> Are we convinced growing these crops are good for the environment?

They don't have to be good, just less bad than producing meat. It is almost impossible to create any food that has a larger impact than beef [1].

[1] https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local

I’m actually pretty sure anything we do too much is bad somehow.

The question is more around the « too much » than around what we do.

What do you think the meat machines / cows are fed with? Even more of the same crops but with a high percentage of loss of calories since they only transform a small part of it into edible meat