Research of the Animal Production Systems Group
Unravelling the complexity of concerns about various livestock systems, and exploring trade-offs and synergies of innovations to design a more sustainable future
Livestock systems are heterogeneous across the world, and therefore sustainability concerns differ across systems (see table). A SINGLE solution to improve sustainability does NOT exist; we need different solutions for different situations.
| System | Concerns |
| Intensive-landless* e.g. pig & broilers production systems | Animal welfare, manure surplus, deforestation, food safety, human health |
| Intensive crop-livestock e.g. Dutch dairy production | Methane & nitrous oxide emissions, animal welfare, eutrophication, acidification |
| Extensive crop-livestock e.g. smallholders | Livelihoods, land degradation, emissions of greenhouse gases |
| Grass-based e.g. pastoralists, extensive beef production | Land degradation, impact biodiversity, greenhouse gases, overgrazing |
* Intensive implies a high animal production per unit of labour, land and capital
For various livestock systems we unravel the complexity of concerns and explore trade-offs and synergies of innovations regarding environmental impact, animal welfare, economic viability to design a more sustainable future. Our systems analysis is based on a life cycle approach. This implies that you not only look at, for example, use of resources, emissions of pollutants or animal welfare at the farm level, but also consider preceding stages (e.g. production of animal feed or artificial fertilizer) or post-farm stages (slaughtering of animals or milk processing) in your analysis
The Animal Production Systems Group is embedded in WaCASA (Wageningen Centre for Agroecology and Systems Analysis, www.wacasa.wur.nl). This research cluster aims at integrating crop and livestock production at regional levels, to design sustainable agricultural regions