Towards a balanced view of livestock: Benefits of grazing farming systems to produce meat

Debates about livestock and meat consumption are generally fragmented, and to date no study has simultaneously analyzed all the dimensions affected by livestock farming. The environmental impacts of livestock are well described and often emphasized in the media as the negative effects of methane emission from ruminants, but the associated benefits are poorly described in scientific literature thus giving an unbalanced picture of livestock farming. Based on various findings from research, this review aims to propose a multidimensional view on this topic.

Firstly, most of the environmental or nutritional arguments generally put forward against meat are provided without enough nuances. Without ignoring the negative impact of livestock on the climate and the environment, we show they need to be better deciphered. We provide examples dealing with the competition between feed and food, the water footprint of livestock, and the carbon footprint of meat production and consumption.

On the other hand, livestock farming produces several ecosystem services beyond human food production that are not well known. Indeed, livestock production is the basis of agricultural activities and rural vitality in many parts of the world. Herbivores contributes to valorize large grassland areas that are not suitable for crop production and are hotspot of biodiversity. Livestock, notably ruminants, plays a key role in maintaining soil carbon content and soil fertility, and manure from livestock is a source of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus.

An original service-bundle methodology designed to capture European livestock production in a global manner highlights antagonism between certain services. Thus, it is not possible to summarize livestock effects and impacts in a single indicator, be it positive or negative. Finally, we show that different scenarios exist to reduce the negative impacts of livestock. More global actions are needed on all fronts: improving meat production and supply, reducing demand, losses and waste of food. Eating less meat on average in developed countries and lowering the proportion of animal protein in diets may also be part of a global solution. Improving livestock farming systems in favor of grassland-based systems, which rely on natural resources without competing with human food production and which provide environmental services is also an essential strategy. In any case, a world without meat–producing livestock is unlikely to be sustainable as suggested by several studies.