Beef cattle need 28 times more land and 11 times more irrigation water than pork, poultry, eggs or dairy. The research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While it has long been known that beef has a greater environmental impact than other meats, the authors of this paper say theirs is the first to quantify the scale in a comparative way.
Beef footprint
The researchers developed a uniform methodology that they were able to apply to all five livestock categories and to four measures of environmental performance. "We have a sharp view of the comparative impact that beef, pork, poultry, dairy and eggs have in terms of land and water use, reactive nitrogen discharge, and greenhouse gas emissions," lead author Prof Gidon Eshel, from Bard College in New York, told BBC News. "The uniformity and expansive scope is novel, unique, and important," he said. The scientists used data from from 2000-2010 from the US department of agriculture to calculate the amount of resources required for all the feed consumed by edible livestock. They then worked out the amount of hay, silage and concentrates such as soybeans required by the different species to put on a kilo of weight.
Based on my perception perception the word apply might mean use . But I am not sure whether I'm right or not. My perception also tells me that the word uniform has to do with the words alike or similar.
I am wondering if anybody here could simplify the meaning of these words for me, not the meaning of the sentences, just the meaning of these words in simple English. A million thanks in advance.