Takahashi T, Harris P, Blackwell M S A, Cardenas L M, Collins A L, Dungait J A J, Hawkins J M B, Misselbrook T H, McAuliffe G A, McFadzean J N, Murray P J, Orr R J, Rivero M J, Wu L, Lee M R F
1Rothamsted Research,North Wyke,Okehampton,Devon,EX20 2SB,UK.
Animal. 2018;12(8):1766-1776. doi: 10.1017/S1751731118000502. Epub 2018 Apr 13.
For livestock production systems to play a positive role in global food security, the balance between their benefits and disbenefits to society must be appropriately managed. Based on the evidence provided by field-scale randomised controlled trials around the world, this debate has traditionally centred on the concept of economic-environmental trade-offs, of which existence is theoretically assured when resource allocation is perfect on the farm. Recent research conducted on commercial farms indicates, however, that the economic-environmental nexus is not nearly as straightforward in the real world, with environmental performances of enterprises often positively correlated with their economic profitability. Using high-resolution primary data from the North Wyke Farm Platform, an intensively instrumented farm-scale ruminant research facility located in southwest United Kingdom, this paper proposes a novel, information-driven approach to carry out comprehensive assessments of economic-environmental trade-offs inherent within pasture-based cattle and sheep production systems. The results of a data-mining exercise suggest that a potentially systematic interaction exists between 'soil health', ecological surroundings and livestock grazing, whereby a higher level of soil organic carbon (SOC) stock is associated with a better animal performance and less nutrient losses into watercourses, and a higher stocking density with greater botanical diversity and elevated SOC. We contend that a combination of farming system-wide trials and environmental instrumentation provides an ideal setting for enrolling scientifically sound and biologically informative metrics for agricultural sustainability, through which agricultural producers could obtain guidance to manage soils, water, pasture and livestock in an economically and environmentally acceptable manner. Priority areas for future farm-scale research to ensure long-term sustainability are also discussed.
为使畜牧生产系统在全球粮食安全中发挥积极作用，必须妥善管理其对社会的利弊平衡。基于世界各地田间规模随机对照试验提供的证据，这场辩论传统上集中在经济 - 环境权衡的概念上，理论上当农场资源分配完美时，这种权衡是存在的。然而，近期对商业农场进行的研究表明，在现实世界中经济与环境的关系并非如此简单直接，企业的环境绩效往往与其经济盈利能力呈正相关。本文利用位于英国西南部的集约化监测农场规模反刍动物研究设施——北威克农场平台的高分辨率原始数据，提出了一种新颖的、以信息驱动的方法，对基于牧场的牛羊生产系统中固有的经济 - 环境权衡进行全面评估。数据挖掘练习的结果表明，“土壤健康”、生态环境和牲畜放牧之间可能存在系统性相互作用，即较高水平的土壤有机碳（SOC）储量与更好的动物性能以及更少的养分流失到水道相关，较高的载畜密度与更大的植物多样性和更高的SOC相关。我们认为，将全农场系统试验与环境监测相结合，为纳入科学合理且具有生物学信息的农业可持续性指标提供了理想环境，通过这一环境，农业生产者能够获得指导，以经济和环境可接受的方式管理土壤、水、牧场和牲畜。本文还讨论了确保长期可持续性的未来农场规模研究的优先领域。
