09/01/2022
The impact of a foodstuff is highly dependent on local geography - whether meat, vegetable, or mineral. You may have heard that beef requires thousands of litres of water to grow, but those figures come from arid regions of the world where the cattle are fed grains or soybeans - the impact is therefore enormous and destructive relying on piped in water. Our Yorkshire Galloways reared on the top of Wharfedale however munch on lush pasture in the environment they were bred for - windswept, marginal land which isn't good for much else. It's a world away from livestock production on an industrial scale. We don't want for rainfall up here in Yorkshire and the happy herd simply drinks from troughs fed by small springs and becks. The Galloways require practically no inputs and live in balance with their surroundings boosting the ecosystem through their selective grazing and top notch cow pats which helps with soil health. On the other hand, 2000 litres of water are needed to grow 1kg of avocados, which is often piped in. The avocados imported into the UK are often grown in severely water-distressed regions of the world, adding pressure on local resources and potentially harming ecosystems and local food supply.
