Can Carbon Smart Agriculture Help the Livestock Industries Meet Rising World Food and Sustainability Demands?

摘要

The rising world population brings with it the complex challenges of increasing food insecurity, a changing climate, increased demand for sustainable production and increasing animal welfare demands from a more demanding consumer. At the other extreme, livestock are integral to many rural livelihoods, being viewed as much more than just a food source particularly in developing countries. In contrast, the world's rising middle class is predicted to increase by 3.IB people by 2030, with increased demand for animal-based protein in this demographic. The net effect is that demand for livestock products in developed countries is likely to decline, demand from subsistence agriculture is unlikely to change, but the rising world middle class provides an inexhaustible market for animal-based protein into the medium-term future.Rising global awareness of the anthropogenic climate change has highlighted the relatively high environmental footprint of livestock production, in terms of water, nitrogen and greenhouse gas emissions. Coupled with animal welfare concerns, the social licence for the livestock industries to operate is now increasingly challenged, meaning that real action needs to be taken to secure the future place of these industries in many developed countries.Carbon Farming and Climate Smart Agriculture have emerged as responses to reconcile these often-competing demands on our food system, focusing on the key principles required to adapt agriculture to a changing climate, while also reconciling apparent conflicts between productivity and sustainability. The future of the livestock industry is therefore one of valuable opportunities but also significant threats - neither can be ignored as we move into a future world, with more demanding consumers, increasedfood demand, but also increasing accountability for environmental impacts, sustainable production in a changing climate.