True, but much of that grassland cannot be used for crop production — it’s not as simple as looking at how much land is given over to cows, if little else could be grown there instead. 2/3 of the world’s land surface is estimated to be non-arable, and much of this could be used to support grazing livestock.

That’s not to say grass-reared cattle are inherently good, but they do avoid two of the big problems associated with industrial farms — excessive deforestation (from mass soy grain production) and poor animal husbandry (a major contributor to antibiotic resistance, according to the WHO).