When people think about how cows and environment relate to one another, the first thought is often that bovines contribute strongly to emissions, but a University of New England researcher said they have positive impacts, too.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Livestock nutritionist and modeller, Dr Holland Dougherty, said she wants to put the record straight, highlighting the fact that cows are important in disposing by-products from human food and fibre crops.
Those by-products make up roughly 30 per cent of cows' diets across the world.
READ MORE
"If we didn't have livestock to upcycle these products, we would have to find another use for them," Dr Dougherty said.
"And for some of these byproducts, there's not many other uses - or if there are other uses, they don't contribute to the human food supply.
"The sustainability metrics we use don't tend to capture this symbiosis, where ruminants make it possible to turn waste material into food rather than us losing that material out of the food cycle."
Dr Dougherty made her point at the recent 2022 Agritech Futures seminar, which took place on Friday.
The event was titled Cow in the Room: The role of livestock in managing climate, and was attended by a number of industry experts, including seven speakers.
Topics included the greening of the supply chain between Australian Agricultural Company and Woolworths, carbon-neutral beef, beef as an efficient protein and the role of technology in making livestock more climate-friendly.
Dr Dougherty is hoping one of the outcomes of the event will be addressing the deficiency in scientific literature on the subject of upcycling. With other UNE scientists, she hopes to launch a research project that will correct that.
"Across the world, we use livestock to clean up our messes. For every 100 kilograms of food we produce, about 37 kilos of byproducts are produced that can be fed to livestock - and that's exactly what farmers tend to do," she said.
"What would happen to the numbers if livestock were not there, converting crop waste to protein? If that material was actually wasted, or used outside our food supply? What would be the greenhouse gas penalty of producing more food to replace that protein we now grow on crop byproducts?
"We still need more of a big-picture perspective on the role of livestock. I think it's really vital that we get that information, both to better understand our food production systems, and to guide policy around climate change."
Cody Tsaousis
I'm a news reporter who enjoys covering politics and energy, but I will write about anything for my community. I moved to the New England in 2021 after spending several years in the Upper Hunter.
I'm a news reporter who enjoys covering politics and energy, but I will write about anything for my community. I moved to the New England in 2021 after spending several years in the Upper Hunter.
