A recent article examines the image of an animal free food system. With consumer trends leaning toward animal free products, it is important to look at the animal contribution to the whole system. Often there is concern for animals taking land resources, deforestation for crop growing, greenhouse gas emissions, and ground water contamination. Livestock are considered "up-cyclers" for the human food system. They utilize leftover plant material and human-inedible plants and turn these into high-quality protein for human consumption in the form of milk and meat. 

Often the land that is used to graze cattle is unusable for other agriculture. Animal agriculture is even important for vegan, vegetarian, and organic lifestyles as animal manure is the most common fertilizer for organic production. While there is a current trend in less fluid milk consumed, animal-based agriculture remains an essential contributor towards feeding the world.

Technology and research have helped to shape the continually changing face of agriculture in both the U.S. and global arenas. There continues to be more advances from new lab analyses, more precise feeding, improved on farm analysis tools, better genetics, and many more developments pushing agriculture to new heights. 

 

Data gathered from: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,