Re: Veggans Vs Beefeaters

[Clayton Rye <crye@domain.elided>]

> Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 15:37:11 -0700
> From: Eric Hegstrom <ehegstrom@domain.elided>
> Subject: Re: Veggans Vs Beefeaters
>
> Well let me first say that I am a big omnivore. I like my veggies (and
> even tofu) but mostly for the health concerns. There is nothing I like
> better (foodwise) than a big 'ole slab of beef, lamb or pork.
>
> But just to be fair here are some stats I received from a vegitarian.
> The first one, at least, rings true to me.
> - ---------------
> One acre of land can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes, or 250 pounds of
> beef. Fifty-six percent of all U.S. farmland is devoted to beef
> production, and to produce each pound of beef requires 16 pounds of
> edible grain and soybeans, which could be used to feed the hungry.
>
> Twenty percent of the corn grown in the U.S. is eaten by people. Eighty
> percent of the corn and 95% of the oats grown in the U.S. is eaten by
> livestock. The percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through
> livestock is calculated by experts as 90%.
>
> This year alone, twenty million people worldwide will die as a result of
> malnutrition. One child dies of malnutrition every 2.3 seconds. One
> hundred million people could be adequately fed using the land freed if
> Americans reduced their intake of meat by a mere 10%.
> - ---------------
> There is also a lot of stuff about deforestation, etc... I think one
> could probably find lots more stuff by even doing a search on Vegetarin
> in yahoo or somewhere.
>

Normally I let this stuff go but I am going to speak out because I am an Iowa farmer
who grows corn and soybeans (cultivated with a IH 186 tractor and cultivator,
harvested with an IH 1460 combine), and also fed around 300-400 head of feeder
cattle until the early 1990s.

This is a bunch of vegetarian crap that uses incomplete statistics to mislead
people.

If corn is wasted on livestock, I have a bin with 22,000 bushels of corn I will sell
for $2.25 a bushel that the new owner can GIVE TO STARVING PEOPLE.

By the way the current cash price for corn is just over $1.80 and I have lots of
neighbors that will sell you all you want for anything over $2.00.

Cost of production for corn can be anywhere from $1.80 a bushel to over $2.50
depending on your size of operation and debt load.

Don't let conveniently assembled statistics cloud your thinking.
--
    * Clayton Rye * 3673 Fir Ave * Hanlontown, Iowa 50444 *
          * midway between Minneapolis & Des Moines *
                 * home of Sundown Day, June 21 *
* mailto:crye@domain.elided * http://www.netins.net/showcase/crye/ *