What can we do to improve the contribution of grassland to net food security?
2024
Hennessy, Deirdre | Delaby, Luc | Eriksen, J. | Rinne, M. | University College Cork (UCC) | Physiologie, Environnement et Génétique pour l'Animal et les Systèmes d'Elevage [Rennes] (PEGASE) ; Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro Rennes Angers ; Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro) | Aarhus University [Aarhus] | Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE)
International audience
Show more [+] Less [-]English. Intensification of animal production systems over the last 20+ years has increased the consumption of human edible protein by livestock, leading to increased competition for and cost of human edible protein. Grassland based agriculture, in a large part, supports ruminant production systems, which convert human inedible proteins (grassland) into human edible meat and dairy products of high protein and other nutrient value. Grassland-based systems have conversion efficiencies of 2.5 to almost 4 in terms of kg human edible protein produced for each 1 kg human edible protein consumed by livestock. Grassland offers a range of other ecosystems services including supporting plant and animal biodiversity, water resource management (e.g. water retention, provision of flood plains, filtering), carbon storage and sequestration, promoting soil health, sustaining rural communities, and contributing to rural culture and landscape management. Sustainable grassland management addresses the requirements of grassland to contribute to global net food security, particularly through ruminant production, as well as environmental conservation and management.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Institut national de la recherche agronomique
