Review: Associations among goods, impacts and ecosystem services provided by livestock farming

Nutritional Quality and Socio-Ecological Benefits of Mare Milk Produced under Grazing Management

This review discusses the scientific evidence that supports the nutritional value of mare milk and how its properties are essentially achieved when mares are managed under grazing conditions. Mare milk's similarity with the chemical composition of human milk makes this food and its derived products not only suitable for human consumption but also an interesting food regarding human health. The contribution of horse breeding under grazing management to other socio-ecological benefits generated by equine farms is also highlighted. Both the high added value of mare milk and the socio-ecological benefits derived from pasture-based systems could be explored to improve the performance of equine farms located in arid and semi-arid areas or in regions with moderately harsh environmental conditions as equids have a strong adaptation capacity.

Multifunctionality and provision of ecosystem services by livestock species and breeds at global level

Beyond providing food, livestock species are linked to a wide range of uses and ecosystem services (ESs). Based on information reported by 41 countries on 3 361 national breed populations to the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, we investigated how factors such as species, region, breed adaptedness, or management system associate with the recognition of provision of a set of 52 ESs. Among species, a greater number of cultural ESs were reported for horses (2.47 for horses vs 0.75 on average across all species), while the major ruminant species (cattle, goats and sheep) were on average associated with more provisioning ESs (2.99 vs 2.39), and more regulating and maintenance ESs (1.86 vs 1.32). Compared to European breeds, African livestock contribute more provisioning ES (3.95 vs 1.88). Native breeds and, to a lesser extent, locally adapted breeds, were linked to more ESs than were exotic breeds (5.97 and 4.10 vs 2.90, respectively), regardless of the ES category considered. The total number of ES reported was greater for breeds primarily kept under Back Yard/Farm Yard and extensive management systems than in other production environments. Different "bundles" of ES were identified in relation to the interdependence among themselves, or according to species or regional specificities. Overall, our results highlight that native and locally adapted breeds, which tend to be raised in less specialized production systems than exotic breeds, are reported to play multiple roles contributing to rural community livelihoods and environmental sustainability of food systems.

A systematic review of the definitions, narratives and paths forwards for a protein transition in high-income countries

The protein transition, aiming to rebalance protein intake between animal and alternative proteins, is gaining momentum in scientific and policy discussions on food system transformation. Here, using a systematic review approach, we identified 33 articles that address challenges in reducing the environmental impacts of protein production and consumption, providing healthy diets for a growing population and preventing adverse effects of industrial livestock production systems. We found unclear definitions of the protein transition, conflicting views on reduction or replacement of dietary protein and a lack of attention to systemic change by reducing protein to its macronutrient function. Three narratives were identified, namely, the consumer narrative focusing on consumption-based solutions targeting dietary changes; the techno-centred narrative developing new, more resource-efficient protein production systems; and the socio-technological narrative that intends to transition the agri-food system from an animal-dominated regime to an alternative protein regime. We conclude that solutions should consider factors such as scale, initiating actors and expected impact to support complementary protein transition approaches.

Effects of replacing corn silage and soybean meal with an increasing percentage of fresh herbage on dairy cow nitrogen use efficiency and flows

To improve sustainability, dairy farms can reduce protein-rich concentrate in the cows' diet providing fresh herbage produced on-farm. This study aimed to quantify effects of increasing the percentage of fresh herbage (0%, 25%, 50%, and 75%, on a dry matter [DM] basis) in a partial mixed ration-based diet on cow N use efficiency and excretion. The study was performed with five lactating cows, in a 4 × 4 Latin square design for four 3 week periods. Individual DM intake, milk yield, feces and urine excretions, and their N concentrations were measured daily. Dietary crude protein concentrations varied little among treatments (127 to 134 g/kg DM). DM intake and milk yield decreased linearly by 5.2 and 3.7 kg/day, respectively, while N use efficiency increased by 4.1 percentage points from 0% to 75% DM of fresh herbage in the diet. Urinary N was not influenced by the treatments, while fecal N decreased as the percentage of fresh herbage increased. This study highlights that replacing partial mixed ration with an increasing percentage of fresh herbage with slight changes in dietary N concentration increases N use efficiency and the percentage of urinary N in excreted N.

