• usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Many of those types of crops used for feed aren't really aligned all that well. Corn for instance isn't going used so heavily in a plant-based diet as it is subsidized (corn is the most subsidized crop in the US). There is also separate food-grade and feed-grade soybeans. 90% of US soy production is going to feed (and not to mention a good portion of the other 10% is going to soybean oil which is not super helpful for a plant-based meat)

    90% of U.S. soybeans produced are used as a high-quality protein source for animal feed

    https://soygrowers.com/key-issues-initiatives/key-issues/other/animal-ag/

    Further, they are still getting massive amounts of direct subsidies

    The Department of Agriculture has spent almost $50 billion in subsidies for livestock operators since 1995, according to an EWG analysis.

    By contrast, since 2018 the USDA has spent less than $30 million to support plant-based and other alternative proteins that may produce fewer greenhouse gases and may require less land than livestock.

    https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2022/02/usda-livestock-subsidies-near-50-billion-ewg-analysis-finds

    Also worth mentioning that beans are not particularly highly subsidized unless you are counting soybeans mentioned earlier.