Have you ever thought about what would happen if the livestock industry ended?

Livestock is a very important pillar of the world economy, moving about US$ 838.3 billion, which is equivalent to about R$ 4 trillion. In Brazil alone, the meat industry moves about BRL 67 million a month, not including BRL 5 billion in imports, according to data from the 2020 Comex.

Read too: Federal government announces measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the economy

Although there is a big movement of "free meat" currently, its consumption is only growing. About 346.14 million tons of meat are consumed around the world, and this number tends to grow until 2030, reaching 453 million tons per year — an increase of 44%.

According to the Statista Global Consumer Survey, in which people from 39 different countries were interviewed, 89% of participants answered that they include meat in their diet. The survey also showed that the country with the highest consumption of meat is the United States, where an average of 120 kg of meat are consumed per year per person.

What would happen if meat consumption ended?

Have you ever thought about what would happen if the population stopped eating meat? Well, at first, we would have a big decrease in the emission of greenhouse gases, which would be very beneficial for the planet.

According to a study by Marco Springmann, a researcher at the Future of Food program at the Oxford Martin School, if everyone adhered to veganism by 2050, we would have a 70% drop in the emission of gases related to the livestock. This is an almost impossible scenario, but researchers reinforce that the reduction in meat consumption alone would help the future of the planet.

Of the 5 billion agricultural lands in the world, 68% is devoted to livestock. Without meat consumption, 80% of this land could be restored to forests, increasing biodiversity and alleviating the climate scenario we live in.

Currently, one third of the plantations are intended for livestock feed. If the scenario we are showing happened, we could increase the food supply by 10% to 20%, to make up for the lack of meat. It would be a very time-consuming restoration process, but one that in the long run would result in many benefits for the population.

On people's health, the effect would also be very beneficial, as it is proven that vegetarianism leads to a reduction in mortality, due to the decrease in the onset of heart disease, diabetes, strokes and some types of cancer.

With the reduction of chronic diseases, the public health system would save a good part of the expenses, generating savings of 2% to 3% of the global GDP. In addition, 7 million deaths could be prevented per year.

Negative points

But not everything is perfect. For such a radical change, an efficient organization would be needed to relocate industrial workers, who would be unemployed. In this case, it would be necessary to reinsert them into the labor market, focusing on adapting these workers.

In addition, all this change could negatively affect underdeveloped countries, which could experience increased levels of poverty and hunger, causing an even greater food insecurity crisis. However, if the transition is carried out well, starting with rich and well-developed countries, this idea could bear much fruit.

Lover of movies and series and everything that involves cinema. An active curious on the networks, always connected to information about the web.