> Arguably, we'd be much better off if we reduced our beef consumption to the level we could manage pasture-raised, which would hold pasture methane constant and reduce the feedlot co2 (and nitrogen runoff).
I'd love to see more locally raised meat, and I assume that would also have a side effect of reduced meat consumption. We've heavily subsidized the industry and so few people are involved at all with the meat industry that we've lost an understanding of what it even takes to raise animals or process them for meat. Farming in general is not a viable business today, anyone doing it to make a living eeks by primarily on government subsidies.
When you can truly know your farmer and can even go see how the animals are raise it changes the whole situation. Its a ton of work no matter how the animals are raised or processed, when done in the centralized feedlot way its also largely a disgusting process that most people would consider immoral and akin to torture.
When you can know your farmer because the meat you do eat is raised primarily on local pasture, I can only assume the risks of methane would be drastically reduced. Lower stocking density, plant life among the animals, and microbial activity decomposing waste in place has to make a huge dent in emissions caused today, from methane gas to fuel emissions used in a larger operation.