Skip to main content Skip to secondary navigation

Beef and dairy subsidies in the United States: A preliminary cost estimate

Quantifying meat and dairy subsidies is a critical step in designing and proposing credible, matching subsidies for non-animal alternatives, which have significant scope to reduce gigatons of CO2 emissions over the coming decades. Industrial beef and dairy are the highest GHG-emission elements of the U.S. food supply, yet they are highly subsidized via commodity subsidies and compliance exemptions. Alternatives to high-emissions industrial beef and dairy, either regenerative or bio-engineered, must overcome both incumbents and their subsidies for market viability.