Sustainable livestock industry: when transformation becomes necessary

Eating is Changing the World, the podcast series that decodes food systems - Episode 1 about sustainable livestock farming

For this second episode of Manger c'est changer le monde, we meet Eloi Lebert, a specialist in the livestock sector and consultant at Soliance Alimentaire. He shares with us his insights on the necessary transformation of the livestock sector in 5 minutes. He reveals the paradoxical nature of the issues at stake. Acknowledging what livestock farming has given us since the beginning of human history, he is committed to the transition to amore sustainable livestock farming model.

Want to know more about the many challenges facing the livestock industry?

Livestock industry: an essential human activity for the planet?

An industry born 20,000 years before Christ.

Livestock farming was adopted by man several millennia ago. For centuries, this human activity has met our needs in various fields: food, transportation, work, leisure, clothing, heating, energy production, and fertilizer production. Despite these positive externalities, the livestock sector is now facing new challenges related to its impact on the environment and planetary resources.

Eradicating livestock would deprive us of many positive externalities

Beyond its nutritional contribution, livestock farming is the source of positive externalities:

• conservation of ecosystems and associated biodiversity,
• carbon storage in soils,
• maintenance of landscapes, thus less vulnerable to climatic hazards.

The eradication of animal husbandry would create an immense imbalance and disasters of all kinds. Such a radical decision is therefore not the one we are planning at Soliance Alimentaire. On the other hand, we are convinced that the livestock sector must undergo a profound transformation. To achieve this, the sector has many challenges to meet:

• combining livestock systems and sustainable supply chains
• make the economic viability of the sector more robust
• ensure the social acceptability of livestock farming

Livestock farming under pressure: overconsumption of resources and environmental impact

During this 5-minute discussion, Eloi Lebert, Soliance Alimentaire consultant, calls for a hard look at the IPCC reports on livestock farming. These underline the fact that the sector participates in climate change:

• Directly, if we focus on greenhouse gas emissions
• Indirectly, if we consider the damage created by deforestation

It also reminds us that 75% of the world's cultivated land is used to produce:

1. Feeding livestock
2. Milk
3. Meat

Depending on the way it is produced, livestock farming can cause direct pollution of the environment, altering the quality of the air and water and threatening biodiversity.

New sustainable farming methods

What about extensive breeding?

Eloi Lebert also gives us details aboutextensive breeding, a model that is economical in terms of inputs (energy, fertilizers, equipment). This approach does not seek a high individual productivity per animal, nor a high productivity per unit of surface. These two points differentiate it fromintensive livestock farming. It also distinguishes between ruminants, which value cellulose-rich materials, and monogastrics, which value grain or food waste.

Grazing, a sustainable way of raising livestock for a number of territories

Under the effect of theincrease in demand for meat (volume/frequency), the development and intensification of livestock farming has led to an acceleration of pollution. This observation calls into question certain farming methods in many territories. For Eloi Lebert, livestock farming is sometimes the only viable way to produce, especially if it is conducted on pasture.

Soliance Alimentaire's action for the development of sustainable livestock production

Soliance Alimentaire accompanies the awareness and the thirst for transformation of the actors of the breeding sector

For Eloi Lebert, the success of these transformations depends on all the actors in the sectors and territories to which they are linked. Their awareness and desire to succeed in these transformations must guide the actions of the actors in the territories.

At Soliance Alimentaire, our mission is to accompany these actors and their approaches. This work begins with a shared diagnosis reinforced by the commitment of the actors. To succeed in these transformations, the mobilization of the greatest number of people is necessary.

An approach applied in the field in the South of France

Eloi Lebert illustrates the work of Soliance Alimentaire in this field:

" We did it with the Southern Alps, where the dairy and cheese culture persists despite the constraints of mountain agriculture. Livestock farming in this area plays a legitimate role in maintaining and exploiting rural and pastoral areas.

Following a diagnosis established with the partners of the sector and the institutional partners, Soliance Alimentaire has co-constructed a set of actions aiming at revitalizing the sector. This type of support allows us to respond to several value and sustainability issues. A set of actions that allows to perpetuate the breeding sector and to integrate the main principles of sustainable development. 

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In the meantime, listen to the preface episode of Eating is Changing the World: