Goal Statement

• With the emergence of new technologies and farming practices the amount of meat produced and consumed throughout the world has increased dramatically. While the massive increase in production has made meat cheaper and more widely available to the public, it has also had an impact on the environment, consumer health and animal welfare.

Policy/Program Options

A. Decrease Meat Consumption

• A decrease in the global consumption of meat would be the most direct way to diminish the negative impacts of meat production because a overall decrease in the demand for meat will lead directly to a decrease in its produciton.

B. Reform Farming Methods

• More environmentally friendly methods of raising meat such as free range cattle production and pastoral farming will reduce the ecological footprint of meat production

C. Decrease Subsidies to Farmers

• A decrese in the subsidies given to farms will raise the price of meat (both directly with respect to pork subsidies and indirectly with respect to grain and feed subsides) thus diminishing the demand for meat and thus its prodution 

Issue Briefs (local, state, national, global)

Glossary of Terms

• CAFO - concentrated animal feeding operation

• GHG - greenhouse gas

• Lagoon - water source in which animal waste is deposited 

Footnotes