Replacing red meat diets with grain

Summary

The possible implications of a shift away from red meat consumption towards an increasingly plant based diet for the human population are extremely complex and difficult to identify with any certainty. A detailed/comprehensive study was required to canvass the range of possible scenarios and issues, allowing more comprehensive findings and outcomes to be documented. A simplified preliminary analysis was designed to consider four specific questions: 
-  How much protein and energy does the red meat industry produce for human consumption each year? 
-  How much grain is required to replace this protein and energy (based on the current proportions of wheat, barley, oats and pulses)? 
-  What yield increases are required to generate the additional grain across the recognised grain belt? 
-  What additional inputs (fertiliser, herbicides, insecticides) are required to drive the additional yield? 
The analysis used available data at a national level (e.g. ABS and ABARE information), to consider each of these four questions. Nutritional information was obtained from peer-reviewed sources. However a lack of available data, made it difficult to consider the additional inputs required to drive additional yield in the grains industry.