Meat or Wheat: Which is more cost effective to grow?

Answering questions like these, whilst simple, are also complicated. Please refer to the links below to see the actual cost of growing an acre of wheat.

Nutritional value of pastured beef per pound:

Calories: 1256
Protein: 115 g
Fat: 84.6 g, (Saturated: 33.3 g)
Cholesterol: 398.9 mg
Sodium: 367.2 mg

Beef consist of 56% water, 25% protein, 19% fat, and less than 1% of carbohydrates.

Beef is an excellent source of many nutrients, including protein, calcium, iron, potassium, riboflavin, niacin, Vitamin B6, pantothenic acid and Vitamin B12. It also contains significant amounts of magnesium, thiamin, selenium, zinc, copper, phosphorus and choline.

Nutritional value of wheat per pound:

Calories: 1542
Total Fat 11g
Saturated Fat 2g
Sodium 9.1mg 0 %
Total Carbohydrate 326g
Protein 60g
Vitamin D 0.00mcg
Calcium 154.22mg
Iron 16.33mg
Potassium 1647mg

Wheat contains only traces of the minerals in beef.


The monetary cost of raising one acre of wheat:

https://agecoext.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021D8Wheat.pdf

How the farm bill makes untenable subsidy crops profitable for corporations:

https://blog.ucsusa.org/ricardo-salvador/in-the-final-stretch-of-the-farm-bill-keep-an-eye-on-crop-insurance-crop-insurance/

https://belonging.berkeley.edu/farm-bill-report-corporate-power-and-structural-racialization-us-food-system/part4

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/monocrops-theyre-a-problem-but-farmers-arent-the-ones-who-can-solve-it/2014/05/09/8bfc186e-d6f8-11e3-8a78-8fe50322a72c_story.html

http://notenoughgood.com/2011/07/king-crops-part-1/