Analysis

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Time to eat your veggies

By: Heather Moore

Posted: 08/13/2012 1:37 PM | Comments: 0

The drought gripping the United States is the widest since 1956, according to data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (AP Photo archives / Nati Harnik)

Dry enough for you? No one needs to be reminded that the nation is experiencing the worst drought in half a century, with nearly two-thirds of the continental U.S. suffering from drought conditions. The dry, hot weather is fueling wildfires, scorching lawns and sending food prices soaring — especially for people who eat meat, eggs and dairy products.

If you’re concerned about your grocery bills — or your health — now would be a good time to start buying vegan foods instead of animal-based ones.

Farmed animals are fed more than 70 per cent of the grains grown in the U.S. It takes 4.5 pounds of grain to make just one pound of chicken meat and 7.3 pounds of grain to produce a pound of pork. Now that many corn, wheat and soybean crops have been damaged or destroyed because of the drought, feed prices are soaring. It’s so bad that some meat companies, including Smithfield Foods, have even started importing corn from Brazil. Guess who’s going to foot the bill.

Meat-eaters can expect to see a spike in prices in the coming months. Consumers who eat cheese will probably also have to pick up the tab for all the calves who died from heat stress on Midwestern dairy farms in July.

Shoppers will likely see higher prices at the chicken counter first, though. The birds are fed mostly corn, and since chicken farmers engineer them to grow unnaturally fast, chicken flesh tends to reach the market quicker than beef or pork.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that chicken and turkey prices will rise 3.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent and that egg prices will likely climb by as much as four per cent. Beef prices are also expected to rise between 3.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent this year and then by four or five per cent in 2013. Pork will cost more in the coming year as well.

It’s cheaper, not to mention healthier and kinder, to eat grains and soybeans — and all the foods that can be made from them — directly rather than funneling them through farmed animals to produce animal products. The amount of feed needed to produce one eight-ounce steak would fill 45 to 50 bowls with cooked cereal grains. And while shoppers will see a spike in milk and meat prices, they probably won’t see a significant increase in the cost of corn on the cob, cornflakes or other plant-based foods sold in supermarkets. The corn that consumers buy at the grocery store is grown differently from the corn that’s used to feed animals and isn’t as severely affected by drought conditions.

Whole grains, beans, vegetables and other wholesome plant-based foods are even more of a bargain when you factor in the medical bills that you might rack up if you eat lots of fatty, cholesterol-laden meats, eggs and dairy products.

Of course, choosing vegan foods isn’t just a good way to save animals or money at the supermarket. It’s also an easy way to help conserve water — you can save more water by not eating one pound of meat than you can by not showering for six months. Even a collaborative rain dance likely wouldn’t make that much of a difference!

Whether you’re watching your budget, your waistline or just the weather channel, it’ll pay to go vegan. But if you need some extra exercise, feel free to do a rain dance anyway.

Heather Moore is a staff writer for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Foundation

— McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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