Dr. Frank Mitloehner provides some practical reference stories from Europe on the viability of standard small operations that would struggle to produce the quantity of food for the growing population. His example story is from the first ‘Bioenergiedorf’ (bioenergy village) Jühnde, in the heart of Germany, where the inhabitants are implementing 21st century energy production systems on top of dairy operations utilizing 1960's production technology.
Most of the dairy barns have not been modernized since the 1960s-’70s, and the scale of production has always been extremely small, especially to someone like me, who is used to California dairies and other concentrated feeding operations. A 100-head dairy is considered a large operation in this idyllic village and other places throughout central Europe.
Dr. Mitloehner highlights that the small dairy farm approach traditional in Europe actually creates a larger carbon footprint than larger operations with 1000's of cows. Dr. Mitloehner advocates for a global green revolution in animal agriculture, "coupled with technology transfers, to supply a growing demand for animal protein, while providing environmental stewardship by using sustainable and modern production practices."
BeefCast
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