2021/02/24 by Andurand, Josselin, Velghe, Mathieu, Labarre, Julien +2
#Beef cattle #Bovin viande #CAP’2ER® #Carbon footprint #Carbon sequestration #Empreinte carbone #Greenhouse gas emissions #Stockage carbone #Émissions de gaz à effet de serre
paper · doi:10.15454/7wy7-4417
Beef cattle breeding contributes about 5% of French greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Following this observation, the French Livestock Institute, in conjunction with the bovine sectors and many partners, set up Life Beef Carbon, a project to reduce the carbon footprint of beef cattle systems. Over 1,800 farms have been assessed on various environmental criteria. Significant variation exists in each production system evaluated during this study. The most efficient farms have 30% lower emissions than the average group. This high variability confirms that a 15% reduction in the carbon footprint of beef cattle farms is achievable. Technical improvements in the efficiency of the herd or the inputs make it possible to reduce GHG emissions while also improving the economic sustainability of farms. Grasslands and hedges are compensating part of the emissions while ensuring the recognized performance of beef cattle farming on other environmental indicators. One of the obstacles to be removed in order to be able to achieve such an ambitious reduction is the insufficient use of technical advice in the beef cattle sector. Other reduction strategies such as advances in genetic selection or the incorporation of feed additives are also promising ways to reduce GHG emissions in beef cattle farming.