New insights in improving sustainability in meat production: opportunities and challenges

Treating livestock as senseless production machines has led to rampant depletion of natural resources, enhanced greenhouse gas emissions, gross animal welfare violations, and other ethical issues. It has essentially instigated constant scrutiny of conventional meat production by various experts and scientists. Sustainably in the meat sector is a big challenge which requires a multifaced and holistic approach. Novel tools like digitalization of the farming system and livestock market, precision livestock farming, application of remote sensing and artificial intelligence to manage production and environmental impact/GHG emission, can help in attaining sustainability in this sector. Further, improving nutrient use efficiency and recycling in feed and animal production through integration with agroecology and industrial ecology, improving individual animal and herd health by ensuring proper biosecurity measures and selective breeding, and welfare by mitigating animal stress during production are also key elements in achieving sustainability in meat production. In addition, sustainability bears a direct relationship with various social dimensions of meat production efficiency such as non-market attributes, balance between demand and consumption, market and policy failures. The present review critically examines the various aspects that significantly impact the efficiency and sustainability of meat production.

Characterising sustainability certification standards in dairy production

Despite the increasing use of private certification standards to meet the demand for sustainable dairy production, research into these standards is lacking. In this paper, we characterised sustainability certification standards currently used in dairy production. A literature search for dairy sustainability initiatives revealed one hundred-and-sixteen possible standards. In total, 19 of these were determined to qualify as 'sustainability certification standards' based on our selection criteria and were available in English or Dutch language. The standards were analysed using publicly available documents of the most recent version. The analysis included three key components: (i) general characteristics of the standard (such as the geographic origin, year founded, most recent updates), (ii) a thematic coverage analysis of the sustainability themes covered in each standard and (iii) evaluation of the inherent trade-offs within each standard utilising the opposing aspects of credibility, accessibility, and continuous improvement (the 'devil's triangle'). The comparison of general characteristics of the 19 standards revealed a wide variation in the characteristics of standards such as organisation type (i.e. nongovernmental organisations, individual dairy processor or other dairy sector actors), the number of indicators included, but also in the sustainability themes they cover, and how they balance the credibility, accessibility, and continuous improvement. The environmental pillar is most frequently and comprehensively addressed, whereas the economic pillar is least frequently and least comprehensively addressed. The 'devil's triangle' trade-off analysis revealed that credibility and accessibility, from the standard's perspective, are often transparently described and assured within the documents of standards. In contrast, continuous improvement is infrequently focused upon by standards. Overall, the variability in standards may allow farmers to choose a standard that aligns with his/her conviction or stage of development but might also create consumer or farmer mistrust in standards.

Consumer perception of the challenges facing livestock production and meat consumption

With the global meat market growing and intensive livestock farming systems increasing, the impacts of livestock are a growing concern among consumers, further influencing their meat consumption. Understanding consumer perceptions of livestock production is therefore a key issue. This study surveyed 16,803 respondents in France, Brazil, China, Cameroon and South Africa to investigate the different perceptions of the ethical and environmental impacts of livestock production among consumer segments in different countries based on their sociodemographic characteristics. On average, the current respondents in Brazil and China and/or who consume little meat, are female, not in the meat sector and/or more educated, are more likely to think that livestock meat production causes serious ethical and environmental problems; while those in China, France and Cameroon and/or who consume little meat and/or are women, younger, not in the meat sector, and/or more educated, are more likely to agree that reducing meat consumption could be a good solution to these problems. Additionally, an affordable price and sensory quality are the main drivers of food purchases for the current respondents. In conclusion, sociodemographic factors have significant effects on consumer perception of livestock meat production and meat consumption habits. Perceptions of the challenges facing livestock meat production differ between countries in different geographic regions based on social, economic, cultural contexts and dietary habits.

