Food for Thought (in 5 courses)
1) Photosynthesis is the production of carbohydrate & O2 from CO2 & H2O
1) Photosynthesis is the production of carbohydrate & O2 from CO2 & H2O
2) Cellulose & starch (both polysaccharides) differ in their bonds between the glucose units. No vertebrate make cellulase, the enzyme needed to cleave the bonds in cellulose. Thus we cannot directly utilize the most abundant carbohydrate in the biosphere.
3) Perhaps that's why most of the animals humanity has domesticate have been herbivores, with ruminants being the largest group. Their specialized digestion anatomy & their rumen microbial populations allow them to utilize high-fiber, low quality feedstuffs.
4) Most of the farmland in the US is NOT farmland. The majority of the farmland here is producing #forage, plants meant to be eaten by livestock, primarily by #ruminants. Most of this is land that cannot/should not be producing cereals or other human-utilizable crops.
5) Beef animals spend most of their lives eating mostly/wholly forage diets. If/when they enter a feedlot, they still consume forage. In the US 42% of the total beef produced is from forage. Less grain is fed to support the nation's beef production than is fed to pork or poultry.
Bonus course - Since in mammals carbohydrate will become fat, maybe it's better to let the ruminants (whose diet is based largely on carbohydrates unutilizable by humans) convert them into fat FOR us INSTEAD of us? Ruminants RULE!
*Meant* to write "Most of the land in the US is NOT farmland." Sigh...
