Animals, Feed, Food And People

An Analysis Of The Role Of Animals In Food Production

R. L. Baldwin

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429728242
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Biology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Numerous authors have presented analyses of the world food problem and the appropriate role of animals in food production and have drawn qualitative conclusions. However, projection and planning require quantitative considerations, and this volume addresses that challenge. Experts in animal science, farm management, economics, international agriculture, and nutrition elucidate and debate germane issues with scientific rigor. They examine the efficiency and economics of animal production, feed resource availability, interactions between plant and animal agricultures, international trade, resource allocation, roles of animals in developing countries, and the nutritional values and limitations of animal products.

1. Alternative Strategies in Food-Animal Production

_A. C. Bywater, R. L. Baldwin

Introduction

Perhaps one of the most fundamental and complex of modern issues has been perennial concern over the many elements of the food versus population equation. The problems of world food shortages have been all too obvious and, not surprisingly, many have focused specific attention on resources utilized in food production, the efficiency with which these resources are used and the role animals play in this process (1-5). Efficiency of resource use in production, processing and storage of many food products, particularly those of animal origin, have been questioned and a great deal of publicity, often adverse to animal industries has been given to these issues. Statements made on both sides of the debate are summarized below.

• Large quantities of grain and other crop products directly edible by humans are currently fed to livestock.
• Because of their low efficiency animals reduce the energy and protein available for human consumption to a fraction of that contained in the feed.
• The production of edible energy and protein per unit land area is many times greater for crop production systems than for systems which include animals.
• As world demand for crop products for human consumption increases, amounts available for animal production will decline and future production of food by animals will become an immoral and unlikely possibility.
• Animal products are highly desired and of high quality, particularly in terms of protein and some vitamins and minerals.
• Productive quality of land varies considerably; over half the world's land mass is non-arable and much of the arable land cannot sustain continuous, high yield cropping. Crop rotations including, for example, forage legumes are essential.
• Comparisons of animal and crop production systems often fail to consider differences in land quality.
• In most cases, less than one half of the dry matter produced by crops is consumed by humans; the remainder - field residues and processing byproducts - can be converted to human food by animals.
• Animals are able to harvest roughages from non-arable land and utilize inedible crop residues and byproducts to produce high quality human food.
• Domestic livestock represent a vast and highly flexible storage reservoir able to convert edible and inedible crop products in seasons of plentiful supply to high quality food in later times of shortage.

In aggregate, the general conclusion would seem to be that feeding of grains and other human edible crop products to livestock will decline in the future, at least in some areas, but that animals will continue to satisfy a significant portion of human dietary needs. Certainly it is clear that if food requirements of the world's expanding human population are to be met in the future, both in terms of quantity and quality, all available food production resources must be used effectively and efficiently. Unfortunately, these conclusions are entirely qualitative. This is a noticeable feature of many deliberations on this question; qualitative statements and data based on equivocal assumptions abound. The real challenge is quantitative consideration of the many elements and relationships involved (6). These include cultural, geographical, environmental and economic constraints as well as factors such as level of production technology, allocation of land and other resources, and alternative crop production and animal feeding and management strategies. Projection and planning of future development and integration of crop and animal agriculture will result in rational decision making only if these are based on rigorously derived and quantitatively defensable data.

It is our intention, in this paper, to assess briefly the current contribution of animals to the production of human food; to reconsider the concept and method of expression of efficiency and its implications on assessment of the future role of animals; and, to identify some of the critical issues which must be considered in the future. This in itself, will not provide the quantitative, systematic and inclusive description we advocated above; but to this objective we will present and briefly describe a model currently in development which may provide such an analysis of the human food production system.

The Present Contribution of Animals

The contribution of animal products to human energy and protein intakes for a sample of the 51 countries analysed in reference (6) are shown in figures 1 and 2. Total intake of energy and protein and the proportion supplied by animal products varies considerably. Countries represented on the left sides of the two histograms tend to be developed nations. Those on the right are less developed nations. As might be expected, a larger proportion of human dietary energy is supplied from plant sources; the average for all countries considered is 77.2 percent of energy from plant products and 22.8 percent from animal products. A major portion of protein intake particularly in the developed countries, is from animal products. Animal protein intakes in the less developed nations are lower and extremely variable. It is noticeable however that in at least a few developing countries, animal products provide a relatively high proportion of dietary protein, approaching or exceeding the overall mean of 46.6 percent.

As noted, animal products tend to contribute to a greater extent to dietary intake in developed countries. Latest available USDA statistics (7) on dietary intakes in the U.S. are shown in table 1. Approximately 35 percent of energy and 67 percent of protein is of animal origin. Also, animal products are a major source of some minerals and all vitamins excepting vitamin C. However, it is noteworthy that nearly half of our fat consumption is of plant origin.

