Is there enough meat for everyone? YES. And don’t fuss about “environmental” impacts and such rubbish.

This question re: sustainability of meat has been raised by a couple of people on Facebook.

I tersely replied: “anyone who talks sustainability doesn’t understand either science or economics. Please start by reading Simon’s The Ulitimate Resource. They key is calibration through the price system. And allocation of property rights.”

I suspect the person didn’t understand. Let me clarify in a couple of minutes:

1) ECONOMICS

The price system regulates all production. Only the wealthy can buy a sufficient meat (which, of course, gives their children a serious brain and health advantage over others). So the first thing to note is that meat won’t grow just by itself. It has to be DEMANDED, thorough real purchasing power. Very few countries have such purchasing power. Till countries like India choose to remain poor (by rejecting capitalism), they will not be able to afford meat. That will curb meat production.

Now assume that countries like India actually become rich. They will then start consuming more meat. That’s where the price system sets into place automatic incentives for innovation.

As the price of meat rises (with increased demand), innovators will (as they always have) start making use of economically viable models to supply meat. Chicken meat comes to mind as the first port of call. It is easy to grow, and supply can be scaled up 1000s of times without any problem. Chicken production doesn’t take much space, nor much of any non-renewable resource. 

As the demand for beef rises, say, in India, we’ll find innovative farmers who shift their breeds to more meat-producing ones. There is also no shortage of options to grow meat efficiently. Even many Australian farmers have stopped letting their cattle out in the open, in preference to feeding them in stalls. That is both economical and increases meat output. And since space is hardly an issue in such a case (just like a large chicken farm), there is virtually no limit to the amount of beef that can be produced.

So, as prices rise, a commensurate quantity of meat can be produced.

2) ENVIRONMENT

There was a time when stupid greenies, easily prone to jumping to conclusions, went about saying that producing meat consumes vast quantities of water. Well, they clearly don’t know how to add, nor to subtract; leave aside that water is a PURELY RENEWABLE resource. The total quantity of water on Earth remains almost entirely the same. 

Even these “vast consumption of water” theories have been rebutted. Even greenies like Bill Gates (Gates doesn’t demonstrate an understanding of either basic economics or basic science), have admitted that “it takes just 44 liters—not thousands—to produce a kilo of beef” [Source]. Plus remember, WATER IS ENTIRELY RENEWABLE. The only real resource in meat production is therefore human ingenuity and some energy (which – as I’ve often explained – is fundamentally available in infinite quantities, if we are able to crack fusion technology).

Now, note that I mentioned  property rights.

That’s part of the way of fixing any negative externalities on the environment. Allocate property rights, and markets will fix most externalities. If needed, add a regulatory regime.

3) DEMOGRAPHICS

99.99 per cent of the people don’t understand demographics. They fail to understand how the demand for children operates. In summary, as people become more prosperous, the demand for children falls. India has around 3 times more people today BECAUSE of socialism, than it would have had with capitalism. As people become rich, they are better educated, they have fewer children and tend to consume meat in moderation. The richer you are in the West, you will tend to have healthier eating and exercise habits.

Solution: IMPLEMENT CAPITALISM.

Never worry about sufficient meat and such bogus claims.