Land Use for Meat in UK is Larger Than UK

Jamie in Chile

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This drew immediate attention when I posted it to facebook and another group with a much larger following reposted it. I think it's worth sharing both with other vegans/vegetarians so they can share it, and also in non-vegan groups, it is something different that catches the eye and isn't well known, give it a go.

It's amazing how many people are genuinely confused and think that the area shown on the map as "built up" is supposed to be built up, and don't understand that it is a proportion of the total area randomly allocated. It may be worth explaining this because some people actually look at the map and are genuinely confused and think that the area that says "cereals" is literally corresponding to the actual geographical area where the cereals are grown! In spite of this confusion I think it's worth it, because you will get way more attention with a graphical image than if you shared some stats.

I bet this is true for other developed, densely populated countries like Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Belgium etc.
 
Given there isn't enough land to feed the UK's large population that isn't surprising. What would be interesting is to convert the UK's total tonnage of meat and dairy consumed to a protein equivalent and then work out how much land would be needed to produce that from an area of cropland. In terms of the UK pastureland, how much of that is not natural landscape (in the sense that it is relatively free to grow natural pasture, trees and shrubs and other diverse vegetation).
 
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