2021/02/24 by Benoit, Marc, Dumont, Bertrand, Barbieri, Pietro +1
#Agriculture biologique #Agroecology #Agroécologie #Crops #Cultures #Echelle globale #Food security #Global #Grazing #Organic farming #Sécurité alimentaire #Transition
paper · doi:10.15454/zpmg-rh95
The implementation of the principles of agroecology and of organic farming at a large scale is an option to enhance the sustainability of agricultural systems. However, the ability of these systems to contribute to global food security is still debated. Livestock is at the centre of this debate, particularly because of its key role to close nutrient cycles in cropping systems, and because of the role of temporary grasslands to control diseases, weeds and pests in crop rotations. However, livestock feed efficiency is low, while pigs, poultry and dairy cows compete with humans for the use of crops and soybean. Thus, moving towards more sustainable livestock farming systems requires ruminants to be grazed on fodder resources from cropping systems and on permanent grasslands, and pigs and poultry to increase their se of crop by-products. Here, we discuss ten key factors that would enhance the contribution of livestock to sustainable agricultural systems. Their implementation requires on the one hand to refine the identification of their interactions and, on the other hand, to jointly account for demographic and climatic factors in long-term prospective scenarios.