Abstract
This paper presents a methodological proposal of new energy sustainability indicators according to a novel accounting that follows agroecological and ecological economics criteria. Energy output is reformulated to include manure and thus consider the contribution to fertilization made by pastoral livestock farming to agroecosystems. Energy inputs calculations include the grazing resources. These new definitions and calculations allow for new formulations of the energy return on investment (EROI) as measures of the energy efficiency of livestock farming systems (final EROI and food/feed EROI). The environmental benefit of manure is estimated from the avoided energy cost of using this alternative to inorganic fertilizers (AECM). The environmental benefit of grazing is measured through the energy cost of avoiding cultivated animal feed (AECP) and its impact in terms of non-utilized agricultural area (ALCP). The comparative analysis of different livestock breeding systems in three pastoral dairy goat farms in the Sierra de Cádiz in Andalusia, southern Spain, reveals the analytical potential of the new energy sustainability indicators proposed, as well as the potential environmental benefits derived from territorial-based stockbreeding and, more specifically, grazing activities. Those benefits include gains in energy efficiency, a reduction of the dependence on non-renewable energy, and environmental costs avoided in terms of energy in extensive pastoral systems.
Highlights
The increasing demand of livestock products and the search for an increase of livestock productivity have induced the rapid transition of livestock breeding systems from pastoralism into intensive systems
The initial hypothesis of the present work is that the global disconnection of crops and livestock from pasturable resources implies a lack of efficiency in the use of natural resources and a greater environmental impact of confined livestock farming [9]
This paper develops and implements a series of indicators designed for the study of goat farming sustainability (Final energy return on investment—EROI, NR Final EROI, Food/feed EROI, etc.)
Summary
The increasing demand of livestock products and the search for an increase of livestock productivity have induced the rapid transition of livestock breeding systems from pastoralism into intensive systems. Extensive livestock husbandry systems and their traditional use of pastures have been substituted by high livestock density or even landless systems with an intensive diet These systems are dependent on the globalized supply of corn and soybean or other grains produced by export monocultures in lands that could be used to provide human food or occupied by old-growth forests functioning as irreplaceable carbon sinks [1]. This intensification has led to a separation of livestock and territory, a process that is interrupting nutrient flows and causing soil organic matter depletion in the territories where animal feed is originally produced, often generating pollution in the place where the livestock is housed [2]. The initial hypothesis of the present work is that the global disconnection of crops and livestock from pasturable resources implies a lack of efficiency in the use of natural resources and a greater environmental impact of confined livestock farming [9]
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