Rôles,impacts et services issus des élevages en Europe. Synthèse du rapport d’expertise scientifique collective

L’élevage, secteur majeur pour l’économie de nombreux territoires et structurant beaucoup de paysages ruraux européens, fait l’objet de controverses, depuis au moins une décennie, notamment du fait des dommages environnementaux qu’il engendre. Dans un tel contexte, il est apparu nécessaire d’étayer les débats en faisant le point sur l’état des connaissances scientifiques relatives aux rôles, impacts et services environnementaux, économiques et sociaux issus des élevages européens et leurs produits. Pour ce faire, les ministères français en charge de l’Environnement et de l’Agriculture ainsi que l’Agence de l’environnement et de la maîtrise de l’énergie (Ademe) ont sollicité l’Inra pour réaliser une expertise scientifique collective (ESCo) abordant conjointement les multiples conséquences sur les milieux et le climat, l’emploi et le travail, les marchés et certains enjeux sociaux et culturels, de la production et de la consommation humaine de produits d’origine animale (bovins, ovins, caprins, porcins et avicoles). L’analyse de ces diverses dimensions s’appuie sur les démarches d’évaluation rapportées dans la littérature scientifique internationale. Abordées, dans un premier temps, de manière analytique et globale, les connaissances ont ensuite été mobilisées par « bouquet de services » au sein de territoires contrastés. Les relations entre les différents impacts ou services permettent d’identifier des compromis et des leviers d’action envisageables pour les systèmes d’élevage. Livestock production is a sector of major economic importance that defines many European rural areas. It has become the focus of controversy over the past decade or more, particularly with regard to the environmental impacts it causes. In this context, it seemed useful to support this debate with a critical review of the state of scientific knowledge on the role, impacts, and services – environmental, economic, and social – associated with European livestock production. Accordingly, the French ministries responsible for Agriculture and the Environment, in cooperation with the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), requested INRA to undertake a collective scientific assessment addressing the many consequences – for the environment and the climate, for employment and labor, for markets, and for a variety of social and cultural issues – related to the production and human consumption of animal products (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry). Analysis of these diverse dimensions was based on assessment methods utilized and described in the international scientific literature. Using a broad, analytical overview as a starting point, the review proceeded by identifying the "service bundles" associated with livestock production in contrasting areas

Integrated crop–livestock systems with agroforestry to improve organic animal farming

The livestock sector has to satisfy the growing demand for animal products while reducing its environmental impact, in face of great climatic and market changes. For this reason, there is a necessity to redesign livestock production systems in order to make them more sustainable and adaptable. IFS (crop-livestock-trees) could be a viable option to achieve the above-mentioned global goals. Moreover, the implementation of conservation agriculture practices proved to improve crop-livestock beneficial effects. This review paper aims at highlighting the scientific knowledge existing regarding the advantages and limitations of crop-livestock systems including agroforestry and conservation agriculture practices. This shows that integration (this integration can take different operational structures-farming systems) can be a positive approach to achieve farm’s sustainability

Review: An integrated graphical tool for analysing impacts and services provided by livestock farming

Livestock farming is criticized for negatively impacting the environment, concerns about animal welfare and the impact of excessive meat consumption on human health. However, livestock farming provides other underappreciated and poorly communicated benefits to society in terms of employment, product quality, cultural landscapes and carbon storage by grasslands. Few attempts have been made so far to simultaneously consider the services and impacts provided by livestock production. Here, we propose an integrated graphical tool, called the ‘barn’ to explicitly summarize the synergies and trade-offs between services and impacts provided by livestock farming. It illustrates livestock farming interacting with its physical, economic and social environment along five interfaces: (i) Markets, (ii) Work and employment, (iii) Inputs, (iv) Environment and climate, (v) Social and cultural factors. This graphical tool was then applied by comparing two contrasting livestock production areas (high livestock density v. grassland-based), and the dominant v. a niche system within a crop-livestock area. We showed the barn could be used for cross-comparisons of services and impacts across livestock production areas, and for multi-level analysis of services and impacts of livestock farming within a given area. The barn graphically summarizes the ecological and socio-economic aspects of livestock farming by explicitly representing multiple services and impacts of different systems in a simple yet informative way. Information for the five interfaces relies on available quantitative assessments from the literature or data sets, and on expert-knowledge for more qualitative factors, such as social and cultural ones. The ‘barn’ can also inform local stakeholders or policy-makers about potential opportunities and threats to the future of livestock farming in specific production areas. It has already been used as a pedagogical tool for teaching the diversity of services and impacts of livestock systems across Europe and is currently developed as a serious game for encouraging knowledge exchange and sharing different viewpoints between stakeholders

Services rendus et contribution de l’élevage au développement du territoireAuvergne – Rhône-Alpes (AURA)

International audienc