Livestock production is not needed – the potentials of vegan food farming
Animal based foods enviromental problems has recently been featured in many contexts. On the other hand the consumption is justified by claiming that the Finnish climate conditions, however, is not well suited for the production of vegetarian food. Could it be true that the majority of Finland's land area suitable only for grass and forage crops?
Vegan organic farming
Food production conditions are certainly different in Finland than in Central Europe. Vegetarian Food production - even totally vegan organic farming - is still feasible to us, and its potentials should be considered.
For example, currently mostly used for feed barley and oats could fit directly to our tables and through versatile processing. Valuable protein diet obtained from indigenous legumes and peas, field beans, industrial hemp and wholegrain cereals. For example, potatoes, root vegetables and herbs can be grown in Lapland, although the production efficiency of the north does not pull any match for the South of Finland.
Animal production in connection with livestock manure is often referred to, like the food chain could not survive without it at all. Animals do not themselves bind any atmospheric nitrogen, but get it from eating the plants.
Human nutrition producing fields, fertilization can be used instead of animal manure such as clover, grass or other nitrogen fixation as well as wood ash. Additional nitrogen could also be bound into the earth with the help of farming legumes. (1)
Biological wastes (2) and human droppings could be composted to restore nutrient fields. That is, for example in China there’s a thousands of years of experience in the period. The essence of the Chinese field fertilization has been a subtle plant component utilization. (3)
Organic farming production cycle of grass can be used for biogas production. For example fumigation clover grass residues from fertilizer, the value of which is nitrogenous and better than grass. (4).
Vegan organic farming methods are also crop rotation, planting partners, year-round vegetation, symbiotic ecosystems and cover crops. In addition it’s good to maintain the local species of wild habitats, which operate to discourage pests as protective barriers. Wild trees, pine trees, fruit trees and berry bushes can be planted to create a favorable microclimate. (5)
Too much manure
In its current state, the manure in a specialist agricultural production is a problem rather than a valuable contributor to soil fertility. Animal facilities are not self-sufficient in feed grains. Farms for animal feed imports a lot of grains, soybean and corn from elsewhere (6, 7), because there are too many animals per surface area. In particular, large animal farms do not have enough arable land to produce all the feed.
When the feed is imported from outside the farms, manure nutrient contained in the above fields of vegetation get too much nutrient easily. In this case, the problem is too much manure vs areas of fields to dump it in. The excess nutrients are washed into waterways. Manure is often affected by overproduction of animal spaces, in particular regional concentration.
Today, manure application limits the amount with legislation and agricultural support through agricultural and environmental authorities, advice and recommendations (9). Environmental conditions, however, allow to spread manure on fields more than is necessary, because the animal farms are not just other options to get rid of the manure. Finnish pig farms and large poultry houses are even the environmental laws of limits are too stringent, so they detach themselves from the agricultural economical support, so that they can continue to over fertilize their fields, for example like in the Netherlands. (10)
Forest land grazing is a rare tale
It has been argued that the vegetarian food advocates do not understand the role of animals in the food chain. Yet it is precisely the basic ecology of the food chain, which takes a large part of the energy content when the feed is to farm animals. (This means in other words that animal production is taking up the biggest part of energy consumption when the feed is fed to the animals instead of to humans directly.)
According to MTT's research to produce a kilo of pork takes 25-38 times more energy than the meat contains. Plants grown in a certain amount of energy used in the cultivation of crops give back energy content to 2-6-times. (12) An exception to this is in Finland winter season greenhouse vegetable production, which requires a tremendous amount of energy (13).
Ruminant cattle are still less effective even compared to pigs to convert the energy content of feed to animal biomass (14). However, cattle are fed more dry feed compared to pigs.
Concentrates feed is still more abundant for dairy cows, for example for high milk production requirements. (15, 16)
It is certainly possible to engage in animal economy, in which the animals - at its best
indigenous species - diversify grazing of endangered culture biotope (17). In its current state and on such a huge scale intensive animal production with its outside grazing is not feasible. The cattle get out to graze only a couple of months in a year, and they graze on sown grass which does not bring any biodiversity.
What to do with the surplus farmland?
Four fifths of Finnish arable land produces animal feed (18). Plant based food production would take far less of Finland's arable area. Excess fields may not be in favor of planted pine and birch, as their re-clearance is expensive. Also, the changing climate may be caused by scarcity of food can quickly become a shortage of spare arable land when needed.
The vacant arable lands that would come from decrease in animals feed production, should be afforested in favor of agroforestry techniques. Agri-environmental and climate impact is reduced effectively by planting at 15-meter intervals from north to south lanes to grow trees and shrubs that provide food, fertilizers and fuels. The remaining fields can continue to grow food or energy crops, such as reed canary grass or hemp (19). Reed canary grass should also increase with cereals as rotational crops, as it improves soil fertility (20).
Farming without fossil fuels
While fossil fuel resources are depleting, the amount of feed produced by area will decrease if the methods of conventional farming use will continue. There are no further reserves of land, the arable land area per capita, on the contrary decreases globally because of erosion, or irrigation and water scarcity. (21) Agriculture in its current trend can not continue, because we will not be able to feed all the people in the future.
The solution is to use the resort biointensive horticulture like vegan farming methods. The needed food for one man - and soil humus maintenance of the necessary organic ingredients - can produce an average yield level of about 3.6 acres per country. 60% of the land area used for grain and seed crops, root vegetables 30% and 10% of vegetable production. Artificial fertilizers should be replaced with compost where all the unusable parts of the plants are to be returned to the soil. Therefore, the majority of the area planted with seed plants, which produce much more carbon-rich biomass calories below. Coal or biomass, rather
lignin rich biomass is essential for maintaining soil humus reserves. (22, 23, 24) for this purpose we should take advantage of the trees lignin rich oxalic grains (25).
Biointensive farming methods gives enough land for food production in the future for all people of the world, but also a part can be left to their natural state. Forestry can be combined with the growing use and natural areas so that the end result reminds the forest ecosystem. This is the easiest way to tropical conditions, but grove like forest gardens can also be created in the northern boreal zone. Maintained, berry and mushroom land can be cherished by hundreds of forest management forms and also be a part as one form of forestry. (26)
Lasse Nordlund’s own long time testing shows that five acres is enough land for food production in Northern Finland, for also the mushrooms and berries. This calculation is taken into account for reserve depletion. (27) In Sweden the calculation of the current methods of food production of an omnivore requires 23 acres and 15 acres land vegetarian. Vegans suffice 10 acres. (28)
Well written article on the vegan utopia
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