Have you ever eaten goat’s meat? Our restaurant critic David Ellis says it’s delicious: like lamb but tougher and tastier, best in a stew or any kind of slow-cooked dish. You’d better brush up on your recipes for casseroles and vindaloos, then, for in the next few years you could be looking at rows of goat’s meat next to dwindling portions of Argentine beef on UK supermarket shelves.
Climate change is transforming the way we farm all over the world: and in those parts most directly affected by the crisis, cows are out in favour of less demanding grazers who can survive on less food and less water. In the Limpopo region of northeast South Africa, pastures that have long teetered on the edge of collapse are beginning to farm goats, who are more adaptable than both cattle and sheep, surviving off the leaves and fruit of the acacia tree. They are also becoming a popular farming animal in Brazil, the world’s second largest producer of beef after America.
It comes as Donald Trump announced on Monday that he was pulling the US out of the Paris climate agreement and after 2024 became the first year on record where the average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Cow farming is a major contributor to this crisis. Based on data in the Animals Frontiers Journal, it emits an estimated 5.3bn tonnes of CO2 equivalents (methane and nitrous oxide) every year; planes, by contrast, emit only 491.6m tonnes. Although rearing cattle for milk and meat is as old a practice as civilised man himself, the sector could now be bringing about its own demise. The loss of rainfall and rise of droughts in the world’s most vulnerable regions – where farming cattle has become unprofitable – has been driven, in part, by industrial farming in more developed countries. Places like Limpopo aren't helped by a lack of climate technology – irrigation systems that could alleviate the strain are all but absent from these arid plains.
Anya Doherty, CEO of Footsteps, a company helping global food businesses reduce their environmental impact, draws my attention to parts of the world that have successfully learnt to innovate. In Southeast Asia, for instance, "there has been a major shift towards aquaculture, with an abundance of fisheries in places like Vietnam and Thailand". In Zambia, southern Africa, innovation is yielding successful returns for the nation's crops despite being battered by the El Niño weather phenomenon. The government has made climate adaptation "a top priority", a spokesman for President Hakainde Hichilema says – a goal achieved "by planting "early maize" varieties in October-November which can be harvested as early as March, maximising the rainy season before the weather turns dry again." Last year, farmers were able to harvest 146,000 tonnes of early maize despite the drought, the spokesman says; and "Hichilema is aiming to achieve 10 million tonnes of total maize production by 2027.”
Even in more developed countries like the US, farmers are beginning to bear the brunt of the climate crisis and adapting by farming camels – for milk as well as meat – who can survive without water for up to 15 days. The largest farm in the country, located in Missouri, now spans over 1,000 acres and hosts over 200 of the humped animals.
Camels already contribute about 8 per cent of total milk production in Sub-Saharan Africa, while market research estimates the global camel milk trade could exceed $13bn by the end of the decade. That’s up from $1.3bn in 2022, according to Databridge market research. As for the camel meat market, it’s expected to reach $2.33bn by the end of the decade, up from was $1.6 billion in 2023.
Camel tastes a lot like beef, though more gamey (it’s a rich, dark meat – lean and protein-dense). As with goat, serve in a broth or stew with cardamon. And a side of rice.
