Can pasture‐fed livestock farming practices improve the ecological condition of grassland in Great Britain?

Norton, Lisa; Maskell, Lindsay C.; Wagner, Markus; Wood, Claire M.; Pinder, A.P.; Brentegani, Michele

doi:10.1002/2688-8319.12191

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…As extensive beef systems vary widely across Australia due to differences in climate (e.g., temperate, tropical, and semi-arid) and management practices, the effects of livestock production on biodiversity also vary widely [159]. In some instances, well-managed pasture and rangeland livestock systems may benefit biodiversity outcomes [159,160]. However, more commonly, there are biodiversity benefits from reducing livestock grazing [161].…”

Section: Biodiversity Credentialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate and Biodiversity Credentials for Australian Grass-Fed Beef: A Review of Standards, Certification and Assurance Schemes

Thomas,

Mata,

Toovey

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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Extensive livestock production occupies 25% of the ice-free terrestrial surface of the Earth, and Australian beef production contributes about 10% of this total land footprint. Therefore, the management of cattle has major implications for natural vegetation, soils, biodiversity, and atmospheric greenhouse gases in Australia and globally. To meet global sustainability targets and consumer expectations, a variety of environmental Standards, Certification and Assurance (SCA) schemes are being developed and implemented to enable producers to verify claims relating to their products. Improved standardization and coordination are now needed to address the rapid proliferation of credentialing systems that use different frameworks, methods and levels of scientific verification. Using the Australian grass-fed beef industry as a case study, we identified the measures, metrics and methods that are currently used by SCA schemes for climate and biodiversity credentialing. From here, a co-design process with industry representatives was applied to develop recommendations for credentialing in extensive beef production, feedlots and meat processing. It was clear that the successful adoption of credentialing by beef producers will require flexible and user-friendly support tools that use scalable data sources such as existing producer records, agtech databases and remote sensing information. Substantive rewards and incentives will be required to support producer engagement with the SCA schemes. Overall, ’more needs to be done to ensure the transparency of schemes and to meet benchmarks for integrity such as determining uncertainty and support though peer-reviewed science.

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Section: Biodiversity Credentialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate and Biodiversity Credentials for Australian Grass-Fed Beef: A Review of Standards, Certification and Assurance Schemes

Thomas,

Mata,

Toovey

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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“…Results for total plant species richness, forb (herbaceous flowering plant) cover and average height of vegetation are shown in Figure 4. These data have been compared with nationally representative randomly located samples of grassland data from close to a thousand survey plots across GB in Norton et al (2022) to investigate any broad scale differences between the "populations" of fields. Both numbers of species and the cover of forb species were highly variable across PFLA farms.…”

Section: Soil and Vegetationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning from innovative practitioners: Evidence for the sustainability and resilience of pasture fed livestock systems

Norton¹,

Maskell²,

McVittie³

et al. 2022

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

Self Cite

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There is an urgent need for transformational change in agriculture to address current and future issues caused by climate change, biodiversity loss and socio-ecological disruption. But change is slow to come and is hindered by a lack of transdisciplinary evidence on potential approaches which take a systems approach. The research described here was co-developed with the Pasture Fed Livestock Association in the UK to objectively evidence their practices. These include producing pasture-based meat from livestock fed on pasture and pasture-based forages alone. This approach sits alongside wider aims of fitting their practices with the ecological conditions on each individual farm to facilitate optimal production and working collaboratively through a forum for sharing knowledge. The research provides strong indications that the PFLA approach to livestock production is resilient and viable, as well as contributing to wider public goods delivery, despite variability within and between farms. It also reveals that learning and adaption of practice (through farmer experience) is central to farming using agro-ecological approaches. This fluidity of practice presents challenges for reductionist approaches to “measuring” agricultural innovations.

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Mob grazing: A nature-based solution for British farms producing pasture-fed livestock

Wagner

Waterton

Norton

2023

Nature-Based Solutions

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Can pasture‐fed livestock farming practices improve the ecological condition of grassland in Great Britain?

Cited by 4 publications

References 52 publications

Climate and Biodiversity Credentials for Australian Grass-Fed Beef: A Review of Standards, Certification and Assurance Schemes

Climate and Biodiversity Credentials for Australian Grass-Fed Beef: A Review of Standards, Certification and Assurance Schemes

Learning from innovative practitioners: Evidence for the sustainability and resilience of pasture fed livestock systems

Mob grazing: A nature-based solution for British farms producing pasture-fed livestock

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