Much of the flora and fauna of this planet is being extinguished to make room for people, and for those plants or animals that have an economic -or sentimental- value to us.

FLORA: In the near future (and I am not talking in thousands of years, but decades), most of the fields will be seed with wheat, corn, and other grains, or good potatoes (and not the many varieties of "bad" potatoes that the Incas used to cultivate, that would be too wasteful).  And we will have eatable expands of vegetables.  Our forests will be made of fruit trees, or of those trees that grow fast and have lots of cellulose (such as pines and eucalypts) from which we can make good furniture, paper napkins and newspapers.  Other species of plants will be the "dandelions" that our corporations find uneconomical, and will try to weed out for their lack of "value".  As I am writing this, thousands of acres of natural forests are being destroyed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brazil, Colombia, Nigeria, Congo, ... the list of countries is very long.  You know that!

FAUNA: As far as animals, we will have PLENTY of dogs and cats, and then  ... chickens, turkeys and cows.  Pigs have too much fatty tissue, and pork meat has too much cholesterol.  Wild animals will become a nuisance -or danger- to have nearby,  or too costly to maintain in zoos (because their habitats have been taken over by several billions of humans who desperately need the land and natural resources).

That would be pretty much it.   Do not think I am joking or exaggerating too much.  

THE "DOG LIFE" OF A COW: Furthermore, let's expand on some of those few animal species that will survive extinction. 

1. Even today, 93% of the cows get pregnant  with artificial insemination, no sire needed.  It is too expensive and dangerous -they say- to have sires in the property.  They are difficult to handle.  Cows spend most of their 8 to 10 years of lifespan often without seeing a bull.   They go crazy, lacking sexual partners they try to mount each other.  It is an spectacle.
2. Male calves are quickly sent to the slaughterhouse, their meat is tender and very much appreciated.  They only keep female calves, that would grow to become milking cows. 
3. No cow will produce milk unless is pregnant -of course.  Therefore all ordinary and extraordinary measures are in place at the farm to make sure that every 13 months a cow gets pregnant.  If they do have some slight "infertility problem" and do not keep up with the production schedule they go to the slaughter house. Farmers say with the current price of milk, is not affordable to do otherwise.  And they really work hard for a small margin on the quart of milk.  
4.  Moreover, after decades of artificially insemination and human intervention, cows have such huge abnormal udders these days that many have great difficulty even walking. Their teats are so awkwardly displaced -almost touching the floor- that cannot nurse their young.
5. But that is not important, because it is too expensive to allow calves to milk anyway.  Farmers feed their calves a powder mix that is a lot cheaper.  Even immediately after freshening -when the mothers milk is required- they feed that rich natural milk (called colostrums) with bottles.

Cows are becoming milk machines.  In my opinion we are being shortsighted, thinking in present benefits, and ignoring long term consequences.

The point I am trying to make here is that even with the best economic intentions -and precisely because of those intentions- we can make life on this planet a heck of a  Machiavellian one, unless we use foresightedness and Government leadership. 

We need to control population growth to a level where we can afford to look at the planet's flora and fauna from other perspectives, other than -simply- the economic one. 

  (the graph that follows is courtesy of "The State of the World Atlas")