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True for the C from food, but the production process is energy intensive. Fertilizer production, tractors, etc all burn oil C which would otherwise have been left in the ground.

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> If you want to look at reducing emissions from food, it is much easier to look at food waste, where ~40% of food in the US is wasted, and of that roughly 80% is produce like fruits, vegetables, tubers etc, meaning that even if there was a transformation to a purely vegan population, food waste would probably increase.

Overproduction isn't ideal from that point of view, but on the other hand it is at least to some extent also a necessary hedge against bad harvests – if you don't overproduce compared to your average requirements, then any even just mildly bad harvest would immediately cause food shortages, and that's something you really really wouldn't want to happen.

Ah yeah, typical motte and bailey argument. First “meat is bad”, then you dismantle that, then “cattle feed is the problem”, then you dismantle that, then “food waste is the problem”, then you dismantle that, ultimately it always comes down to energy.

So, how about we solve energy instead (build nuclear powerplants)? Yet they still blame meat!

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