New Videos: Exploring India’s Expanding Dairy and Beef Industries

In this new two-part video series, Brighter Green examines the challenges and effects of India’s beef and dairy industries.

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Part I:

Part II:


India today has the largest dairy herd of cows and buffalo in the world. To meet growing domestic demand, mainly for milk, India’s cow and buffalo populations are increasing. At the same time, global as well as home-grown agribusinesses are making their mark on India, seeking to expand production through industrial style facilities. Beef is also a growing business in India, and a major source of the country’s export income. These developments have multiple impacts for India’s food security, natural resources, the cows and buffalo themselves, and the global climate.

India’s cows and buffalo are the largest global livestock emitters of methane, a greenhouse gas that’s at least 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. These animals also require significant amounts of feed and water, resources already under considerable pressure given India’s large and growing human population. According to the World Bank, by 2020, India’s land, water and air will be under more strain than anywhere else in the world.

For more on the globalization of factory farming in India, and other parts of the world, click here. Stay tuned for Brighter Green’s forthcoming paper investigating these issues. For a summary of the research, click here.