The Climate Report #373 | Does Grazing Cause Drought? | 5-1-23

The conventional wisdom is that cattle are bad for the climate and that overgrazing causes drought and desertification. But properly managed, cattle can turn deserts into grasslands.

It's not the cow. It's the how.

This episode is a review of an article by Christopher Ketcham in The New Republic. The article argues that drought in the American West is being worsened by the livestock industry.

I argue that cattle can be extremely beneficial, but they have to be managed properly. Government policy, from oil subsidies to water subsidies to tolerance of agribusiness monopolies, encourages all the wrong practices, at taxpayer expense.