Could Sustainably-Farmed Cows Be Part Of The Climate Change Solution?

Grass-fed cows and sheep can be part of the solution to climate change, provided farmers move to more circular and less intensive way of working, according to a new analysis.

The new study by the Sustainable Food Trust challenges the popular view that cattle are often part of the problem when it comes to climate change, and instead highlights the environmental benefits of cows raised on grass, without fertilizers or chemicals.

It argues regenerative farming systems depend on crop rotations with grasses and legumes that naturally improve soil health.

The report also claims moving to low-input, pasture-based grazing systems would help reverse the enormous loss of biodiversity that has occurred across U.K. arable and improved grassland areas over the past century.

And it says grazing is also essential for the conservation of important habitats and species and can even play a central role in rewilding projects.

Trust founder and chief executive Patrick Holden said the prevailing wisdom that cattle are part of the problem when it comes to climate change is “flawed” in an interview.

He said previous calculations failed to take into account the umbilical interrelationship between cows and the soils underneath them.

He told me that with the right grazing systems soil carbon sequestration can more than offset the emissions of animals like cows and sheep.

Holden added the prevailing orthodoxy was first challenged by Professor Myles Allen from Oxford University, who identified flaws in the way methane from cows had been calculated, which undermine the potentially positive contribution that the livestock sector can make.

“It’s not the cow, but the how,” said Holden. “If the farming systems which currently predominate throughout the U.K. and the world continue, then we will not be able to claim that the cow could be part of the solution.

“These systems are extracting soil carbon, using very large quantities of nitrogen fertilizer and other chemical inputs, which are very carbon heavy,” added Holden.

“In order to make cows part of the solution, you have to move to a system called mixed farming, which is based on a crop rotation to build up the fertility of the soil.”

Dr. Catherine Broomfield, from the Centre for Rural Policy Research at the University of Exeter, said the debate about agriculture and climate change has tended to focus on a narrow set of metrics in an interview.

Dr. Broomfield added farming is a system and like any system it is complex and in the case of farming, highly place specific.

For this reason, she said it is important the public and policy debate moves away from focusing on one aspect, such as methane emissions, when trying to make a meaningful assessment as to whether cattle and sheep farming is a good or bad thing for people and the planet.

She added both farming practices and the location where cattle are being farmed both need to be taken into account when estimating environmental impacts.

“If you just take just the U.K. the climate here allows us to grow naturally rain-fed grass in abundance, so for many farms it is possible to produce beef from a pasture-based system with no or very little supplementary grain-based feed,” Dr. Broomfield told me.

“And we often forget what’s underneath our feet,” she added. “Long-term permanent pasture grassland that has not been ploughed ever or for several decades, is a massive store of carbon.

“We also know that incorporating short-term pasture into the arable crop rotation, that are then grazed by cattle and sheep is very good for re-building soil health, including soil organic carbon and enabling the soil to sequester even more carbon.

“It also reduces the need for synthetic fertiliser and herbicides which is good for soil and all other living things”.

“Place-appropriate pasture-based cattle and sheep farming can be an incredibly important part of building a sustainable, healthy food system for everyone.”

Professor Benjamin Selwyn from the University of Sussex said the report makes a “useful contribution to the discussion” around the future of agriculture and food systems in an interview.

But Professor Selwyn added questions remain about how such a move would encourage people to move to more sustainable diets.

He also said there also needs to be more “radical action” and financial support from central government to help the beleaguered British farming sector.

“While the notion we can move towards regenerative agriculture and adopt more agroecological ways of producing meat is a step in the right direction, we need many more rapid steps in that direction,” he added.