crop thatprovidesfood ediblebyhumanbeings, theresult
will be a netgain of protein for humanbeings, since the
grown calf provides us with protein that we
cannot—yet—extracteconomicallyfromgrass.Butifwetake
that same calf and place him in a feedlot, or any other
confinement system, the picture changes. The calf must
nowbefed.Nomatterhowlittlespaceheandhiscompanions
are crowded into, land must be used to grow the corn,
sorghum,soybeans,orwhateveritisthatthecalfeats.Now
wearefeedingthecalffoodthatweourselvescouldeat.The
calfneeds most ofthisfood fortheordinaryphysiological
processesofday-to-dayliving.Nomatterhowseverelythe
calfis prevented from exercising,his bodymust still burn
foodmerelytokeephimalive.Thefoodisalsousedtobuild
inediblepartsofthecalf’sbody,likebones.Onlythefoodleft
overaftertheseneedsaresatisfiedcanbeturnedintoflesh,
and eventually be eaten by human beings.
Howmuchoftheproteininhisfooddoesthecalfuseup,and
how much is available for human beings? The answer is
surprising.Ittakestwenty-onepoundsofproteinfedtoacalf
toproduceasinglepoundofanimalproteinforhumans.We
getbacklessthan 5 percentofwhatweputin.Nowonder
thatFrancesMooreLappéhascalledthiskindoffarming“a
protein factory in reverse”!^3
Wecanputthematteranotherway.Assumewehaveoneacre
offertileland.Wecanusethisacretogrowahigh-protein
plant food, likepeas or beans. If we do this, wewill get
betweenthree hundredand fivehundredpoundsof protein
fromouracre.Alternatively wecanuseouracretogrowa
crop that we feed to animals, and then kill and eat the
animals.Thenwewillendupwithbetweenfortyandfifty-