9
votes
Accepted
Is being a vegetarian really environmentally friendly?
Gram for gram, meat products produce from twice (comparing fish to wheat) to 150 times (comparing beef to root vegetables) more greenhouse gas emissions than plant products.
In 2020, Our World in Data ...
- 11.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Can grass clippings be used for livestock feed?
I live on a farm and can say with certainty that cattle and sheep will absolutely eat grass clippings. All of our grass clippings from the around the house go to the animals, along with a significant ...
- 348
6
votes
Accepted
Are soybeans mainly grown for animal feed or oil production?
I found some data from the American Soybean Association on their SoyStats page to help answer this. All data is for 2019.
Soybean Product
Million metric tons produced
USD per ton
Total value
Meal
44....
- 11.9k
6
votes
Carbon footprint of soy milk versus cow's milk
Tesco (a large UK supermarket chain) have carbon footprinted a large number of their products - https://www.tescoplc.com/assets/files/cms/Tesco_Product_Carbon_Footprints_Summary(1).pdf. For fresh ...
- 1,082
5
votes
Accepted
Is advocating against genetically modified seeds anti-science?
If someone were to argue that GMOs do not exist or that some particular method which has been devised in a scientific manner to create GMO species does not exist or does not work, that would be ...
- 1,644
5
votes
Accepted
Is it true that cannabis is not a sustainable recreational drug?
There are two very different ways cannibis is grown, and those have radically different environmental impacts. This is somewhat distinct from the legality differences.
Grown outdoors cannibis often is ...
- 3,945
5
votes
Accepted
How much of dropped fruit is wasted? How much could be consumed, ideally?
I have a small coffee farm, and I occasionally employ someone to pick the coffee. At commodity prices, it is hardly even economically sustainable to pick the coffee from the plant, much less get ...
- 779
4
votes
Can grass clippings be used for livestock feed?
It will be more nutritious if, instead of "clippings", you use a scythe and rake up the cut grass. Grass clippings from a lawn mower oxidize very quickly since they are so finely chopped up.
4
votes
What are examples of perennial crops?
All of the tree fruits, of course:
apple
pear
all citrus
apricot
avocado
cherry
date
persimmon
olive
plum
fig
Most of the soft fruits or "berries":
raspberries
blackberries
blueberries
grapes
You ...
- 1,644
4
votes
Carbon footprint of soy milk versus cow's milk
Ripple Foods, the California-based producers of non-dairy milks made from pea protein, commissioned a Life Cycle Analysis of different milk products that included both soy milk and cow/dairy milk.
...
- 2,909
4
votes
Is advocating against genetically modified seeds anti-science?
Greenpeace is clearly not anti-science; they are not opposed to scientific practices such as research and publishing. Their 2015 report on pesticides which includes over 150 reference citations, many ...
- 2,909
4
votes
Accepted
What is blue, green, and grey water?
A document produced by the US Geological Survey, for what looks like a conference presentation, gives a good explanation.
Green and blue water are waters from two natural water systems.
Green Water is ...
- 3,517
4
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between organic and syntropic agriculture?
The two concepts overlap somewhat but the main focus and way of thinking is different.
With syntropic agriculture degraded unproductive land is transformed into healthy productive land by planting ...
- 14.5k
4
votes
Accepted
If we can capture landfill gas, why can't we capture cows' burps and use them as a source of energy too?
How do you propose capturing methane laden cow burps?
Land fill sites are stationary and inanimate. Getting methane out of a land fill site basically involves putting some pipes into the back fill ...
- 3,517
3
votes
Accepted
Cost analysis of changing cow diet to lower methane emissions
A number of sources claim that adding seaweed to the diet of cattle can reduce methane emissions from cattle by 70 to 86 percent.
Cows fed small amount of seaweed burp 86 per cent less methane in ...
- 3,517
3
votes
How can a purely vegan diet be the most sustainable?
What to do with waste products, if not feed them to animals?
Organic (of or relating to an organism) waste products all compost and if you want everyone in the world to live on grains and vegetables ...
- 1,644
3
votes
Why western countries do not heavily tax beef imports?
As others have suggested, it is illegal under World Trade Organisation rules to apply such tariffs on just one country without a specific trade treaty.
And if the western countries did impose tariff'...
- 1,220
3
votes
How do greenhouses affect pesticide use?
Weed control is easier in greenhouses, so herbicides aren't used much.
However the higher humidity levels and more constant temperatures make both insect and fungi much larger pests.
The expense of ...
- 7,227
3
votes
How do greenhouses affect pesticide use?
To a general question this general answer: I don't know, but in general I don't think so ;-) but then again, ...
First: a greenhouse is not a closed environment. It is aerated (insects can come in ...
- 81
3
votes
How much of dropped fruit is wasted? How much could be consumed, ideally?
I live in an apple growing area. A viable farm has a lot of trees, so they use migrant labour to pick apples. You have to pay the labour more money than you get for the bruised fruit (it goes to the ...
- 425
3
votes
How much of dropped fruit is wasted? How much could be consumed, ideally?
Only in family. Dropped fruit. From the tree the goats or pigs will eat. Early fruit with worms or such. Picking time the fruit is picked with long poles With a small bucket & rake on it. It is ...
- 173
2
votes
Is there a sustainable agriculture certification that sees GMOs as potentially beneficial?
In the United States, food products labeled as “organic” are generally believed to be in compliance with the standards of the National Organic Program (NOP), a program of the USDA, which strictly ...
- 412
2
votes
Why do people produce corn and grains overall currently? Seems neither unsustainable nor profitable. Am I missing something?
You are correct that for small farms it makes little sense to grow grains, especially corn. It is neither sustainable nor profitable - the only grain I've known small farms to grow in my area (the ...
- 121
1
vote
Can you replace chemical fertilizers with organic ones in a way that doesn't compromise food security?
Recycling. Processing sewage is most effective means recovering rebuilding fertilizer use. Human reuse of excreta is thousands of Yeats old.
China, Japan, Korea did so, China in particular did so foe ...
- 359
1
vote
How to gravity feed differently sized rain collection tanks at equal rates?
If the tanks are all connected at the bottom so water can flow freely between them, they will all automatically fill to the same level above the ground, independent of their size. Note that this ...
- 111
1
vote
What are examples of perennial crops?
Have a look at the work of Martin Crawford, e.g. Creating a Forest Garden: Working with Nature to Grow Edible Crops:
Offering inspiration for all gardeners, this book features beautiful color ...
- 241
1
vote
Roughly, how much water does it take to grow 50 lbs of fodder for most dairy cows in the US?
1,400 gallons per day (including rainwater)
According to "The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products" (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011), for the period from 1996 to 2005 ...
- 11.9k
1
vote
UK - would there be any problem with keeping bees on a plot if the neighbours have horses
If your local laws allow you to keep bees on your property, then you can keep bees, end of discussion. Your neighbor's horses don't come into consideration.
If you don't want your beekeeping to ...
- 386
1
vote
Can grass clippings be used for livestock feed?
I used to dry grass clippings as hay, then bag and store until winter and feed to goats. They seemed to much prefer it to regular hay. I think it is more nutritious too.
1
vote
Can grass clippings be used for livestock feed?
I can definitely say Yes. The grass clippings can be used for ruminant animals like sheep and goat after ensiling or drying of the grass clippings. That has been scientifically proved in our lab.
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