The executive summary of a European study, “Nitrogen on the Table,” says if Europe reduced its meat consumption, it “would reduce nitrogen air and water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions, while freeing up large areas of farmland for other purposes such as food export or bioenergy.” The full report is to be issued next month.
Said Henk Westhoek, lead author of the report and program manager for Agriculture and Food at PBL, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, “If all people within the EU would halve their meat and dairy consumption, this would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by 25 to 40%, and nitrogen emissions by 40%.” The Science Daily story is available here.