A model for 'sustainable' US beef production

作者：Eshel Gidon; Shepon Alon; Shaket Taga; Cotler Brett D.; Gilutz Stav; Giddings Daniel; Raymo Maureen E.; Milo Ron^*

来源：Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2018, 2(1): 81-85.

DOI：10.1038/s41559-017-0390-5

Food production dominates land, water and fertilizer use and is a greenhouse gas source. In the United States, beef production is the main agricultural resource user overall, as well as per kcal or g of protein. Here, we offer a possible, non-unique, definition of 'sustainable' beef as that subsisting exclusively on grass and by-products, and quantify its expected US production as a function of pastureland use. Assuming today's pastureland characteristics, all of the pastureland that US beef currently use can sustainably deliver approximate to 45% of current production. Rewilding this pastureland's less productive half (approximate to 135 million ha) can still deliver approximate to 43% of current beef production. In all considered scenarios, the approximate to 32 million ha of high-quality cropland that beef currently use are reallocated for plant-based food production. These plant items deliver 2- to 20-fold more calories and protein than the replaced beef and increase the delivery of protective nutrients, but deliver no B-12. Increased deployment of rapid rotational grazing or grassland multi-purposing may increase beef production capacity.

• 出版日期2018-1