Going beyond the Feed vs Food competition: crops and animals together to address food and nutrition security

Topic 2021

One of the controversial aspects of livestock production is the resource competition for feed and food production that requires a disruptive shift in resourcing animal feeding and in European agriculture. Only 20-25% of annually produced terrestrial agricultural biomass (crops and grasslands) is edible as human food. Thus, animals are very useful to convert the remaining 75% into edible food and manure that is a source of nutrients and carbon for plants and soils. This is basically a virtuous circle. However, in response to increased market demand and economic pressure, some agricultural systems and territories have become increasingly specialized. At the same time, productivity in the agricultural sector has largely increased and mixed farming systems integrating crop and livestock production have strongly declined in many countries or regions. Modern agriculture has developed with livestock and crop production becoming more intensive, and at some places more specialised and spatially separated which has resulted in an imbalance in nutrient flows with negative impact on the environment.

To achieve the conditions required to deliver sustainable farming systems, it is essential to develop science-based management strategies that reduce the current reliance on non-renewable resources and securing the production in an increasingly unpredictable climate. Such solutions focus on sustainable land use and the interconnection of arable and livestock systems as part of a circular and sustainable bio-economy at different scales.

 

Videos – ATF-LFS symposium

Videos – ATF seminar