etc.
The study assumed the vegan model crop portfolio to include less calorie dense foods per acreage, which is not a practical assumption.
The study assumed the US has very little arable cropland at 95M hectares, but the World Bank estimates US has 155M hectares.
With all these considerations, the results would look different. [MicTheVegan]
Topic: FAQ – Environment