Beyond pastures, look at plastic: Using Sentinel-2 imagery to map silage bags to improve understanding of cattle intensity

Cattle ranching has increased globally in the last decades, and although pasture expansion is well documented across different regions, there is little understanding of the intensity at which cattle operate in these areas. With freely available Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, we mapped for the first time polyethylene silage bags used for forage conservation in a year with the Random Forest algorithm, and proposed them as a spatial indicator of cattle intensity. For this, we combined monthly silage area with land cover and climatic variables in a regression framework to understand cattle intensity metrics at regional and farm scales throughout 20 million hectares in the Dry Chaco. In addition, we explored the impact of using maize silage supplementation on productive and environmental metrics at the farm scale in a precipitation gradient. We validated our models using a spatially explicit database of cattle distribution. Our results highlight that silage bags are accurate mappable objects with Sentinel-2, which can contribute to the understanding of cattle density, and heifer and steer density in pasture contexts at farm and regional scales. Finally, our whole-farm simulations support the idea that incorporating silage supplementation in cattle ranching regional analyses conducts to significant differences on environmental or productive estimations, which should be considered. The amount of stored forage that is used in supplementation has strong implications for the performance of cattle ranching, but remains difficult to quantify at the regional level with remote sensing. Silage bag mapping is thus an opportunity to improve the overall understanding of livestock intensification and its productive and environmental impacts, particularly in highly seasonal rangelands. Following this metric could be a valuable indicator of the cattle ranching performance in terms of it resilience, production increase and impacts over natural ecosystems (related to Sustainable Development Goal 2-zero hunger and also in the 15-life on land).

Learning from innovative practitioners: Evidence for the sustainability and resilience of pasture fed livestock systems

There is an urgent need for transformational change in agriculture to address current and future issues caused by climate change, biodiversity loss and socio-ecological disruption. But change is slow to come and is hindered by a lack of transdisciplinary evidence on potential approaches which take a systems approach. The research described here was co-developed with the Pasture Fed Livestock Association in the UK to objectively evidence their practices. These include producing pasture-based meat from livestock fed on pasture and pasture-based forages alone. This approach sits alongside wider aims of fitting their practices with the ecological conditions on each individual farm to facilitate optimal production and working collaboratively through a forum for sharing knowledge. The research provides strong indications that the PFLA approach to livestock production is resilient and viable, as well as contributing to wider public goods delivery, despite variability within and between farms. It also reveals that learning and adaption of practice (through farmer experience) is central to farming using agro-ecological approaches. This fluidity of practice presents challenges for reductionist approaches to “measuring” agricultural innovations.

Microbiota and Serum Metabolic Profile Changes in Korean Native Hanwoo Steer in Response to Diet Feeding Systems

The diversity of bacteria and their function in cattle gastrointestinal tracts can influence animal welfare. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to investigate microbial diversity in the feces of Hanwoo steers reared under natural grazing (GS) and housing (HS) systems. Additionally, serum metabolic parameters, such as liver and kidney markers and mineral and lipid content changes, as well as their correlation with pyrotags, were studied. A total of 6468 ± 87.86 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified in both steer groups, of which 3538 ± 38.17 OTUs were from grazing steer and 2930 ± 94.06 OTUs were from GS. Chao1 index analysis revealed a higher bacterial richness in GS. The dominant bacterial taxa were Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. GS showed lower Bacteroidetes and higher Firmicutes abundance than HS. The serum of HS showed consistent increases in gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (γGTP), glucose (GLU), total cholesterol (T-CHO), and triglyceride (TG) levels. The impact of GS on animal health and serum metabolic markers was strongly correlated with microbiota. As shown in this study, grazing has a significant impact on the fecal microbiota at the phylum and family levels, as well as the serum biochemical metabolites of Hanwoo steers.

Latin American Cattle Ranching Sustainability Debate: An Approach to Social-Ecological Systems and Spatial-Temporal Scales

The significance of Latin America (LA) in the global food supply is large and prominent. The livestock sector at this time faces social-ecological challenges that will be accentuated in the future and will be incredibly challenging for small and medium producers. We conducted a systematic literature review to understand the role of LA cattle ranching in the current sustainability debate. In addition, we identified the main components of cattle ranching social-ecological systems and evaluated the institutional and ecological interactions of livestock studies by identifying spatial and temporal scales. Our results show a broad debate on livestock sustainability in LA; nevertheless, efforts to measure sustainability and analyze cattle ranching systemically are scarce. The study of LA cattle ranching in the 21st century was geographically concentrated on the main producing countries (Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina) and was consistently promoted by government and academic institutions aiming to understand management strategies that improve yields. However, it less often focused on analyzing their impacts on ecosystems and climate. The complexity and dynamism of cattle ranching in LA make it necessary to address sustainable planning from a systemic approach to guide viable transformations through spatial scales.

