Agricultural water needs will increase no matter what is done

Even without livestock, crop irrigation needs will continue to grow due to increased droughts. In France, the authors of the study "Perspective of the food system and its energy and carbon forecast", by the National Research Institute for Food and the Environment (acronym INRAE ​​in French), state that the food system is heading towards great frugality in 2050 or for a productive society with major changes in lifestyles compared to today.

In any case, water consumption for irrigation will increase in both scenarios. And even if there is a reduction in meat consumption, as those who constantly attack livestock farming due to their water consumption want.

In fact, the need for water for irrigation will only change. Corn grain, for example, generally irrigated, most used to feed livestock, will be replaced by legumes for human consumption, which will require water towers due to drier production conditions.

Meat in just three stages of life

While we wait to see which scenario our society is heading towards, Christian Huyghe, scientific director of Inrae, reminds us that, globally, "an increase in GDP is the most frequent synonym of a reduction in the share of vegetable proteins in the human diet".

However, he continues, "plant proteins may be sufficient to meet the needs of a vast majority of human beings. There are only three stages of life in which meat seems absolutely necessary for a human being: when a woman is pregnant, during the growth phase of a child and at the end of life, because in old age the human body fixes proteins very poorly". The rest is a social choice.

Food safety

Beyond these physiological considerations, the main issue for Christian Huyghe remains France's food sovereignty. He recalls in passing that this consists of "the country being able to decide how to feed itself without constraints or external pressure. This does not necessarily mean that all food must be produced in France". Inrae's scientific director concludes by insisting: "Food security is synonymous with health security, we cannot forget that."