Sustainability: code for vegan?

For years, lobby groups, especially those who feel strongly about animal welfare, promotes a vegan lifestyle. Most recent discussions on the topic include sustainability. Vegans believe their lifestyle benefits the environment and is the most sustainable lifestyle choice. “The dairy industry is the second-most efficient producer of animal protein,” said Roger Cady with the Elanco scientific affairs team. “Dairy cows not only produce milk but meat, too,” he says. “There are 21 amino acids, the building blocks of protein that sustain humans. Our body produces 11, for the rest humans must eat. Animal proteins are more complete than plants when it comes to these essential amino acids,” Cady went on to explain.

There are a number of fronts where sustainability can be improved. “Seventy percent of the environmental footprint for dairy occurs before milk even leaves the farm,” said Cady. “To improve upon that number, we must move from adding more cows to improving yield to meet future global milk needs.” It is, however, important to tell the dairy’s side of the story to the public. Isn’t it fact that dairy recycles so many human waste by-products in what we feed our cattle? For example, vegetable culls or brewers grains. Does dairy get credit in reducing the carbon footprint in other industries with the bedding material we use? Does dairy get credit for the other products other than meat that are made, for example leather products? To read the report, click HERE.