If factory farming was banned the cost of meat would rise substantially and we would probably eat less of it. This would have the double benefit of improving animal welfare and improving the health of millions so bring it on.

@Moravian

Do you believe the consumption of meat itself is damaging to health, or the type of foods sometimes associated with meat consumption, i.e. burgers, chicken wings, bacon and many processed versions? This may go hand in hand with other less optimal food choices, like pizza and potato chips, that may also contribute to poor health.

French fries and beer are vegan. Bagels, pretzels and popcorn are too. I'm curious to understand from the perspective of someone who considers less meat consumption the healthier way, for physical health (we know reducing it would be better for the environment), if there's a distinction that can be made? This would be between the type of meat consumed, versus any kind of meat consumption.

Please don't feel obligated to answer. I'm curious to know for my own understanding, also realizing that opinions about this will vary greatly.

@Athena Firstly thank for your polite response, not something we always get here. Whilst I agree that eating processed food and junk food are a much greater health risk than eating meat, the need for cheap meat has meant that it now mostly comes from factory farmed chickens and pigs and cattle in feedlots. Leaving aside the animal welfare aspect the animals have to be treated with drugs to keep them healthy which we can then ingest.
I was brought up in a time when dinner was "meat and two veg" with fish once a week but the meat was not intensively reared and we knew where it came from
I now eat fish much more frequently and have at least a couple of meat free days a week.
If we have a trade deal with the US after Brexit it is likely that we will be pressured into buying chlorine dipped chicken and beef from cows treated as a matter of course with antibiotics and there are obvious reasons why they have to be treated that way
there is a govt initiate here to have us eating less meat for health reasons
This link gives some interesting points

[independent.co.uk]

@Moravian

Thank you so much! I appreciate the link as well. I'll get to that later today.

@ToolGuy apart from on mixed farms (crops and livestock) which are not so common these days most fertiliser is artificial. In fact most phosphate fertiliser is mined in north Africa and is a finite resource so we may have problems in the future.

Rotating crops and growing a leguminous crop to be ploughed in regularly will take care of the nitrogen problem.

@ToolGuy

Are there any vegans on this site, I wonder? I don't see replies from any of them regarding this. I am truly curious about their vision (without judgement toward the vegan lifestyle).

@ToolGuy I am not a vegan or even a vegetarian but whether we grow crops to eat or crops to feed farm animals we still have to keep the land fertile and the waste from factory farms is more of a pollutant than an asset.

Even more of a problem in the future may be a shortage of water and cattle need much more than arable crops do., apart from maybe Almonds which are particularly thirsty.