http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/afns/en/ Presentation from Jean-François Soussana, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on integrated crop-livestock agroecological systems. The presentation was prepared and delivered in occasion of the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition, held at FAO in Rome on 18-19 September 2014.

1. Symposium on Agroecology, Food and Nutritional security
FAO, Rome, Sept. 18-19, 2014
Integration wwiitthh lliivveessttoocckk
Jean-François Soussana1, Bertrand Dumont2, Philippe Lecomte3
1. INRA, Paris, France
2. INRA, UMRH, Clermont-Ferrand, France; 3. CIRAD, UMR SELMET, Montpellier, France

2. Outline
 Challenges in the livestock sector
 Agroecology for livestock: five goals
 Integrated animal health management
 Reduced use of external inputs
 Recoupled C-N-P cycles
 Biodiversity use and preservation
 Systems diversity and resilience
 Industrial ecology for intensive livestock systems
 Conclusions

3. Outline
 Challenges for the livestock sector
 Agroecology for livestock: five goals
 Integrated animal health management
 Reduced use of external inputs
 Recoupled C-N-P cycles
 Biodiversity use and preservation
 Systems diversity and resilience
 Industrial ecology for intensive livestock systems
 Conclusions

4. World animal production
provides 1/3 of proteins consumption
1.3
billion ‘jobs’
15%
of world GHG
emissions
19
billion animals
1.4
trillion $
35%
of crop production
30%
of ice free land

5. Grassland cover
Courtesy: K. Erbst, Vienna
Grasslands (grazing lands):
•Provide half of global gross energy intake by ruminants
•A key resource which cannot be directly used by humans
•Contribute through manure to crop fertilisation
•Account for ca. 25% of global soil carbon stock
•Grazing lands are one of the highest repository of plant diversity.

6. Livestock’s multiple roles in poor households
Crop supporting function
Capital and insurance function
Socio-cultural function
Meat and milk are “by-products”

7. Diversity of systems and natural resources use

8. 8
Livestock production systems distribution
Sere and Steinfeld (1996) classification updated by Robinson et al. (2011)
How can agroecology apply to highly contrasted livestock systems?
How can livestock and crop production be better integrated?

9. Outline
 Challenges for the livestock sector
 Agroecology for livestock: five goals
 Integrated animal health management
 Reduced use of external inputs
 Recoupled C-N-P cycles
 Biodiversity use and preservation
 Systems diversity and resilience
 Industrial ecology for intensive livestock systems
 Conclusions

10. Scope for livestock in agroecology
 Increasing, but relatively small number of papers (ca. 40 per year in WOS, up to
1,400 since the 1980’s in all data bases)
 In the book by S. Gliessman (2006), one chapter devoted to livestock raises the
important question of livestock integration:
‘The problem lies not in the animals themselves or in the consumption of animal
products, but rather in the way they are integrated into agroecosystems.
Understanding the integration of the animal in its agro-ecosystem provides levers
to ensure sustainable environmental and economic concerns ‘

11. Agroecology for livestock systems:
Five goals
Adapted from Dumont et al. (2013)

12. Socio-economics aspects
 A necessary reorganization of work (generic principles but
no "turnkey" solutions, i.e. adjust decisions continuously)
 Extra-time spent monitoring, especially during transition
periods
 Tools (indicators, instructional media) enable capacity
building
 Diversification could stabilize income in a context of
increasing price volatility and increased climatic hazards.
 New technologies could facilitate information collection
and handling of animals

13. Outline
 Challenges for the livestock sector
 Agroecology for livestock: five goals
 1. Integrated animal health management
 2. Reduced use of external inputs
 3. Recoupled C-N-P cycles
 4. Biodiversity use and preservation
 5. Systems diversity and resilience
 Industrial ecology for intensive livestock systems
 Conclusions

14. 1. Why integrated management of animal health?
Antibiotics use per kg meat production
Source: Scientific American (2012)

15. Integrated management of animal health
- Using the principles of ecology to manage host-pathogen interactions
• Adapt practices to reduce susceptibility to pathogens, e.g. disrupt
host-pathogen cycles by altering the distribution of animals
in space and time (Cabaret, 2007; Prache et al., 2011)
• Use of bioactive plants, (e.g. common sainfoin, Onobrychis viciifolia)
to reduce the infestation of small ruminants by digestive strongyles (Hoste et al.,
2006)
- Mobilizing the adaptability of animals (prevention)
- Select animals adapted to their breeding environment
- To climate, e.g. heat (small size, low fat, high urine N content)
-To feed restrictions (mobilization of reserves
and compensatory growth)
- To parasites (trypano tolerance, ticks, digestive strongyles)

16. Integrated management of animal health
Intestinal parasites control:
-mixed grazing,
-plant secondary metabolites,
-vermicomposting.
West Indies ruminant systems
(M. Boval et al., Inra)

