Why is the eutrophication so high for dairy? I’d think pesticide use would drive up the value on plant-based products. Cows don’t need fertilized grass/hay. Is it from the cow excrement? Wouldn’t excrement be too valuable as a fertilizer and for producing methane power to just let it all run off into streams etc.?
A few things to consider. A minority of cows are free range grass fed, a very small minority are 100% grass fed and free range to an extent that matters, even in the case of 100% grass fed there might be fertilizers used. And make no mistake, cows on open pastures are not a good way to feed the human population from an environmental stand point, probably worse than factory farms honestly. Fields are terrible at sequestering carbon and lack a lot of the biodiversity of the forests most of them historically replaced.
Why is the eutrophication so high for dairy? I’d think pesticide use would drive up the value on plant-based products. Cows don’t need fertilized grass/hay. Is it from the cow excrement? Wouldn’t excrement be too valuable as a fertilizer and for producing methane power to just let it all run off into streams etc.?
A few things to consider. A minority of cows are free range grass fed, a very small minority are 100% grass fed and free range to an extent that matters, even in the case of 100% grass fed there might be fertilizers used. And make no mistake, cows on open pastures are not a good way to feed the human population from an environmental stand point, probably worse than factory farms honestly. Fields are terrible at sequestering carbon and lack a lot of the biodiversity of the forests most of them historically replaced.