Livestock systems: Difference between revisions
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{{ComponentTemplate2 | {{ComponentTemplate2 | ||
|ComponentCode=LS | |ComponentCode=LS | ||
|AggregatedComponent=Agriculture and land use | |AggregatedComponent=Agriculture and land use | ||
|InputVar=Production characteristics livestock; Production system mix; Feed conversion; Livestock ration; Livestock production; Management intensity livestock; | |FrameworkElementType=pressure component | ||
|OutputVar=Animal stock; Feed crop requirements; Grass requirement; | |Status=On hold | ||
| | |Reference=Bruinsma, 2003; Bouwman et al., 2006; Bouwman et al., 2005; Delgado et al., 1999; Seré and Steinfeld, 1996; | ||
|InputVar=Production characteristics livestock; Production system mix; Feed conversion; Livestock ration; Livestock production; Management intensity livestock; | |||
|OutputVar=Animal stock; Feed crop requirements; Grass requirement; | |||
|Description=Food production will have to be increased, in order to meet the increasing demand associated with adequately feeding a growing population, while the increasing prosperity and falling production costs may see a continued shifting of dietary patterns towards a larger share of meat and milk. Over the past decades, traditional, mixed farming systems have been unable to increase their production levels sufficiently to keep up with increasing demand. As a consequence, production is expanding rapidly in modern livestock production systems with larger shares of poultry and pork, creating growing demands for food crops. This trend started in high-income countries and now can be observed particularly in emerging and developing countries ([[Bruinsma, 2003]]). IMAGE describes the interactions between crop and livestock production and the consequences of changing production practices in livestock farming for food crops and grass, and the associated grassland and arable land use. For this purpose, IMAGE includes a model for pastoral livestock systems, and mixed and landless (industrial) production systems. Pastoral systems rely on grazing by ruminants, whereas mixed and landless systems have integrated crop and livestock production in which the animal rations consist of a mix of several feedstuffs, including food crops, crop by-products, grass, fodder and crop residues. The model is described in detail in [[Bouwman et al. 2005]] and [[Bouwman et al., 2006]]. | |||
The livestock modelling lends itself to assess the environmental consequences associated with expansion in global livestock production. These consequences include the following issues: | |||
# expansion of grazing land and particularly arable land for feed crop production, sometimes at the expense of natural vegetation. Most current arable land expansion is used to increase feed production ([[Bouwman et al., 2005]]); | |||
# ruminants emit large amounts of methane (CH4), the second most important greenhouse gas, formed during enteric fermentation; | |||
#excreta from the animals in all livestock categories are sources of ammonia, methane, nitrous oxide and nitric oxide; | |||
#on a more local scale, odour nuisance and leaching of nitrate to groundwater are major problems; | |||
#a significant amount of land that is used for grazing ruminants may consist of marginal unproductive grassland with a low carrying capacity and high risk of land degradation due to overgrazing, especially in the arid and semi-arid tropics and subtropics ([[Seré and Steinfeld, 1996;]] [[Delgado et al., 1999]]). To compensate for productivity losses in such areas, forests may be cleared to expand agricultural land areas. | |||
|LeadText=What are the impacts on land-use, greenhouse gases and other emissions to air, land and surface water of increasing livestock production? And how may use of marginal lands for grazing increase the risk of degradation and loss of productivity, inducing more forest clearing. | |LeadText=What are the impacts on land-use, greenhouse gases and other emissions to air, land and surface water of increasing livestock production? And how may use of marginal lands for grazing increase the risk of degradation and loss of productivity, inducing more forest clearing. | ||
}} | }} | ||
Revision as of 10:23, 16 December 2013
Parts of Livestock systems
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| Related IMAGE components |
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| Models/Databases |
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| References |
Key policy issues
- What are the impacts of increasing livestock production on land use, greenhouse gases and other emissions to air and surface water?
- How does the use of marginal lands for grazing increase the risk of degradation and loss of productivity, inducing more forest clearing?