Kathleen Meister

In the following viewpoint, Kathleen Meister disagrees with claims by the Beyond Beef Coalition that beef consumption contributes to environmental degradation and hunger. Meister argues that cattle graze primarily on poor quality land that is unusable for crops and that rather than destroying grasslands, cattle enrich them with their manure. Meister contends that grain constitutes only 15–20 percent of the feed that U.S. cattle consume and that such grain would not necessarily become available to the world’s hungry people if it were not fed to cattle. Meister is a freelance science writer and a former research associate for the American Council on Science and Health in New York City.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What have been the causes of most major famines in the twentieth century, according...