5 ms·

> Mass starvation probably. We aren't prepared for it. Give it 10 years and maybe it could be done. How do you figure? The same logistics lines that carry anim

by Cpoll 1mo ago

> Mass starvation probably. We aren't prepared for it. Give it 10 years and maybe it could be done. How do you figure? The same logistics lines that carry animal feed and then the animal can just carry the ~animal~ human feed directly to the consumer. Sure, the animals starve to death, but it's just a silly hypothetical.

3eb7988a1663 1mo ago
It takes 1000 calories of feed to make 100 calories of animal protein. While the type of animal feed is not what humans probably want to eat, the calories already exist today. Without livestock, there would be a huge surplus of available food. Wikipedia[0] Says that US directs 4345 million bushels of just corn to livestock feed. Which would be ~13 bushels or 330kg per American. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_production_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_production_in_the_United_...
triceratops 1mo ago
It isn't as simple as "divert the trucks carrying corn and soy from feedlots to grocery stores". Humans can't just eat uncooked, unprocessed corn and soy. Most people don't know how to use them as ingredients. You'd have to retool or rebuild all the food processing plants that current deal with animal products. Ramp up oat/soy/almond milk production. And so on.
- Cpoll 1mo ago
  > unprocessed corn and soy You mean edamame and sweet corn? You can grab an ear of the latter right off the field, husk it and eat it raw if you'd like. Or is there something about megafarms that prevent that? > Most people don't know how to use them as ingredients. If they get hungry they'll do what people have done since time immemorial and boil them. No-one will starve sitting on a cache of beans. For that matter, humans can eat pig feed directly (it's not as safe as human food, but you can boil it too).
  - triceratops 1mo ago
    Most corn isn't sweet corn.

5 ms·

> Mass starvation probably. We aren't prepared for it. Give it 10 years and maybe it could be done. How do you figure? The same logistics lines that carry anim

by Cpoll 1mo ago

3eb7988a1663 1mo ago
It takes 1000 calories of feed to make 100 calories of animal protein. While the type of animal feed is not what humans probably want to eat, the calories already exist today. Without livestock, there would be a huge surplus of available food. Wikipedia[0] Says that US directs 4345 million bushels of just corn to livestock feed. Which would be ~13 bushels or 330kg per American. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_production_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_production_in_the_United_...
triceratops 1mo ago
It isn't as simple as "divert the trucks carrying corn and soy from feedlots to grocery stores". Humans can't just eat uncooked, unprocessed corn and soy. Most people don't know how to use them as ingredients. You'd have to retool or rebuild all the food processing plants that current deal with animal products. Ramp up oat/soy/almond milk production. And so on.
- Cpoll 1mo ago
  > unprocessed corn and soy You mean edamame and sweet corn? You can grab an ear of the latter right off the field, husk it and eat it raw if you'd like. Or is there something about megafarms that prevent that? > Most people don't know how to use them as ingredients. If they get hungry they'll do what people have done since time immemorial and boil them. No-one will starve sitting on a cache of beans. For that matter, humans can eat pig feed directly (it's not as safe as human food, but you can boil it too).
  - triceratops 1mo ago
    Most corn isn't sweet corn.