17. Outline
 Challenges for the livestock sector
 Agroecology for livestock: five goals
 1. Integrated animal health management
 2. Reduced use of external inputs
 3. Recoupled C-N-P cycles
 4. Biodiversity use and preservation
 5. Systems diversity and resilience
 Industrial ecology for intensive livestock systems
 Conclusions

18. 3 Reduced use of external inputs

19. In Europe, grassland-based livestock
production often depends on high N input
… to grass monocultures What about legumes?
100 - 400 kg N ha-1 year-1

20. 600
600
500
500
400
400
300
300
200
100
0
** ** *** *** ** ns ** *** ns ns ** ** *** ** *
** * **
15 11 10 34 1 27 24 22 26 18 36 20 23 13 14
Site No
Grass
Legume
Mixtures
Increased total N yield with
grass- legume mixtures
Total nitrogen yield [kg ha-1 yr-1]
35 - Mixtures, on average, outperform grass monocultures at majority of sites
- Average N yield of mixtures is at level of legume monocultures
1
11 10
13
14
15
18
20
22
23
24
26
27
34
35
36
Mid European
Northern European
Other

21. 3 Reduce external inputs used for production
- Increasing the efficiency of utilization of limiting resources
•Improve P digestibility in swine rations incorporating natural microbial phytase
(Dourmad et al., 2009)
- Preserving support services for production
•Boost productivity ponds with submerged substrates and controlling the C: N ratio in
the rearing water (Bosma & Verdegem, 2011)
- Promoting the use of non-recyclable resources
Grazing lands
Industrial by-products
Crop residues

22. Outline
 Challenges for the livestock sector
 Agroecology for livestock: five goals
 1. Integrated animal health management
 2. Reduced use of external inputs
 3. Recoupled C-N-P cycles
 4. Biodiversity use and preservation
 5. Systems diversity and resilience
 Industrial ecology for intensive livestock systems
 Conclusions

23. 3. Recoupling the C, N and P cycles in animal systems
Extensive perennial
vegetation provides C-N-P
coupling, but with low
animal production efficiency
Biodiversity contributes
to plant productivity and C-N-
P coupling
Intensive animal agriculture
uncouples C-N-P cycles,
increasing losses to the
environment
Loss of biodiversity contributes to
this uncoupling
Global animal excretion: 94 Tg N; 21 Tg P, 67 Tg K per year
(well above inorganic fertilizers)

24. When are C-N-P cycles coupled?
 C, N and P are coupled by plants (i.e. autotrophy)
 Soil decomposers and grazers uncouple C, N and P
(i.e. heterotrophy)
Autotrophy > Heterotrophy
Forests and natural ecosystems
Extensive grasslands…
Heterotrophy > Autotrophy
Bare soil
Excess fertilizers
Feedlots
Overgrazing…Deforestation

25. Three stages of pasture intensification
(Soussana and Lemaire, Agric. Ecosyst. Envir., 2014)

26. Restoring degraded soils provides a
win-win option
‘Terraprima’ project
(www.terraprima.pt)
Portuguese carbon fund
Sown biodiverse leys fertilized with P
on degraded soils
50,000 ha were sown (1,000 farmers)
Estimated carbon sequestration :
1 million tons since 2009
Stage 1 of intensification is
usually a win-win option

27. Evaluating pasture intensification
potential in Brazil
Stocking Rates (actual/grazing potential, %)
(L. G. Barioni, Embrapa)

28. Maximal critical stocking rates
(SR*) in Europe
Soil C
sequestration
Grassland intensification
NCS, GHG
GHG
balance
0
SR*max= 2.1 LSU/ha
HUE* =0.2
SR*max=0.67 LSU/ha
Compensate cost for farmers!
(Soussana et al., 2014, EGF)

29. Greenhouse gas emissions per unit product may not
decline universally with production intensity
12.00
10.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
Mean global
dairy yield per cow
0 1 000 2 000 3 000 4 000 5 000 6 000 7 000 8 000 9 000
Output per cow, kg FPCM per year
kg CO2-eq. per kg FPCM
Gerber et al (2011) Livestock Science 139, 100-108
Gac et al (2014), Idele, Inovations
Agronomiques, in press
Improved productivity and efficiency is critical to reduce GHG emissions per head
in extensive systems
However, in Europe, the most intensive (maize based) systems have more net
GHG emissions than herbage based systems

30. Mixed crop-livestock systems
- Majority of livestock keeping households
- Largest share of meat and milk production in the tropics
- Large use of crop residues by livestock

31. Systems and livelihoods in transition: crop-livestock integration
taking place in W. Africa
W. Africa 1966 – pastoral system 2004 – crop-livestock system
Herrero et al 2009

32. Diversity of manure management practices in Mali

33. Outline
 Challenges for the livestock sector
 Agroecology for livestock: five goals
 1. Integrated animal health management
 2. Reduced use of external inputs
 3. Recoupled C-N-P cycles
 4. Biodiversity use and preservation
 5. Systems diversity and resilience
 Industrial ecology for intensive livestock systems
 Conclusions

