Promising Sustainable Beef - Dr. Martin Scholten, General Director Animal/Marine Sciences, Wageningen University, from the 2016 Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB), October 5 - 6, 2016, Banff, Alberta, Canada. More presentations at http://trufflemedia.com/agmedia/conference/2016-global-roundtable-sustainable-beef

1. Promising Sustainable Beef
Catalyse continuous Improvements
Martin C. Th. Scholten

2. GRSB Principles
 Natural Resources
 People & Community
 Animal Health & Welfare
 Food
 Efficiency & Innovation

3. GRSB 2016; breakouts
● What is the consumers commitment to sustainability?
 Expecting Integrity (Trust)
● What is the business commitment to sustainability?
 Building Chain of Custody (Transparency)
● How to assess the sustainability?
 Non-linear, kaleidoscopic Assessments (Fair & Full)

4. GRSB 2016; breakouts
● How to practice sustainability?
 Convincing Progress (Footprints, Deforestation)
● What is the NGO commitment to sustainable practices?
 Critically supportive for Actions more than Words

5. Consumers Expecting Integrity
But do not buy that!
 Beef is Premium ...
 Margin is in Adjectives
 Xxx-Free is Hype
 Deforestation is a No-Go
 Health is a DebateKey Note Dr. David Hughes

6. Business strives for a Chain of Custody
 Field
 Farm
 Abattoir
 Processing
 Retail
 Consumer

7. Best Practice requires Best Science
 Fair Assessment
 Full Assessment
 Action Driven Assessment
• Resource & Land Use
• Animal Health & Welfare
• Local Specifications

8. Most LCA’s are too simplistic & not provocative
 Linear summing up LCA’s single products
 From linear considered commodity/supply chains
 Addressing single topics of concern
 Do not account a Globally integrated AgroFood-system
 Ignores variation in Feed for Food Footprint
 Do not envisage feed strategies & grazing regimes
 Do not envisage optimal land use
 Depends on scope and scale

9. The Wageningen Animal Sustainability Team
Maximum Production of Human Edible
Proteins per Hectare of Land without
Depletion of Productivity and Biodiversity
Imke de Boer
Marion de Vries
Corina van Middelaar
Hannah van Zanten Eddie Bokkers

10. Variation in Land Use among Systems
m2/kg edible protein
0
50
100
150
200
250
Chicken Pork Beef Milk Egg
De Vries and De Boer 2010

11. First Analysis of Systems (1)
Calf from beef herd Calf from dairy herd

12. Calf from Dairy vs Beef

13. First Analysis of Systems (2)
Pasture-finished Concentrate-finished

14. Concentrate Finished versus Pasture Finished

15. Competition between Humans and Animals
Accounting for competition between humans
and animals for land might be in favour of
pasture-finished beef

16. Direct Competition
30
%
40
%
World grain
production
World arable
land

17. Indirect Competition
Agricultural land
yes
Marginal land
no
X

18. Feed-Food Competition
Research Question
How much animal source food
can we eat while avoiding
feed-food competition?

19. Landuse,etc.
% Consumption ASF
Hockeystick Figure
Threshold
point

20. Landuseetc.
% Consumption ASF
Sustainable Intensification
Production

21. Landuseetc.
% Consumption ASF
Sustainable Diet
Consumption

22. Efficiency of the Food System
Landuse,etc.
% Consumption ASF
7-27 g

23. For the Situation in the Netherlands

24. The Food Production Cycle in a Biobased Society

25. Room for Improvement: Feed Digestibility
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Feed Digestibility
(%)
Number of Cows
(Miljons)
Gerber et al., 2013

26. Digestibility & Protein Content Feed Stocks
Feedstock Digestible
Energy (%)
Proteins
(g N / kg)
Rye Grass 75 30
Concentrates 60-70 20-50
Maiz Silages 75 15
Other grasses 50 -60 15
Crop residuals 40-60 5-15

27. Upgrading Low-DE Feed Stocks by Mushrooms
-10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Reduction Cel
Reduction Lignin
 Wheat Straw
 Rice Straw
 Maize Stover
 Bagasse
 Oil Palm Fronds
 Wood Chips

28. Biologicals & Fine Chemicals
Organic Matter & Biota
Minerals & Energy
Room for Improvement: Manure = Product
Waste Management
Soil Quality

29. Room for Improvement: Freeze the Footprint
• Genotyping low methane
production for selection
• Improving feed quality and
digestibility, rumen microbes
• Improving animal health and
husbandry conditions
• Manure management: collection,
storage and utilisation
• Improving C sequestration soils
• Precision Livestock Farming

30. Soil Organic Matter Matters!

31. Challenge: SDG Role of Beef Cattle

32. Think Global, Act Local, Around the Globe

33. Enrolling Performance
 Catalyse continuous Improvements
Anticipate on Trends, means Awareness of Regime Shifts
Set SDG based transition Goals and challenging Claims
Think in Systems, Circularities and Innovations
Redefine the concept of Efficiency
Build Capabilities in developing Countries
Observations based Recommendations

34. Trust the Farmer?
Support the
Farmers
to
Foster the
Animals
& Soils