Green Livestock Production: The Facts And The Fictions

Global livestock production is increasingly under attack from certain societal groupings who claim that the sector is causing unnecessary environmental harm. Dr Jude Capper, of UK-based Livestock Sustainability Consultancy, explains how livestock farmers can change this perception.

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As the planet’s human population grows, the area of arable land available to feed and clothe each person continually declines. It is anticipated that this figure will be approximately 0,15ha/ person by 2050, compared with 0,3ha/person in 1980. So the global agriculture sector, including its livestock industry, is facing the massive challenge of having to significantly improve its productivity to adequately feed everybody, while using fewer resources.

Animal rights activists pose a major threat to the international livestock industry’s ability to improve its productivity into the future. These activists have surprisingly large financial resources and they influence policymakers and the general public. They are able to get consumers to take a closer look at and to question the methods used to produce animal products.

It’s good that consumers want to know more about how their food and fibre are produced. It’s not good if the information they are being provided with comes only from these activists, who have their own particular agendas. The world’s livestock production sector must also share information about its systems so that consumers are given a balanced perspective with which to make informed decisions.

The international dairy industry has been one such target of animal rights activists, who claim that commercial milk production is not environmentally friendly. Yet substantial bodies of research show that every dairy production system, whether extensive or intensive, can and should be environmentally sustainable.

ACHIEVING SUSTAINABILITY