So they use 77% of their available land to produce 37% of their protein and 18% of their calories. Imagine how much cheaper calories would be if the land dedicated to plants were simply doubled. Thus eliminating a huge amount of starvation.
The whole point of livestock is that they can be raised on land that isn't farmable (i.e., cattle for meat or milk), or food that isn't otherwise edible (i.e., pigs and chickens). For most of their lives cattle in the U.S. are raised on land that isn't suitable for farming, and only get fed soy or corn-based feed in their last few weeks to fatten them prior to slaughter.
Can the land that is used to grow feed crop (soy, corn) be used to be used to grow other things that humans can eat directly? Or can the soy or corn be used by humans directly as opposed to the 'intermediary' of cattle?
If the 'cattle land' be used for other animals that are more efficient (?) in turning plants into protein? (Chicken, pigs, goats, sheep, etc.)
Can the land that is used to grow feed crop (soy, corn) be used to be used to grow other things that humans can eat directly?
Humans can eat corn and soy directly...
If the 'cattle land' be used for other animals that are more efficient (?) in turning plants into protein?
Not unless you can genetically engineer chicken and pigs to eat grass and weeds. Goats and sheep are less efficient at turning plants into protein, which is why the bulk of our mammalian meat production is cattle and not sheep or goat.
Cows and sheep can easily live on land not suitable for crops. Livestock is a way to essentially turn unproductive, dry grassland into meat.
https://ourworldindata.org/soy
And that "unproductive dry grassland" used to be natural habitat for wildlife, until we took it from them, and more often than not used to be forested.
The potential for carbon storage afforesting those areas is huge, so huge that we could store our entire 1.5˚C carbon budget in them.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00603-4
https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass
Rapid global phaseout of animal agriculture has the potential to stabilize greenhouse gas levels for 30 years and offset 68 percent of CO2 emissions this century
https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal...
Agriculture production as a major driver of the Earth system exceeding planetary boundaries
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320356605_Agricultu...
Restorative agriculture for the win.
I won't be eating crickets or vegan burgers or whatever zealots think I should eat. Or be deprived of eating.