Livestock | TableDebates

Australia’s beef industry reduces environmental impact

Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) reports that the Australian beef industry has reduced its environmental footprint over the past 30 years. The results are presented in a new paper in Agricultural Systems, and in a press-release MLA writes that:

Global trends in antimicrobial use in food animals

This paper estimates that global use of antimicrobial drugs in animal farming is anticipated to rise by 67% by 2030, due to increasing demand for animal products and a shift towards more large scale intensive systems of production. It argues that a range of measures need to be taken in order to address the negative impacts of this growth.

New CCAFS working paper: Reducing the environmental impact of a rapidly growing livestock sector

A new CCAFS working paper, Climate-smart livestock sector development: the state of play in NAMA development, sheds light on key elements in the development of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) within the livestock sector.

Climate metrics and the carbon footprint of livestock products: where's the beef?

Due to the large share of non-CO2 GHGs in emissions from livestock production, the choice of GHG metric used to compare emissions of different GHGs is crucial, both in order to assess the aggregate contribution of the livestock sector to climate change and for highlighting hot-spots in the animal food chain where emission reductions can be most cost-effectively made.

Breeding for productivity and breeding for welfare: what is the relationship?

A question that emerged from FCRN's previous discussions with various experts on animal farming was whether breeding for productivity and animal welfare can be aligned.

breeding. Source: Wikimedia commons

Breeding for productivity and breeding for welfare: what is the relationship?

In this discussion paper, Tara Garnett and colleagues from SLU Sweden consider the productivity-welfare relationship in more detail. They argue that this is a critical issue to understand if we are to improve our knowledge of what more sustainable systems of livestock production and consumption look like.

Opinion piece in The Economist by ILRI Director: “The Meat We Eat, the Lives We Lift - Livestock (like people) are different the world over”

In this article published in the Economist, Jimmy Smith, director of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) argues that the livestock issue requires a differentiated approach.

Blog-post: Response by Richard Young's to our latest blog-post from Sustainable Food Trust workshop discussing the role of livestock grazing

In our latest blog-post, “Grazing livestock in a world of climate change: do they have a role?” Elin Röös summarised her views from the Sustainable Food Trust workshop on the role of grazing animals.

Can cattle grazing management technique help capture and store carbon in soil?

An article from Science Daily reports on how scientists, advisors and communications specialists have come together to examine whether beef production can help restore ecosystems. They have started to examine the adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing management technique: this involves using small-sized fields to provide short periods of grazing for livestock and long recovery periods for fields.