Simple Assessment of Temperate Grassland Suitability as Habitat for Three Insect Taxa

We propose a set of indicators to evaluate how grazing by livestock and grassland management can help preserve biodiversity in the insect communities of grassland ecosystems. These indicators can be calculated for any grassland for which management and botanical composition are known, and they do not require advanced knowledge on conservation biology and entomology. Based on the scientific literature and expert interviews, each indicator combines pressure (i.e., 16 management classes) and state variables (i.e., sward botanical composition and several of the plant functional characteristics) to assess the effects on butterfly, bumblebee, and grasshopper abundance and species richness. Each indicator was based on a multicriteria decision tree with fuzzy partitioning to account for uncertainty in the threshold values between different alternatives. The output validation of indicators was performed by comparing decision tree output with standardized measurements from 10 surveys across France, Germany, Switzerland, Wales, and Italy. The prediction of grassland suitability for butterflies was more accurate for butterfly species richness (P < 0.05) than for butterfly abundance (P = 0.10), as even under standardized transect counts, recorders will observe disproportionately more individuals when it is sunny and warm. The sensitivity of the butterfly species richness indicator was then tested using an independent dataset of 395 French grasslands. There were significant differences in predicted species richness (χ215 = 121.16; P < 0.05) among the 16 management classes, and they were ranked consistently in spite of very parsimonious assumptions in the decision tree. The prediction of grassland suitability was good for bumblebee abundance (P < 0.05) and species richness (P < 0.01). This prediction was also successful for grasshopper abundance (P < 0.05) and species richness (P = 0.05), all outliers coming from a highly diverse grassland community located on shallow soil in the Italian survey. This set of indicators can thus provide a cost-effective evaluation of temperate grassland suitability as habitat for three insect taxa. These indicators have more relevance than general insect species richness, and their application does not require any entomological skill. The indicators can help stakeholders to make adequate decisions for insect conservation in grassland ecosystems, but do not have direct applicability to higher conservation value taxa or species.

Livestock Management for the Delivery of Ecosystem Services in Fire-Prone Shrublands of Atlantic Iberia

In the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, characterized by its humid climate, large rural areas are being abandoned, mostly in less-favoured areas covered by heathlands, which present a low nutritive quality for livestock production. The high combustibility of these shrublands is driving a high wildfire incidence with negative environmental and economic effects. In this review, some aspects on wildfire occurrence and the potential of grazing livestock to reduce woody phytomass and fire risk in heathland-dominated areas whilst maintaining quality production and preserving biodiversity are summarized. Heathlands may be partially improved—converted to grassland—to better meet animals’ nutritional requirements while acting as ‘natural’ firebreaks. The specific grazing behaviour offers the opportunity to combine different domestic herbivores (mixed grazing) to achieve sustainable systems utilizing heterogeneous resources. Cattle, sheep, goats, and horses may have a role in the provision of different ecosystem services such as food production and biodiversity conservation. Genotype x environment interactions shape the ability of animals to cope with poor vegetation conditions, with smaller species and breeds performing better than larger animals. Goats and horses are indicated to arrest woody encroachment. Sustainable grazing systems are affordable in heathland–grassland mosaics by selecting appropriate livestock species and breeds for quality production, thus favouring rural economies and lowering fire risk.

Evaluation of Public–Private Partnership in the Veterinary Domain Using Impact Pathway Methodology: In-depth Case Study in the Poultry Sector in Ethiopia

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) in the veterinary domain are joint approaches in which public veterinary services and private actors such as private veterinarians, producers' associations, or private companies work together to address complex animal health challenges. They are implemented worldwide and can help to strengthen the capacities of veterinary services, but few have been evaluated. None of the evaluations developed in the veterinary domain explicitly addressed PPPs, their complex program design, their evolving governance, and coordination system, and their impacts. This work represents the first application of the participatory impact pathway methodology for the evaluation of a PPP in the veterinary domain. The PPP evaluated aimed at developing the poultry sector in Ethiopia and improving poultry health service coverage, particularly in remote areas. The combination of semi-structured interviews (n = 64) and collective reflection during three workshops (n participants = 26, 48, 18), captured the viewpoints of public and private partners, actors who influenced the partnership, and actors impacted by it. The context of the PPP was analyzed, and the causal relationships between the PPP and its impacts were investigated. This work showed that collaboration between the public and private sector occurred at several administrative levels. The actors considered a variety of impacts, on the economy, business, trust, and health, which were then measured through different indicators. The actors also identified the added value of the PPP to enrich those impacts. The participatory impact pathway methodology helped to strengthen the engagement of actors in the PPP and to formulate recommendations at the policy level to favor positive results. This case study represents a milestone in building a participatory evaluation framework of PPP in the veterinary domain.

