Calories to crude protein ratios

Understanding the finer linkages between food systems and biodiversity conservation is important in our search for sustainability.

Here’s an important but poorly understood one: metabolic energy to crude protein ratios in livestock feeds:

~Feed contributes 70% of poultry production costs

~60% of poultry feed is made up of cereal

~Cereal comprises 80% carbohydrates

~Carbohydrates provide most of the metabolic energy required for poultry production

By comparison, python production requires:

~ 90% less metabolic energy

~ roughly the same diet as poultry barring the cereal component

In other words, if we substitute chicken fillets with python fillets, we could potentially substitute over 50% of our costly monocultures with rewilding projects without losing a gram of cheap animal protein!