Department of Animal Science, Agrifood Research and Technology Centre of Aragon (CITA), Avda. Montañana 930, 50059, Zaragoza, Spain.
AgriFood Institute of Aragon - IA2 (CITA-University of Zaragoza), Zaragoza, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2023 Aug 31;13(1):14307. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-41524-4.
Livestock systems contribution to environmental change is controversial. Pasture-based systems are considered a sustainable alternative due to their adaptation to the use of local natural resources. However, they have limited productivity per product unit and, in Europe, depend on public economic support. Furthermore, they are heterogeneous in farm structure and resources use, which may determine their sustainability. We use emergy accounting to assess the sustainability of mountain pasture-based cattle systems and analyse the variability among farms. Emergy accounting assesses the sustainability performance of complex systems (i.e., farming systems) and their interaction with other systems (i.e., the environment and the socio-economic system) focusing on the origin, quality and quantity of the energy required for the system to function. Results show that pasture-based systems largely use local natural renewable resources but depend largely on the wider socio-economic system given their reliance on public economic support and purchased animal feeds. This economic dependence turns out in most farms largely using non-renewable resources. Increasing self-produced feeds and grazing on natural pastures can reduce the dependence on the socio-economic system and improve farm sustainability.
畜牧业系统对环境变化的影响颇具争议。由于能够适应利用当地自然资源，基于牧场的系统被认为是一种可持续的替代方案。然而，它们的单位产品生产力有限，而且在欧洲依赖公共经济支持。此外，它们在农场结构和资源利用方面存在异质性，这可能决定其可持续性。我们使用能值分析来评估山地牧场牛系统的可持续性，并分析农场之间的变异性。能值分析评估复杂系统（即农业系统）及其与其他系统（即环境和社会经济系统）相互作用的可持续性能，重点关注系统运行所需能源的来源、质量和数量。结果表明，基于牧场的系统大量利用当地可再生自然资源，但由于依赖公共经济支持和购买动物饲料，在很大程度上依赖更广泛的社会经济系统。这种经济依赖导致大多数农场大量使用不可再生资源。增加自产饲料和放牧天然牧场可以减少对社会经济系统的依赖，提高农场的可持续性。
