Adaptive multi-paddock grazing and wellbeing: uptake, management practices and mindset among Canadian beef producers

Sherren, Kate; Hodbod, Jennifer; MathisonSlee, Morgan; Chappell, Ellen; King, M.T.M.

doi:10.1080/21683565.2022.2107597

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…However, Sherren et al . ( 2022 ) indicated that farmers adopting a type of regenerative grazing can develop more than just financial welfare, but relational, physical and psychological improvements such as life satisfaction, motivation to continue with grazing, and non-traditional values.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A decent standard of living, understood as an improvement in the farm's gross income, indicates that the authors of the papers interpreted that the most relevant factor to connect human welfare and regenerative agriculture was financial. However, Sherren et al (2022) indicated that farmers adopting a type of regenerative grazing can develop more than just financial welfare, but relational, physical and psychological improvements such as life satisfaction, motivation to continue with grazing, and non-traditional values.…”

Section: Human Welfare Terms In Regenerative Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

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A systematic review on whether regenerative agriculture improves animal welfare: A qualitative analysis with a One Welfare perspective

Hargreaves-Méndez

Hötzel

2023

Anim. welf.

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The welfare of animals in food-production systems is a cause of concern to the public. Regenerative agriculture was first used by the Rodale Institute and proposes to regenerate degraded components of ecosystems, aiming to be more than just sustainable. However, despite animal welfare being pushed to be part of the SDG agenda for 2030, there is no clarity on how regenerative agriculture impacts animal welfare. It is challenging to determine regenerative agriculture impacts on animal welfare, since it is not entirely defined. One Welfare could help define entry points for future research by studying animal welfare in connection with human welfare and environmental conservation. We aimed to analyse the extent to which positive animal welfare outcomes characterise regenerative agriculture systems in peer-reviewed articles and whether the narratives of such articles support that regenerative agriculture promotes animal welfare directly or indirectly by improving human welfare and environmental conservation. We searched papers including ‘regenerative agriculture’ using PRISMA-P, selecting animal welfare, human welfare, environment conservation terms, developed themes, and carried out analysis using Atlas.Ti8 and Causal Loop Diagram. We found that papers mainly linked animal welfare to animal health, human welfare to financial farm status and farmer’s self-awareness, and environmental conservation to soil improvement. Causal Loop Diagram indicated that regenerative agriculture had the potential to improve the health and nutrition components of animal welfare by enhancing financial farmers’ status/self-awareness (human welfare), and the soil (environmental conservation), reflecting that the processes that affect human welfare and environmental conservation could also affect animal welfare. However, information in papers remains insufficient to determine how regenerative agriculture impacts on animal welfare and research into regenerative agriculture needs to extend its focus on animal welfare and elucidate the regenerative agriculture principles leading to animal welfare.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Human Welfare Terms In Regenerative Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review on whether regenerative agriculture improves animal welfare: A qualitative analysis with a One Welfare perspective

Hargreaves-Méndez

Hötzel

2023

Anim. welf.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…We posit that its SOC successes, when and where they exist, are likely attributable to the fact that AMP grazing puts to practice the grazing levers listed above, which, tailored to ecophysiological cues, optimize EE → P pathways leading to SOC formation and stabilization. AMP grazers employ more frequent rotations, longer rest periods, and greater stocking densities compared to other rotational grazing strategies (Bork et al., 2021; Roche et al., 2015; Sherren et al., 2022). This creates more opportunities for experimentation and observation of ecophysiological responses following grazing, allows greater spatial and temporal control to adapt grazing timing, duration, frequency, and intensity in response (Mann & Sherren, 2018; McDonald et al., 2019; Sherren et al., 2012; Teague et al., 2013), and ultimately creates functional decision‐making feedback loops more capable of consistently achieving “optimal” grazing patterns (Figure 1).…”

Section: Optimizing Grazing Management For Socmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ruminating on soil carbon: Applying current understanding to inform grazing management