An indication of the size of the animal industry in the U.S. is given in table 2. Farm - as opposed to retail - values of various segments of the industry are shown. In total, animal agriculture contributes over 41 billion dollars to the economy, or just over 4 percent of gross national product.

Clearly, animal agriculture contributes substantially to the economy and to total human food production worldwide. This, in itself, is a factor which should be given serious consideration in evaluating recommendations to reduce inputs to livestock production. However, the role of animals is not confined to the production of food. In developed industrial societies animal 'byproducts' supply a multitude of commodities for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, industrial chemicals and feed ingredients as well as

Figure 1. Intakes of plant and animal energy sources by the populations of 51 countries. Numerical code for each country follows: 1) Ireland; 2) USA; 3) France; 4) Austria; 5) Belgium; 6) Hungary; 7) Switzerland; 8) Federal Republic of Germany; 9) United Kingdom; 10) Argentina; 11) Australia; 12) Italy; 13) Israel; 14) Finland; 15) Norway; 16) Portugal; 17) Sweden; 18) Brazil; 19) Spain; 20) Egypt; 21) Turkey; 22) Uruguay; 23) Libya; 24) Chile; 25) Mongolia; 26) Paraguay; 27) Republic of Korea; 28) Japan; 29) Venezuela; 30) Pakistan; 31) Malawi; 32) Costa Rica; 33) Mauritius; 34) Panama; 35) Sri Lanka; 36) Burundi; 37) Nicaragua; 38) Nigeria; 39) Madagascar; 40) Honduras; 41) Kenya; 42) Colombia; 43) Ghana; 44) Philippines; 45) Guatemala; 46) India; 47) Ethiopia; 48) Ecuador; 49) Indonesia; 50) El Salvador; 51) Tanzania. From Baldwin, Slenning and Ronning, "A Visualization of the Livestock Industry in the World Perspective," in "Nutrition in Transition," Proceedings of the Western Hemisphere Nutrition Congress V, 1978. Reprinted with the permission of the American Medical Association and Publishing Science Group, Inc.

Figure 2. Intakes of plant and animal protein by the populations of 51 countries. Numerical code for each country follows: 1) Argentina; 2) France; 3) USA; 4) Hungary; 5) Ireland; 6) Mongolia; 7) Australia; 8) Belgium; 9) Israel; 10) Uruguay; 11) Finland; 12) Italy; 13) United Kingdom; 14) Austria; 15) Switzerland; 16) Federal Republic of Germany; 17) Norway; 18) Portugal; 19) Sweden; 20) Spain; 21) Egypt; 22) Turkey; 23) Japan; 24) Republic of Korea; 25) Kenya; 26) Brazil; 27) Chile; 28) Libya; 29) Ethiopia; 30) Paraguay; 31) Nicaragua; 32) Malawi; 33) Costa Rica; 34) Burundi; 35) Venezuela; 36) Nigeria; 37) Panama; 38) Honduras; 39) Pakistan; 40) Philippines; 41) Madagascar; 42) Colombia; 43) Guatemala; 44) Mauritius; 45) India; 46) Sri Lanka; 47) Ecuador; 48) El Salvador; 49) Tanzania; 50) Ghana; 51) Indonesia. From Baldwin, Slenning and Ronning, "A Visualization of the Livestock Industry in the World Perspective," in "Nutrition in Transition," Proceedings of the Western Hemisphere Nutrition Congress V, 1978. Reprinted with the permission of the American Medical Association and Publishing Science Group, Inc.

Table 1. Contribution of Animal Products to U.S. Dietary Intake in 1976 (in percentages). (7)

Table 2. Farm Value of Animal Production 1976 (in millions of dollars). (7)

Cattle & calves	13,988	Dairy products	11,724
Hogs	7,879	Chickens & broilers	3,095
Sheep & lambs	314	Turkeys	823
Wool & Mohair	96	Eggs	3,151
		Total	$41,070

plant fertilizer in various forms including manures. In many societies the range of non food goods and services provided by animals is perhaps even broader than this - to the extent that food production may not be the 'primary' product. The special role of animals in less developed countries is discussed more fully in a subsequent paper in this volume. The contribution of animals to human welfare through these many and varied additional services is often extremely difficult to evaluate. There...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• About the Book
• About the Series
• Contents
• Figures and Tables
• About the Editor and Authors
• Preface
• 1 Alternative Strategies in Food-Animal Production
• 2 Implications of International Trade on Resources for Animal Production
• 3 Opportunities for Forage, Waste and By-Product Conversion to Human Food by Ruminants
• 4 Opportunities for Waste and By-Product Conversion to Human Food by Non-Ruminants
• 5 Past, Present and Future Resource Allocation to Livestock Production
• 6 The Role of Animals in Developing Countries
• 7 Animal Foods, Past, Present and Future: A Nutritionist's View