Much of the land currently used for agriculture is suitable only for grazing, a fact always conveniently forgotten .
There is another overriding problem. It is the notion farmers in first world nations where much of the meat is consumed can produce food cheaply enough for people in third world nations to buy, unless US taxpayers are going to buy the food and send it to the starving people. The idea somehow that beef cattle in the USA are making little children in Africa go hungry is wrong, it is lack of resources making little children in Africa go hungry. I can’t pay USA taxes and USA prices for farmland, inputs, etc then turn around and sell wheat or potatoes for third world prices.
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Consider a couple things. First, during this drought pretty much the only thing my farm has been able to produce is cattle. Like much of the cropland in the USA, mine is not irrigated, no water equals skimpy crops, suitable only for chopping as silage. Second, our garden, where we raise only “people food” has had to be watered daily with loads of water, in spite of that the heat played havoc with everything except our tomatoes, sweet corn, and sweet potatoes, the green beans bloomed for weeks in the heat and never set on. My point being in order for me to quit raising cattle and successfully raise anything in a dry climate I need to irrigate, where will I get the water?
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