34. 4. Biodiversity use and preservation
Biodiversity preservation
-Constructing landscapes to ensure ecosystem services
• Grazing exclusion at flowering peak can double butterfly populations in cattle-grazed
‘intensive’ pastures
(Farruggia et al., 2012)
• Collective landscape management based on coordination among farmers balances
milk production and conservation of shorebirds (Sabatier et al., 2010, 2014)

35. Plant species diversity matters for pasture
productivity
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
(Gross et al., Basic Appl. Ecol., 2010)
Above-ground biomass
(A)
Number of Species
4
3
2
1
0
Log Green Biomass (g) -1
AB r² = 0.58 **
MF r² = 0.61 **
MU r² = 0.48 *
Overall r² = 0.51 ***
The more plant species in a permanent grassland patch,
the higher the local productivity
Complementarity across neighbouring species

36. Outline
 Challenges for the livestock sector
 Agroecology for livestock: five goals
 1. Integrated animal health management
 2. Reduced use of external inputs
 3. Recoupled C-N-P cycles
 4. Biodiversity use and preservation
 5. Systems diversity and resilience
 Industrial ecology for intensive livestock systems
 Conclusions

37. 5. Increased resilience through systems diversity
- Enhancing the complementarity of animals and the diversity of resources
J F M A M J J A S O N D
280 ewes LAMBING LACTATION MATIN
Conserved forage +
concentrate
G
Fertilized
permanent
grassland
Native rangelands Regrowths on
Ewe-lambs WEANING
Increase the flexibility of the system through
diversified resources
18 ha fertilized
grasslands: 4 t DM/ ha
Manage rangelands with high biodiversity potential
Use non-recoverable resources directly by man
fertilized grassland
Native rangeland
(+ hay if needed)
Native rangeland with
experienced peers
Regrowths on native
rangelands
(compensatory
growth)
Green grass on
fertilized & native
gld
226600 hhaa
Gross margin: 97Є/ewe (vs. 58 Є upland central France) Jouven & Benoit, 2011
Dumont et al., 2013

38. Agroforestry: increased diversity and resilience
of livestock systems
(courtesy CATIE)

39. Outline
 Challenges for the livestock sector
 Agroecology for livestock: five goals
 1. Integrated animal health management
 2. Reduced use of external inputs
 3. Recoupled C-N-P cycles
 4. Biodiversity use and preservation
 5. Systems diversity and resilience
 Industrial ecology for intensive livestock systems
 Conclusions

40. Can ecology also apply to intensive livestock systems?
 Industrial ecology can be seen as a new way to reduce the environmental footprint of
intensive livestock using specific technologies to reduce impacts, recycle and create
symbiosis across sub-systems (Frosh & Gallopoulos, 1989; Holm Nielsen, 2010; Takata et al.,
2012)
- Enhancing the value of co-products of agriculture through
industrial technologies
- Contributing significantly to food production by using less
land, water and energy

41. Integrated agriculture-aquaculture systems
Livestock Rice, fruits, sugar cane
Aliment
Feed (co-products)
(sous-produits de culture)
Aliments (végétaux
aquatiques) et eau
Fish (carp, tilapia)
Fertilisation (fumier)
produits
sous Fertilisation (culture)
de Irrigation des cultures et
fertilisation (sédiment étangs)
Feed and water
Fertilization manure)
Fertilization (co-products)
Irrigation, fertilization
High productivity: rice
2t fruits + 10t fish/ha
Gross margin: + 50-150
US$ in Bangladesh
Nhan et al., 2006
Phong et al., 2010
Decrease inputs for
production
Reduced pollution
But fish can be contaminated with excreta-related pathogens or antibiotics! => WHO guidelines
Karim et al., 2011

42. Intensive pig system associated with a digester
Pig production indoors Crop production
(Grains, oilseeds, etc.)
Feed
méthanisation Substrat (effluents)
de
On-farm feed
production
Biofuels Diversify to
Digester
Detoxify droppings before
use to fertilize crops
Lower mortality of piglets
secure income
High initial
investment
Other substrates (16%) 250 houses
Sales
Direct sales
Manure biogas
to produce
Heated housing
Fertilization (digesta)
Silage of intercrops
Dumont et al., 2013

43. Summary
 Agroecology goes further than adjusting practices in current
agroecosystems; goals (or principles) can be used as a guideline to
implement combinations of agroecological practices adapted to local
conditions
 Some of these principles can also apply to intensive livestock farming
systems
- Agroecology sensu stricto: strong connection to the soil, food systems
with high added value, preservation of biodiversity and environment,
poverty alleviation, increased food security.
- Industrial Ecology: closes nutrient cycles, integrates with other
production systems, adapted to densely populated areas
 AE and IE provide options for most livestock systems

44. Thank you for your attention!