Global outlook of cattle industry: Humans just love beef and dairy products, which means we have lots cows moving around. Cows are estimated at 1.5bn globally in fact. But their burps, farts and dung have an impact on the environment. One and a half billion…That's a huge number of cows - roughly one cow for every five people on the planet. Some countries, like New Zealand, have more cows than people. That's also a lot of cows doing a lot of farting and burping - something which scientists say is bad for the planet.(The top producers of beef are Brazil, China, EU, India and Argentina (USDA, 2022))The top exporters are Brazil, USA, India and Australia. The top importers are China, Japan, South Korea, Chile and the UK (USDA, 2022).Cows produce methane gas during their digestion process, including when they poop. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and, given the large numbers of cattle on earth, the sector is a significant contributor to global warming.Depending on which study you look at, researchers say animal husbandry (which includes the whole process of looking after animals - not just burps) is responsible for either 18 or 51 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. (The studies used different research methods hence the divergent outcomes.) Yet another study, found that one cow produces enough methane annually to do the same damage as four tons of CO2.

Guest in studio: Gugulethu G. Xaba -Chairman Adamo Holdings (Pty) Ltd / Amandla Omnotho