40% of lost calories globally are from beef, needing 33 cal of feed per 1 cal

khelavastr

Wait til they evaluate calories to produce ensembles of separable blends of protein and fats and more...beef is pretty efficient

synasties

Then can human process grass?

brightbeige

Actual title: Only half of the calories produced on croplands are available as food for human consumption

kshahkshah

Not trying to be overly flippant... who cares? The paper opens with "to feed a growing population" without asking is that what we need? want? where we are actually heading to? Is feeding the world a real problem? I've yet to see compelling evidence that it really is except as a secondary effect of logistics, energy supply, and war. edit: I understand the environmental impacts. I think we should solve our energy problems first.

lkbm

> If excess beef consumption were reduced to healthy quantities, as defined by the EAT-Lancet healthy reference diet, and substituted with chicken in forty-eight higher-income countries, the lost calories avoided would be enough to meet the caloric needs of 850 million people. It's really impressive how efficient chickens are compared to beef. Obviously thinks like legumes are way more efficient, but we've really bred chickens to be meat machines in a way we haven't with cows.

WorkerBee28474

> To feed a growing population, it is essential that the global agri-food system be managed to efficiently convert crop production into calories for human consumption. It's really not. Efficiency is the enemy of redundancy. Countries want food security, so they must therefore produce excess calories.

andrewclunn

Hmm, I wonder if beef is more expensive than chicken to reflect the inefficiency in its production? Oh it is. So it must then be that people just prefer the flavor and taste of it as compared to cheaper meats then.

throwpoaster

We have more than enough calories globally, although Africa has more starvation now than it did a decade ago. What we need is nutrient density. 0% of those feed calories have, eg, creatine. 100% of the beef calories do.

throwaway7644

This is the metabolic version of inflation: subsidized, hollow calories used to mask a decline in actual nutritional value. Fiat Food

readthenotes1

This is already covered in the Soylent Green protocol isn't it? An alternate take: if calorie efficiency is so important we should focus on consumption more than production.

gradus_ad

"lost calories" as if having people consume animal feed to reduce total caloric loss is a good idea.

motohagiography

it seems disingenuous to problematize beef. it turns grass into human energy and also requires civilizational practices that create and preserve human dignity and animal welfare. mainly, the so called problem serves to centralize the problematizer themselves. their arguments from a position of centrally planning and managing food economies are intellectual tarpits. however, that our food supply and rural ways of life have the attention of the perpetually concerned is worthy of note. when they start with their opinions, mind your wallets and assets. in short, avoid.

skeeter2020

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hellojimbo

> we need the calories to feed a growing population > population doubles > we need the calories to feed a growing population

khelavastr

Also them: more adults globally eat too many calories

dmitrygr

> "needing 33 cal of feed per 1 cal" The calories cows eat are ... useless to humans. We cannot digest cullulose (grass) and most of the rest of the things we feed to cows. Anyone throwing this number around has an agenda, and is not objective

shrubble

There are people who for various ideological reasons hate beef. If the market demands more chicken over beef, producers are perfectly capable of making a switch. Cows are able to make delicious beef from grass and thistles; that they are often fed other things is not a proof that eating cows is bad.

romuloalves

But the beef delivers way more nutrition and calories than the crop they eat.

kaleinator

Surprised how many people in the replies actually think their beef is grass fed.

cat_plus_plus

I don't eat grass.