Assessing and interpreting food and land use efficiency by ruminants
Abstract
While animal-based foods account for 25% of the protein consumed by humans worldwide, and are recognized for their nutritional quality, livestock farming is regularly criticized for its inefficiency. In particular, the use of edible human food and arable land to produce food for animals raises questions. Numerous indicators have been developed to objectivize the contribution of livestock farming to human food supply: net protein and energy conversion efficiency, arable land use, land use ratio and net productivity. These indicators, which exist in a number of variants, are described, analyzed and evaluated on the basis of a compilation of various dairy and beef farm databases. The analysis demonstrates the value of many ruminant systems and identifies areas for improvement, in particular by basing systems on grass and reducing the use of human edible feed.
Attachments
No supporting information for this article##plugins.generic.statArticle.title##
Views: 229
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Sarah LAISSE, René BAUMONT, Léonie DUSART, Didier GAUDRÉ, Benoit ROUILLÉ, Marc BENOIT, Patrick VEYSSET, Didier RÉMOND, Jean-Louis PEYRAUD, The net feed conversion efficiency of livestock: a new approach to assess the contribution of livestock to human feeding , INRAE Productions Animales: Vol. 31 No. 3 (2018): Volume 31: Issue3: Dossier: Feed resources for livestock
- Audrey MICHAUD, Sylvain PLANTUREUX, René BAUMONT, Luc DELABY, Grasslands, a source of wealth and support for innovation for more sustainable and acceptable ruminant livestock farming , INRAE Productions Animales: Vol. 33 No. 3 (2020)
- Jean-Louis PEYRAUD, Joël AUBIN, Marc BARBIER, René BAUMONT, Cécile BERRI, Jean-Pierre BIDANEL, Christine CITTI, Corinne COTINOT, Christian DUCROT, Pierre DUPRAZ, Philippe FAVERDIN, Nicolas FRIGGENS, Sabine HOUOT, Marie-Odile NOZIÈRES-PETIT, Claire ROGEL-GAILLARD, Véronique SANTÉ-LHOUTELLIER, Science for tomorrow’s livestock farming: A forward thinking conducted at INRA , INRAE Productions Animales: Vol. 32 No. 2 (2019): Volume 32 Issue 2: Special Issue. Major challenges and solutions for livestock farming
- Gaëlle MAXIN, Pierre NOZIÈRE, Daniel SAUVANT, René BAUMONT, Application of multi-criteria evaluation methods to ruminant diets: identification of criteria to be evaluated and indicators to be measured on feeds , INRAE Productions Animales: Vol. 31 No. 3 (2018): Volume 31: Issue3: Dossier: Feed resources for livestock
- René BAUMONT, Agnès GIRARD, The journal “INRA Productions Animales” in the scientific production in the animal sciences and husbandry , INRAE Productions Animales: Vol. 32 No. 2 (2019): Volume 32 Issue 2: Special Issue. Major challenges and solutions for livestock farming
- Manon SAILLEY, Cécile CORDIER, Jean-Yves COURTONNE, Boris DUFLOT, François CADUDAL, Christophe PERROT, Aude BRION, René BAUMONT, Quantification and segment flows of raw material used in animal feed in France , INRAE Productions Animales: Vol. 34 No. 4 (2021)
- René BAUMONT, Virginie DECRUYENAERE, Gaëlle MAXIN, Benoît ROUILLÉ, Valérie HEUZÉ, Gilles TRAN, Valorising a diversity of biomasses to meet the technical, environmental and societal challenges of ruminant farming , INRAE Productions Animales: Vol. 36 No. 1 (2023)
- Elsa DELANOUE, Margaux GELIN, Alizée CHOUTEAU, Anne-Charlotte DOCKES, Christine ROGUET, René BAUMONT, How to improve the attractiveness of professions in the livestock sectors? Current situation and outlook for 2035 , INRAE Productions Animales: Vol. 37 No. 1 (2024)
- René BAUMONT, Foreword of the Dossier : Feed resources for livestock , INRAE Productions Animales: Vol. 31 No. 3 (2018): Volume 31: Issue3: Dossier: Feed resources for livestock
- Elisabeth BAÉZA, Nathalie BAREILLE, Christian DUCROT, Irène GABRIEL, René BAUMONT, Streamlining the use of veterinary drugs in livestock , INRAE Productions Animales: Vol. 35 No. 4 (2022): Streamlining the use of veterinary drugs in livestock