Scarcity vs. Distribution

Is there enough food?

We examine here the ways in which food scarcity and distribution are interconnected, how scarcity is exacerbated by the (over)consumption of meat and other animal-sourced foods (ASF), how ASF are a form of redistribution/maldistribution, and how current policies encourage increased ASF consumption that undermines global food security.

Livestock as Redistribution

At the global level, there are enough calories and protein to feed the world's 7 billion+ population so the problem is often framed as one of distribution, not scarcity.

There are obvious differences in the amount of food consumed in low-, middle- and high-income countries, but quantity in terms of calories is much less important than the type of food. 

Animals used for food (livestock) are highly inefficient converters of food, energy, and natural resources. In short, livestock consume much more than they produce.

Eating 1,000 calories of meat could easily use 5,000 calories in feed.

By using more than their “fair share,” ASF are a form of redistribution that exacerbate local and regional scarcity, especially in low-income countries.

Supply-and-Demand as Redistribution

During the mid-1980’s famine, Ethiopia was a net exporter of food. The government and businesses exported food to be used as feed to produce meat and other ASF for wealthier countries and individuals. 

The wealthy bid food away from the poor because they’re able to pay higher prices. It’s hard to believe but it’s a common practice that continues today in Ethiopia, Kenya and other countries with large populations of hungry and food-insecure people.

Basic supply and demand works like this…

As the supply of food tightens/decreases relative to demand, prices increase and fewer people can afford the basic food staples needed for survival. When food is exported from a poor country/region, food supplies decrease, food prices increase, and deaths from hunger and hunger-related causes increase.

On a global scale, when staple foods (grains, soy, corn, etc) are used as feed to produce resource-intensive animal products, the global food supply is lower relative to demand and food prices are higher than many can afford.

Biofuels, Meat and the Food Crisis

The most prominent example of food supply-and-demand is the ways in which biofuels increased demand for food staples, thus increasing the price of food contributing to a global food crisis.

Food-intensive biofuels were demonized as a top contributor to the mid-2000’s food crisis, but there was no mention of the impact of food-intensive meat and other ASF consumption. Reducing the global consumption of animal products would have an immensely greater impact on the supply and availability of food relative to reducing, even eliminating, biofuels.

While food supplies can be tightened and relaxed by agribusiness and policymakers, food is a limited resource. Reducing consumption of animal-sourced foods would take pressure off our limited food and environmental resources. It would decrease demand relative to supply, allowing food prices to fall and food security to increase. Unfortunately, ASF consumption is on the rise at an unprecedented rate creating wider disparities and higher death tolls.

The Livestock “Revolution” Increasing Demand

The United Nations warns that global meat consumption will double between 2000-2050.

Within the first ten years, this prediction is on track increasing 20% from 50 billion land animals dying for food production to 60 billion. Left unchecked it will continue to rise.

The “increases” are stemming primarily from the lower and middle-income countries even though their per capita consumption is still far less than the U.S., Europe and other industrialized and high-consuming countries.

This trend, known as the “Livestock Revolution,” consists of:

• a large starting population base of about four billion people in developing countries
• relatively high birth rates that further multiply population in those regions
• drastic increases in the consumption of meat, dairy, and other animal products

Meeting the increased demand for food due to population increases is a concern in itself, but the impact of the increasing consumption of resource-intensive animal source foods (ASF) greatly compounds the problem. 

Scarcity and Meat Consumption

While many experts recognize the impending food scarcity and environmental devastation caused by the increasing consumption of animal-sourced foods, most stop short of seeking a reduction.

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute in their Livestock to 2020 report:

“The demand-driven Livestock Revolution is one of the largest structural shifts to ever affect food markets in developing countries and how it is handled is crucial for future growth prospects in developing country agriculture, for food security and the livelihoods of the rural poor, and for environmental sustainability"

Unfortunately, instead of calling for policies to reduce meat consumption and reverse the trend, they assert that meat consumption is demand-driven, and that we should focus on how to best meet the increasing demand. They continue:

"[I]t is unwise to think that the Livestock Revolution will somehow go away in response to moral suasion by well-meaning development partners. It is a structural phenomenon that is here to stay. How bad or how good it will be for the populations of developing countries is intricately bound up with how countries choose to approach the Livestock Revolution."

To meet increased global food and meat demand, think tanks such as IFPRI promote population planning/control (to reduce demand) and biotechnology (to increase yield/supply).  Conveniently, they do not promote dietary change of (over)consumers or up-and-coming high-consumers. The claim that increasing per-capita consumption is demand-driven... as if it is a fixed, non-elastic "given."

Our Goal

These are some of the assumptions and rationale that A Well-Fed World seeks to correct.

While meat consumption may be demand-driven in an economic sense, the demand for meat and other animal products is socially-constructed and can be redirected with targeted policies, subsidies and education campaigns. We advocate a move in this direction. We advocate reducing meat and other ASF consumption, especially in high-consuming countries and reversing consumption trends in developing countries before they become more entrenched.

Reducing consumption of animal-sourced foods is not a panacea, but it must be part of the solution. It is a necessary and commonsense component of any effective reform and sustainable food system.

Recommended Reading

Humane Society International's 2011 report on the impact of industrial farm animal production on food security in the developing world.