Increase livestock and pasture productivity

Increasing livestock and pasture productivity is often promoted as a way to address several environmental problems simultaneously. The underlying idea is that by producing more meat, milk, or other animal products from each acre of pasture or from each animal, we can meet rising food demands while reducing the overall pressure on land, water, and other natural resources. Here’s how this can work in practice, the benefits it offers, and the potential challenges it may address.

First, consider the problem of land use. Livestock farming is a major driver of deforestation and habitat destruction globally because traditional practices often use large areas of land inefficiently. When animals graze at low densities on vast tracts of land, much of the grass is underutilized, and productivity per acre remains low. In regions like South America, forests are routinely cleared to create new pasture for cattle. If farmers can increase productivity on existing pasture — by improving grass varieties, managing grazing patterns, using better animal breeds, and providing supplemental feed — they can raise more livestock or produce more meat and milk on the same or even less land. This reduces the incentive and need to clear additional forests, thereby protecting biodiversity and storing carbon in trees and soil.

Second, improved pasture management can help soils and ecosystems recover and become more resilient. Overgrazing, where too many animals eat plants faster than they can regrow, degrades soil, leads to erosion, and reduces the land’s ability to sequester carbon. However, with techniques like rotational grazing (where animals are moved between plots to let vegetation recover), overseeding with nutritious forage species, and using soil amendments, pastures can become healthier and more productive. Healthy soils store more water and carbon, reducing the impacts of drought and climate change. They also support more diverse plant and animal life, improving the overall resilience of the ecosystem.

Water use is another important aspect. Livestock production, especially beef, is water-intensive, but much of this water is used to grow feed crops or is lost from poorly managed pasture. By increasing productivity, farmers can produce the same amount of animal protein or milk using less water overall. This can be done by selecting animals with better feed conversion rates (meaning they grow faster and healthier on less food and water), growing high-quality feed that requires less irrigation, and improving pasture water retention through soil health practices.

There are also significant implications for greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock, especially cattle, generate methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, during digestion. They also contribute to nitrous oxide emissions from manure and fertilizers applied to pastures. If more meat or milk is produced per animal and per hectare, total emissions per unit of product can decline — this is known as reducing the emissions intensity. For example, a cow that produces more milk over her lifetime spreads her methane emissions over a larger amount of milk, making each liter of milk less carbon-intensive. Further, improved feeding can reduce methane output by making digestion more efficient, and composting manure can lower nitrous oxide emissions.

From a livelihoods perspective, greater productivity means that small farmers can potentially earn more from the same amount of land, supporting rural economies and food security without expanding farming into natural habitats. This can promote sustainable development goals: relieving poverty, ensuring food availability, and protecting the environment.

However, it’s important to recognize that increased productivity doesn’t automatically solve all environmental problems. If the increased efficiency simply leads farmers to produce even more total livestock products (a phenomenon called the “rebound effect”), overall environmental pressures could still rise. Sustainable gains in productivity need to be combined with efforts to manage consumption, waste, and ensure that intensification doesn’t lead to new issues, like excessive use of antibiotics, chemical fertilizers, or animal welfare problems.

Moreover, the way increased productivity is achieved matters a great deal. There’s a big difference between industrial-scale feedlots, which can acutely concentrate pollution and disease, and regenerative grazing systems that seek to mimic natural cycles. Regenerative approaches, which focus on healthy soils, plant diversity, and animal welfare, are often seen as the most promising for delivering environmental co-benefits.

In conclusion, increasing livestock and pasture productivity offers a powerful tool for tackling environmental problems like land degradation, deforestation, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions. It allows for more food to be produced from less land, helps keep forests standing, improves soil health, and can reduce emissions per unit of food. But these benefits depend on how productivity gains are achieved and whether they are coupled with broader shifts towards sustainability — such as dietary changes, reduced waste, improved farming practices, and stronger environmental policies. By taking a holistic approach, boosting pasture and livestock productivity can be part of a comprehensive solution to feeding a growing population while protecting the environment.