Looking past the headlines at livestock, climate and sustainability

By Lilian Schaer for Livestock Research Innovation Corporation

There’s a growing narrative that eliminating animal agriculture is the key solution to the world’s climate change problem – much to the frustration of the livestock industry. 

According to Ian Ross, President and CEO of Grand Valley Fortifiers and board member with Livestock Research Innovation Corporation (LRIC), this ignores the critical role that livestock plays in global food protein security, regenerative agriculture, and carbon sequestration. 

What’s needed, he believes, is for the sector to be a more active participant in the climate change discussion, promoting the science and industry realities that show it’s the economic and food security importance as well as the environmental efficiency of meat, milk and eggs when measured on a human digestible protein basis. 

This includes greater understanding of how much human food and energy by-products livestock consume in developed nations and the positive effects pasturing and manure have on soil health and carbon sequestration.