Drivers of decoupling and recoupling of crop and livestock systems at farm and territorial scales

Abstract

Crop and livestock production have become spatially decoupled in existing commercial agricultural regimes throughout the world. These segregated high input production systems contribute to some of the world's most pressing sustainability challenges, including climate change, nutrient imbalances, water pollution, biodiversity decline, and increasingly precarious rural livelihoods. There is substantial evidence that by closing the loop in nutrient and energy cycles, recoupling crop and livestock systems at farm and territorial scales can help reduce the environmental externalities associated with conventional commercial farming without declines in profitability or yields. Yet such "integrated" crop and livestock systems remain rare as a proportion of global agricultural area. Based on an interdisciplinary workshop and additional literature review, we provide a comprehensive historical and international perspective on why integrated crop and livestock systems have declined in most regions and what conditions have fostered their persistence and reemergence in others. We also identify levers for encouraging the reemergence of integrated crop and livestock systems worldwide. We conclude that a major disruption of the current regime would be needed to foster crop-livestock reintegration, including a redesign of research programs, credit systems, payments for ecosystem services, insurance programs, and food safety regulations to focus on whole farm outcomes and the creation of a circular economy. An expansion of the number of integrated crop and livestock systems field trials and demonstrations and efforts to brand integrated crop and livestock systems as a form of sustainable agriculture through the development of eco-labels could also improve adoption, but would likely be unsuccessful at encouraging wide-scale change without a more radical transformation of the research and policy landscape.

Supporting food systems transformation: The what, why, who, where and how of mission-oriented agricultural innovation systems

“…These rather broad conceptual missions for food systems transformation may be underpinned by different types of ‘sub-missions’. For example the broad mission of ‘circular agriculture’ may be achieved by sub-missions emphasizing either a place-based local model with closing cycles on farms, high in-field diversity and short supply chains, or a regional model in which different sorts of monoculture agriculture are connected within wider rural-urban interactions and material and energy flows ( Garrett et al, 2020 ; Van Zanten et al, 2019 ). Hence, these sub-missions represent diversity in possible future food systems transition pathways and supporting technologies ( Gaitán-Cremaschi et al, 2020 ).…”

Land-Use Intensification Trends in the Rio De La Plata Region of South America: Toward Specialization or Recoupling Crop and Livestock Production

“…ICLS are more complex to manage than specialized systems, thereby posing a challenge for advisors to develop coordinated actions [59] . ICLS design requires a holistic approach to be able to deal with system biophysical issues and human psychological barriers (not only owners but also farm staff, their families and other stakeholders).…”

Crises environnementales et sanitaires : des maladies de l’anthropocène qui appellent à refonder notre système alimentaire

“…3 Transformer le système alimentaire pour l'environnement et la santé 3.1 Trois axes pour une transition forte du champ à l'assiette 3.1.1 Favoriser des modes de production s'inscrivant dans une démarche agroécologique Promouvoir une agriculture qui offre une diversité de produits de qualité, qui stocke du carbone dans les sols et fournit des produits animaux basés sur la diversité des plantes, des paysages et des organismes du sol, ainsi que le renforcement des synergies entre cultures et élevage (Garrett et al, 2020), suppose un changement de paradigme majeur, plaçant la santé du sol (Geisen et al, 2019) au coeur de la transition, et l'élevage comme une activité de « support » (Eldridge et Delgado-Baquerizo, 2017). Une agriculture basée sur la santé du sol (Wang et Li, 2019) contribue à la santé des plantes, des animaux, de la planète et à la santé humaine.…”