Sustainable intensive farming gets more agricultural output on less land with minimal adverse environmental impact. Sustainable farming without the intensive part uses more land, which is bad because more land for agriculture means less land for forests and more CO2 in the atmosphere. The environmental impact of cattle farming is particularly devastating for the planet, both directly (grazing) and indirectly (feed crops). According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock farming is responsible for 14.5% of the world's greenhouse emissions, of which 65% comes from beef and dairy cattle. Even sustainable cattle grazing “threatens wildlife and takes an enormous toll on habitats, and won’t fix the climate crisis animal agriculture creates”. Without intensifying production, sustainable cattle farming is little more than virtue display.
If humans are going to continue consuming beef and dairy products, we’'ll need to grow more cow on less land, sustainably - especially in the Amazon region where spreading pasture is decimating the tropical forests. Luckily, we have an agroforestry system for that. It’s called “intensive silvopastoral systems” (ISPS), which combines high-density fodder plants, such as grasses and herbs, with shrubs and trees scattered throughout pastures for grazing cows. These pastoral systems optimize land productivity, providing nutritious fodder and forage, fuel wood, and timber while conserving plants, soil and nutrients on a sustainable basis. Because ISPS are so dense with grazing goodies, these pastures can hold more cattle than traditional cattle farms, thereby reducing pressure on surrounding forest.
A summary of ISPS benefits:
Improves biodiversity, attracting wild grazers as well as flowers, insects and birds.
Improves cattle production with a dense mix of highly nutritious fodder and forage.
Improves soil quality with enhanced availability of nutrients from leaf-litter and enhanced soil resilience to degradation, nutrient loss, and climate variability.
Improves animal welfare. Cattle are healthy and happy.
Reduces environmental impact. Increased biomass and vegetation cover retains groundwater and reduces soil erosion.
Improves carbon sequestration and reduces greenhouse gases by storing carbon in biomass, leaf litter, roots and soil and by preserving or planting trees in pastures, which also leads to increased soil organic matter and forage biomass that would otherwise be emitted or remain in the atmosphere.
The downside of intensified silvopastural systems? There are a lot of upfront costs, so it takes a few years to generate a profit. So subsidies are needed in the beginning.
References:
Aayush Yadav, MK Gendley, Jyotimala Sahu, Pankaj Kumar Patel, Komal Chandraker and Ashutosh Dubey Silvopastoral system: A prototype of livestock Agroforestry. The Pharma Innovation Journal 2019; 8(2): 76-82. http://www.thepharmajournal.com/archives/2019/vol8issue2/PartB/8-1-94-847.pdf
Broom, D. M. (2017). Components of sustainable animal production and the use of silvopastoral systems. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia 46: 683-688. https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1516-35982017000800683&script=sci_arttext
Chará, J., J. Rivera, et al. (2017). Intensive Silvopastoral Systems: Economics and Contribution to Climate Change Mitigation and Public Policies. Integrating Landscapes: Agroforestry for Biodiversity Conservation and Food Sovereignty. F. Montagnini. Cham, Springer International Publishing: 395-416. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-69371-2_16
Campanhola, C. and Pandey, S. (2019). Chapter 22 - Sustainable Livestock and Animal-Sourced Food, in Sustainable Food and Agriculture. Academic Press: 225-232. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/silvopastoral-systems
Mauricio, R. M., R. S. Ribeiro, et al. (2019). Chapter 18 - Silvopastoral Systems in Latin America for Biodiversity, Environmental, and Socioeconomic Improvements. Agroecosystem Diversity. G. Lemaire, P. C. D. F. Carvalho, S. Kronberg and S. Recous, Academic Press: 287-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811050-8.00018-2