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Animal production in a sustainable agriculture

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Abstract

This paper discusses the role of animal production systems in a sustainable society; sustainability problems within animal production systems; and four measures for the improvement of the contribution to societal sustainability from animal production. Substantial potentials for improvements are identified that were not previously known. The methodological basis is multi-criteria multi-level analysis within integrated assessment where elements in Impredicative Loop Analysis are integrated with management tools in Swedish agriculture and forestry developed during thousands of years, during which the well-being of the Swedish society and its economic and military power were functions of the land-use skill. The issue—the sustainability footprint of global animal production—is complex and available data are limited. The Swedish case is used as a starting point for an analysis of international relevance. Data from FAO and OECD support the relevance of extrapolating results from the Swedish case to level. The four measures are (i) decrease the consumption of chicken meat in developed nations with 2.6 kg per capita and year; (ii) develop the capacity of ruminants to produce high-quality food from otherwise marginal agroecosystems; (iii) improve milk production per cow with a factor four on global level; and (iv) increase feeding efficiency in milk production globally would substantially improve the societal contribution in terms of increased food supply and decreased pressure on land. The impact of measures (i), (iii) and (iv) on increased global food security was estimated to in total 1.8 billion people in terms of protein supply and a decreased pressure on agricultural land of 217 million ha, of which 41 relate to tropical forests. The 41 million ha of tropical land are due to a decreased demand on soymeal, where this represents more than a halving of total area now used for the production of soymeal. These impacts are of the character either or. The quality of the measures is as first-time estimates, supporting choices of where to direct further efforts in analysis. Two areas were identified as critical for achieving this potential: Feeding strategies to dairy cows as well as methods commonly used to evaluate the sustainability contribution of animal production needs adjustment, so that they comply with the “laws” of diminishing returns, Liebig’s “law” of the minimum and Shelford’s “law” of tolerance, that is, in agreement with well-known principles for efficient natural resource management and the priorities of UN Millennium Development Goals. If not, global food security is at risk.

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Notes

  1. Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

  2. FAOSTAT (2009), http://faostat.fao.org/site/377/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=377#ancor, accessed 2009-07-17.

  3. http://faostat.fao.org/site/569/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=569#ancor, accessed 2012-10-18.

  4. Based on own processing of data from FAOstat (2009).

  5. Currently (October 2012), 6.5 SEK correspond to around 1 US$ and 8.5 SEK correspond to around 1 €.

  6. For details in the calculations, contact the author.

  7. This is based on prices expressed in the Swedish society and economy.

  8. From FAOstat, http://faostat.fao.org/site/567/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=567#ancor, accessed 2009-08-16.

  9. From environmental performance of agriculture in OECD countries since 1990, http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=ENVPERFINDIC_TAD_2008, accessed in August 2009.

  10. From http://faostat.fao.org/site/569/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=569, accessed 2009-08-08.

  11. FAOstat. http://faostat.fao.org/site/569/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=569#ancor, accessed at 2010-01-04.

  12. This is not a critique against this student work; it is a critique regarding the choice to base such a fundamental change of such a fundamental relation in the most important production branch in Swedish agriculture on a work with such a low formal quality. This has an element of playing hazard with farmers’ economy through decreased natural resource efficiency (feed efficiency) as well as with the environment through the spectrum of environmental costs that may cause.

  13. The relevance of this assumption when designing feeding strategies on commercial herd level can be questioned. However, it is outside the scope of this article to treat that issue.

  14. The “environmental” aspects concern natural resources entering the economic system and emissions leaving it. The environment itself is located outside the system borders of the system of environmental economic accounts.

  15. http://eippcb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reference/BREF/ppm_bref_1201.pdf, accessed 2012-10-19.

  16. http://www.thenaturalstep.org/the-system-conditions, accessed 2009-06-14.

  17. For information, see http://www.krav.se/System/Spraklankar/In-English/KRAV-/, accessed 2009-08-04.

  18. http://www.krav.se/Documents/Regler/englishEditions/Standards_for_krav-certified_produktion_january_2009.pdf accessed 2009-08-04.

  19. I got them from one of the authors some time after the report from SEPA was published in 1997.

  20. In reality, they are not fixed. When constructing a feeding plan, the steps taken normally imply an assumption of fixed rations of forages. This is a way to come around the problems of milk production and feeding as a typical complex system with mutual dependencies between systems and system levels.

  21. A few years ago, I participated when a friend with organic milk production was visited by the extension officer. The feeding plan was constructed by these steps. First, the farmer told the extension officer how he would like the feeding plan to look. Then, the extension officer reported needed data regarding animals and feeds. In the last step in a trial-and-error mode, the extension officer probed different assumed protein allowance levels as the protein standard. When a feeding plan as the farmer believed in was obtained, the officer used the protein allowance behind as the protein feeding standard. This is quite a creative way of using feeding standards that have moved a long distance away from its original purpose, to condense experiences from feeding trials as a guide for farmers to achieve feeding plans fulfilling the physiological demands of the animals and the economy of the farmer.

  22. Fodertabeller för idisslare 2003, http://www.slu.se/sv/fakulteter/vh/institutioner/institutionen-for-husdjurens-utfodring-och-vard/verktyg/fodertabeller/fodertabell-for-idisslare-vallfoder/, accessed 2012-07-17.

  23. www.agriwise.se, accessed 2012-10-15.

  24. Obtained from one of the authors of the future study.

  25. The version available on line in 2010.

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Acknowledgments

Lars Drake, Pekka Huhtanen and David Pimentel have significantly improved the quality of the paper by valuable comments. Two anonymous reviewers made quite different but valuable comments.

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  1. School of Sustainable Development of Society and Technology, Mälardalen University, Box 883, 721 23, Västerås, Sweden

    Stefan Hellstrand

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Hellstrand, S. Animal production in a sustainable agriculture. Environ Dev Sustain 15, 999–1036 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-012-9423-z

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