The Complementary Roles for Plant-Source and Animal-Source Foods in Sustainable Healthy Diets

There are approximately 100 countries with food-based dietary guidelines throughout the world, each of which aims to encompass the cultural, geographical, and health considerations unique to their country of origin. Common themes throughout these guides emphasize diverse and balanced intake of food groups from both plant- and animal-sources. With the globally recognized need to shift to more sustainable food systems, several countries and international food and health organizations have begun to incorporate sustainability recommendations into their dietary guidance. These sustainability recommendations are often based on food source (i.e., eat more plant-source and fewer animal-source foods), yet food source may not be the only useful or informative comparator for assessing healthy and sustainable diets. The purpose of this narrative review is to examine the roles of plant-source foods and animal-source foods in the context of sustainable healthy diets-with an emphasis on the contributions of the most commonly recommended food groups from global food-based dietary guidelines (i.e., fruits, vegetables, and dairy foods). Overall, plant and animal agriculture have complementary and symbiotic roles in healthy and sustainable food systems, and these abilities are largely dependent on various contextual factors (e.g., geography, production practices, processing methods, consumption patterns)-not just on whether the food originated from the plant or animal kingdom.

Disentangling the Multidimensional Relationship between Livestock Breeds and Ecosystem Services

Simple Summary

Livestock breeds represent the diversity of livestock animals. They participate in the delivery of ecosystem services (ES), i.e., the benefits to humans provided by nature. In recent years, the contribution of livestock breeds to ES has received attention in livestock research. Additionally, there is increasing interest in integrating this knowledge into policies to make agriculture more sustainable. In this work, we elaborate on livestock breed characteristics that are key to the study of livestock breed contributions to ES. Thus, we explore the natural and human factors that have produced livestock breeds as ecologically and culturally mediated entities. In addition, we review the different roles of livestock breeds as biodiversity components. Finally, we examine how livestock breeds participate in livestock system heterogeneity. By integrating these aspects, we might better understand how livestock breeds provide and modulate ES provision and, therefore, how to improve breed conservation and livestock policies toward more sustainable farming.

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in assessing livestock breed contributions to ecosystem services (ES) and including this knowledge in decision making. However, this task has been limited due to the complexity of the multidimensional relationship between livestock diversity and ecosystem services. In this work, we elaborate on the livestock breed characteristics central to developing a comprehensive approach to livestock breed inclusion in the ecosystem services framework. Thus, we explore the multidimensional nature of livestock breeds, i.e., as eco-cultural entities, biodiversity components, and drivers of livestock system heterogeneity and functioning. First, anthropogenic and natural factors have acted jointly to develop breeds as eco-cultural entities. This fact represents an opportunity to move toward farming system sustainability by Nature-Based Solutions and Nature’s Contribution to People paradigms. Second, livestock breeds are components of biodiversity, and as such, can be framed as goods, as final ecosystem services, and as regulators of ecosystem processes. Third, livestock breeds contribute to livestock system heterogeneity and resilience. By integrating these aspects, we might better understand how livestock breeds provide and modulate ecosystem service provision and, therefore, how to improve breed conservation and livestock policies toward farming system sustainability.

Assessment of ecosystem services provided by livestock agroecosystems in the tropics: a case study of tropical island environment of Guadeloupe

The present study aims to assess (1) the ecosystem services (ES) provided by LFS and (2) the differential ES between local (Creole) and exotic breeds from pig, cattle and goat. The ES are defined as the benefits that humans derive from LFS. They were summarized in 12 ES indicators that cover services related to provisioning, ecological and socio-cultural aspects and territorial vitality. A total of 106 LFS units that covers the five agroecological zones of Guadeloupe were analysed. Functional typologies of LFS per species were created from surveys. The effect of breed on the ES indicators was tested. Results showed that the 40 pig LFS units were separated into 3 clusters that were differentiated in ES according to provisioning ES (cluster 1), cultural use and sale to the neighborhood (cluster 2) and pork self-consumption (cluster 3). The typology of the 57 farms with cattle distinguished 4 clusters with differences in ES provided in self-consumption (cluster1), ecological ES (cluster 2), socio-cultural ES for racing or draught oxen (cluster 3) and ES associated with territory vitality (cluster 4). The 66 goat LFS units were classified into 3 clusters different in ES concerning self-consumption (cluster 1), cultural aspects (cluster 2) and provisioning ES (cluster 3). Our study highlights that ES indicators are not breed dependent (P > 0.10) but rather livestock farming system dependent. The ES rely more on the rearing management than on the breed type, and up to now, there are no specifications in Guadeloupe to differentiate management between breeds.