Stanley,

Wilson,

Patterson

et al. 2024

Global Change Biology

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Among options for atmospheric CO2 removal, sequestering soil organic carbon (SOC) via improved grazing management is a rare opportunity because it is scalable across millions of globally grazed acres, low cost, and has high technical potential. Decades of scientific research on grazing and SOC has failed to form a cohesive understanding of how grazing management affects SOC stocks and their distribution between particulate (POM) and mineral‐associated organic matter (MAOM)—characterized by different formation and stabilization pathways—across different climatic contexts. As we increasingly look to grazing management for SOC sequestration on grazinglands to bolster our climate change mitigation efforts, we need a clear and collective understanding of grazing management's impact on pathways of SOC change to inform on‐the‐ground management decisions. We set out to review the effects of grazing management on SOC through a unified plant ecophysiology and soil biogeochemistry conceptual framework, where elements such as productivity, input quality, soil mineral capacity, and climate variables such as aridity co‐govern SOC accumulation and distribution into POM and MAOM. To maximize applicability to grazingland managers, we discuss how common management levers that drive overall grazing pattern, including timing, intensity, duration, and frequency can be used to optimize mechanistic pathways of SOC sequestration. We discuss important research needs and measurement challenges, and highlight how our conceptual framework can inform more robust research with greater applicability for maximizing the use of grazing management to sequester SOC.

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“…Two archetypes of cattle production for meat are common in high-GDP economies and produce animal products for both domestic and international markets (figure 1) (Gwin 2009, Sherren et al 2022. Feedlot-based systems typically raise cattle for their first year of growth by grazing in rangelands and pastures before they are transported to feedlots (figures 1(A) and (B)) where they are confined to holding areas or barns and 'finished' to a target weight by feeding annual grains (primarily corn and soybeans) and forages (primarily alfalfa) (figure 1(C)).…”

Section: Modes Of Innovation In Livestock Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

Agroecological innovation to scale livestock agriculture for positive economic, environmental, and social outcomes

Gratton,

Strauser,

Jordan

et al. 2024

Environ. Res.: Food Syst.

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Livestock agriculture must change to meet demand for food production while building soil, reducing flooding, retaining nutrients, enhancing biodiversity, and supporting thriving communities. Technological innovations, including those in digital and precision agriculture, are unlikely by themselves to create the magnitude and directionality of transformation of livestock production systems that are needed. We begin by comparing technological, ecological and social innovations in feedlot-finished and pasture-finished cattle production and propose that what is required is a more integrative “agroecological innovation” process that intentionally weaves these three forms of innovation to transition livestock agriculture to be genuinely regenerative and multifunctional. This integrated system emphasizes social innovations as essential components of the innovation system because of their capacity to address and influence the social context into which technological and ecological innovations occur. In particular, regional place-making can be especially useful as an interactive process of designing regional identities as people engage with one another and their environments to define landscape futures and the related social standards that normalize particular land management practices. Intentionally developing innovations can help communities engage in relational place-making processes to define desired outcomes for agricultural landscapes and develop ways to collaborate towards achieving them, including the creation of novel supply chains that support regenerative livestock systems. As social norms evolve through place-making they influence individual behaviors and agricultural practices on the ground and offer a pathway for more rapid scaling of regenerative practices in livestock agriculture. Regional place-making also can influence the ‘meta’ context of agricultural systems by engaging with public and private institutions responsible for management of natural resources, food systems, and the public good, further accelerating the scaling process. Emerging agroecological innovation systems for livestock agriculture must be designed and governed in ways that ensure responsible and diverse outcomes compatible with their social and ecological contexts, and with management approaches and technologies consistent with the values and goals of communities in a region.

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Adaptive multi-paddock grazing and wellbeing: uptake, management practices and mindset among Canadian beef producers

Cited by 12 publications

References 49 publications

A systematic review on whether regenerative agriculture improves animal welfare: A qualitative analysis with a One Welfare perspective

A systematic review on whether regenerative agriculture improves animal welfare: A qualitative analysis with a One Welfare perspective

Ruminating on soil carbon: Applying current understanding to inform grazing management

Agroecological innovation to scale livestock agriculture for positive economic, environmental, and social outcomes

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