scholarly journals Nutrient provision capacity of alternative livestock farming systems per area of arable farmland required

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. F. Lee ◽  
J. P. Domingues ◽  
G. A. McAuliffe ◽  
M. Tichit ◽  
F. Accatino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Livestock Farming Systems

AbstractAlthough climate impacts of ruminant agriculture are a major concern worldwide, using policy instruments to force grazing farms out of the livestock industry may diminish opportunities to produce nutritious food without exacerbating the food-feed competition for fertile and accessible land resources. Here, we present a new set of quantitative evidence to demonstrate that, per unit of overall nutrient value supplied by a given commodity, the demand for land suitable for human-edible crop production is considerably smaller under ruminant systems than monogastric systems, and consistently so at both farm and regional scales. We also demonstrate that imposition of a naïvely designed “red meat tax” has the potential to invite socioeconomic losses far greater than its environmental benefits, due largely to the induced misallocation of resources at the national scale. Our results reiterate the risk inherent in an excessively climate-focused debate on the role of livestock in human society and call for more multidimensional approaches of sustainability assessment to draw better-balanced policy packages.

Contribution of livestock farming systems to the nitrogen cascade and consequences for farming regions

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (s1) ◽  
pp. 8-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Cellier ◽  
P. Rochette ◽  
P. Durand ◽  
P. Faverdin ◽  
P. J. Kuikman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Livestock Farming Systems ◽  
Animal Density ◽  
Animal Excreta ◽  
Nitrogen Flows

This article describes the nitrogen flows in the environment and points to the specificities of the livestock production. Till the beginning of the 20th century, the symbiotic fixation and the recycling of animal excreta supplied the nitrogen necessary for the fertility of soil. In 1913, the Haber-Bosch process allowed the industrial synthesis of ammonia and made possible the fertilisation without association of crop production with the livestock farming. The efficiency of the nitrogen in livestock farming is low with nearly half or more of the inputs losses to the environment. These losses have diverse impacts that intervene at various spatial scales owing to the nitrogen cascade. Quantitative assessment of nitrogen flows at the scale of regions started in the early 1980s in Western Europe and North America. These studies provided estimates of the spatial variability of nitrogen discharge within a region. They confirmed the differences between areas with a high animal density such as Brittany (western region, France) and other regions. It was also found that the same nitrogenous losses could lead to different levels of environmental impacts according to the sensibility of a given environment and its capacity to cope with nitrogen excess. Climate, soils characteristics, animal density, and proportions of agricultural land under annual and perennial crops are drivers of this sensibility.

scholarly journals Agroecological practices to support tropical livestock farming systems: a Caribbean and Latin American perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisele Alexandre ◽  
Lylian Rodriguez ◽  
Javier Arece ◽  
José Delgadillo ◽  
Gary Wayne Garcia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Livestock Farming Systems ◽  
American Perspective

scholarly journals Nanotechnology and Reproductive Management of Farm Animals: Challenges and Advances

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1932
Author(s):  
Nesrein M. Hashem ◽  
Antonio Gonzalez-Bulnes
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategies ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Biological Molecules ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Physiological Status ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Reproductive Management ◽  
Livestock Farming Systems ◽  
Reproductive Disease ◽  
Nutritional Strategies

Reproductive efficiency of farm animals has central consequences on productivity and profitability of livestock farming systems. Optimal reproductive management is based on applying different strategies, including biological, hormonal, nutritional strategies, as well as reproductive disease control. These strategies should not only guarantee sufficient reproductive outcomes but should also comply with practical and ethical aspects. For example, the efficiency of the biological- and hormonal-based reproductive strategies is mainly related to several biological factors and physiological status of animals, and of nutritional strategies, additional factors, such as digestion and absorption, can contribute. In addition, the management of reproductive-related diseases is challenged by the concerns regarding the intensive use of antibiotics and the development of antimicrobial resistant strains. The emergence of nanotechnology applications in livestock farming systems may present innovative and new solutions for overcoming reproductive management challenges. Many drugs (hormones and antibiotics), biological molecules, and nutrients can acquire novel physicochemical properties using nanotechnology; the main ones are improved bioavailability, higher cellular uptake, controlled sustained release, and lower toxicity compared with ordinary forms. In this review, we illustrate advances in the most common reproductive management strategies by applying nanotechnology, considering the current challenges of each strategy.

Options for the better use of less nitrogen on livestock farms

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (s1) ◽  
pp. 59-67
Author(s):  
J.-L. Peyraud ◽  
P. Cellier ◽  
P. Dupraz ◽  
F. Aarts ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Aquatic Environments ◽  
Ammonia Emissions ◽  
Ecological State ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Livestock Farming Systems ◽  
Northern European ◽  
International Regulations ◽  
Nitrates Directive

The previous articles have shown that preoccupations concerning discharge of nitrate emissions are not recent, even if they have not yet resulted in expected reductions. The Water Framework Directive, which aims at a ‘good’ ecological state of all aquatic environments in 2015, enlarges the objectives of the Nitrates Directive. We are currently witnessing the broadening of objectives for reducing emissions of all forms of nitrogen from livestock farming systems to other compartments, in particular the atmosphere. The reduction of ammonia emissions, which was a little concerned by the French context until now, is a priority for animal systems in several northern European countries. It is a subject of intense efforts of international regulations.

scholarly journals Evolution of livestock farming systems and landscape changes

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (3s) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Ramanzin ◽  
Luca M. Battaglini ◽  
Luciano Morbidini ◽  
Mariano Pauselli ◽  
Giuseppe Pulina
Keyword(s):  
Farming Systems ◽  
Landscape Changes ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Livestock Farming Systems

Novel approaches to evaluate sustainability of pasture-based livestock systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-190
Author(s):  
A. Bernués
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Market Price ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Livestock Farming Systems ◽  
Livestock Systems

Pasture-based livestock systems, often located in High Value Nature farmland areas, hold the greatest potential to deliver public goods across European agricultural systems. They play an important role in preserving agricultural landscapes, farmland biodiversity, cultural heritage, and in sustaining rural development. However, many of these functions are ignored in evaluation frameworks because public goods do not have market price and are often ignored in policy design, so farmers do not get the appropriate incentives to provide them. Different conceptual frameworks can be utilized to evaluate the multiple functions or services of these systems: Multifunctional Agriculture, Ecosystem Services, and Total Economic Value. We analyze the common characteristics of these concepts (e.g. they place human benefits and societal demands at the core of their definitions), their specificities (e.g. use of different units of analysis and spatial-temporal scales), and how they can be embedded in the wider concept of sustainability. Finally, we illustrate how the different concepts can be combined to evaluate pasture-based livestock farming systems from a socio-cultural and economic perspective. The public goods (ecosystem services) provided by representative case studies in Mediterranean and Nordic regions are quantified (also in monetary terms) under different environmental/policy scenarios. The results show that there is a clear underestimation of the socio-cultural and economic values of ecosystem services provided by these farming systems. They also show that the social welfare loss linked to further abandonment of livestock farming, and the associated environmental degradation, is very large. From a societal perspective, it is necessary to jointly measure the biophysical, socio-cultural and monetary values of ecosystem services (market and nonmarket) in order to promote the sustainability of pasture-based livestock systems.

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