Review: Why and how to regulate animal production and consumption: The case of the European Union

Throughout the world, animal production faces huge sustainability challenges. The latter are exacerbated in the European Union (EU) by consumption issues linked, in particular, to the health and environmental impacts of meat consumption, and by the increasing societal concerns linked to animal welfare. Simultaneously, animal production may also provide benefits, notably from an economic and nutritional point of view. Some livestock systems, notably grass-based systems, may also offer positive climatic and environmental effects. Animal production is highly regulated in the EU, whereas the consumption of animal products is not (or very lightly) regulated. Many of the negative and positive effects are public goods that are not well taken into account by private actors and markets. Thus, there is legitimacy and scope for public policies aimed at reducing the damage and increasing the benefits of animal production and consumption. The last part of the paper explains how this could be achieved in the EU through a significantly revised and extended Common Agricultural Policy that more closely follows the principles of public economics. Public regulation principles that are proposed have a more general scope and can be adapted to other livestock contexts.

Sustainable Agri-Food Systems: Environment, Economy, Society, and Policy

Agri-food systems (AFS) have been central in the debate on sustainable development. Despite this growing interest in AFS, comprehensive analyses of the scholarly literature are hard to find. Therefore, the present systematic review delineated the contours of this growing research strand and analyzed how it relates to sustainability. A search performed on the Web of Science in January 2020 yielded 1389 documents, and 1289 were selected and underwent bibliometric and topical analyses. The topical analysis was informed by the SAFA (Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems) approach of FAO and structured along four dimensions viz. environment, economy, society and culture, and policy and governance. The review shows an increasing interest in AFS with an exponential increase in publications number. However, the study field is north-biased and dominated by researchers and organizations from developed countries. Moreover, the analysis suggests that while environmental aspects are sufficiently addressed, social, economic, and political ones are generally overlooked. The paper ends by providing directions for future research and listing some topics to be integrated into a comprehensive, multidisciplinary agenda addressing the multifaceted (un)sustainability of AFS. It makes the case for adopting a holistic, 4-P (planet, people, profit, policy) approach in agri-food system studies.

Drought Impacts, Coping Responses and Adaptation in the UK Outdoor Livestock Sector: Insights to Increase Drought Resilience

Drought has detrimental impacts on crop and livestock farming systems worldwide, but less attention has been given to outdoor livestock systems, particularly in humid temperate regions. This research evaluated how an intense drought in 2018 impacted the UK livestock sector and the responses adopted by key actors, though a combination of analysis of weekly agricultural trade publications and semi-structured interviews with livestock farmers. Drought impacts centred on feed and fodder availability, animal productivity and welfare, farm economics, and farmer well-being, with strong inter-dependencies observed. Most drought responses by farmers were reactive short-term coping strategies to address feed shortages, with three main strategies applied: management of available grazing and feed; selling livestock to reduce feed demand and to obtain income; and buying-in additional feed. Few longer-term adaptive measures were identified due to a range of constraints. Moving forwards, the UK livestock sector needs to convert the learning from the reactive measures implemented in 2018 into pro-active drought planning approaches. The current political changes in the UK also provides a unique opportunity for agricultural policy to better reward the desirable nationally- and locally-important non-market services or public goods that livestock farming provides. Together, these should support increased drought resilience in livestock farming and increased farming viability.

