The gas production, need for space, and food requirements required by organic and free-range livestock hurt the environment more than their traditional counterparts, the BBC reports. Organic poultry can heat the earth some 45% more than indoor poultry, one group said; and a UN division found that farm animals heat the Earth more than transport. The reports have led experts to push indoor "precision husbandry."
Livestock kept outside require more food, since outdoor animals burn calories moving and keeping warm; and space used for roaming could be used to for climate-healthy forests. But indoor “intensive dairy farms,” for instance, “[allow] us to control what we do with what comes out of the cow much better,” says a researcher. But some question whether that method serves animals’ needs.