Environmental Impacts of Beef as Corrected for the Provision of Ecosystem Services

We aimed to assess whether the environmental impacts in terms of global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and land occupation (LO) of beef can be decreased when ecosystem and cultural/provisioning services are included in the evaluation. We used four Italian production systems: Fat, with beef imported calves kept in confinement; CoCaI, with beef cows and calves kept in confinement; SpEx, with beef cows and calves kept on pasture and finishing conducted in confinement; and Pod, with Podolian cows and calves kept on pasture and finishing conducted in confinement. After the economic allocation, the GWP of system Pod decreased considerably and showed values lower than those computed for systems CoCaI and SpEx (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001, respectively). System Pod showed the lowest AP and EP as compared with all the other systems (P < 0.01). Systems Fat and CoCaI showed the smallest LO, with values lower than systems Pod (P < 0.05) and SpEx (P < 0.001). We conclude that the environmental impacts of extensive and local beef production systems in terms of GWP, AP, and EP was markedly reduced when the provision of accessory services was included in the calculation. Conversely, LO did not markedly change due to the high absolute values needed to allow pasture-based feeding. The estimation of additional positive aspects linked to the use of natural pastures, such as removal of carbon dioxide, increased biodiversity, and exploitation of feeds nonedible by humans, may allow a further reduction of LO.

Past intensification trajectories of livestock led to mixed social and environmental services

Recent studies highlighted the multiple positive and negative contributions of livestock to society. Livestock production, through its direct and indirect impacts on land use, is an important driver of services provision. Although a few studies provide an account on the multiple services in different livestock systems, there is still an important knowledge gap on the drivers that contribute to the differentiation of services provisioning across areas. We investigated the hypothesis that the current level of services has derived from past intensification trajectories of livestock. The objective of this study was to understand the influences of past changes in livestock, land-use and socio-economic variables on the current provision of social, environmental and cultural services by the livestock sector in France. We combined a long-term country-wide database on livestock intensification between 1938 and 2010 and a database on services provisioning in 2010. We used a set of multivariate methods to simultaneously analyse the changes in livestock intensification from 1938 to 2010 and the current level of services provisioning. Our analysis focused on a set of 60 French departments where livestock play a significant economic role in agricultural production. Our study revealed that the provision of services was spatially structured and based on three groups of departments, characterised by different rates of change in intensification variables. In the first group, 'Intensive livestock areas', the high level of employment in the livestock sector was mainly associated with high rates of change in monogastric stocking rates (+1045%) and milk productivity (+451%). In the second group, 'Extensive livestock areas', the high levels of environmental and cultural services were mainly associated with moderate rates of change in herbivores stocking rate (+95%) and the stability of grassland area (+13%). In the third group, 'Transition areas', the low provision of all services was associated with the decline in livestock due to crop expansion. This study provides knowledge to understand how past changes determined the current contribution of livestock areas in providing differentiated bundles of services, which might help steer the development of the current livestock sector towards more sustainable trajectories.

Review: An integrated graphical tool for analysing impacts and services provided by livestock farming

Livestock farming is criticized for negatively impacting the environment, concerns about animal welfare and the impact of excessive meat consumption on human health. However, livestock farming provides other underappreciated and poorly communicated benefits to society in terms of employment, product quality, cultural landscapes and carbon storage by grasslands. Few attempts have been made so far to simultaneously consider the services and impacts provided by livestock production. Here, we propose an integrated graphical tool, called the 'barn' to explicitly summarize the synergies and trade-offs between services and impacts provided by livestock farming. It illustrates livestock farming interacting with its physical, economic and social environment along five interfaces: (i) Markets, (ii) Work and employment, (iii) Inputs, (iv) Environment and climate, (v) Social and cultural factors. This graphical tool was then applied by comparing two contrasting livestock production areas (high livestock density v. grassland-based), and the dominant v. a niche system within a crop-livestock area. We showed the barn could be used for cross-comparisons of services and impacts across livestock production areas, and for multi-level analysis of services and impacts of livestock farming within a given area. The barn graphically summarizes the ecological and socio-economic aspects of livestock farming by explicitly representing multiple services and impacts of different systems in a simple yet informative way. Information for the five interfaces relies on available quantitative assessments from the literature or data sets, and on expert-knowledge for more qualitative factors, such as social and cultural ones. The 'barn' can also inform local stakeholders or policy-makers about potential opportunities and threats to the future of livestock farming in specific production areas. It has already been used as a pedagogical tool for teaching the diversity of services and impacts of livestock systems across Europe and is currently developed as a serious game for encouraging knowledge exchange and sharing different viewpoints between stakeholders.