Delivering “less but better” meat in practice—a case study of a farm in agroecological transition

Abstract

Eating “less but better” meat can be a strategy to guide meat consumption in Western or high-income countries towards sustainability, but what “better” means depends on the perspective. Multiple studies and reports suggest that agroecological farming systems could contribute to a broad range of sustainability benefits, but few studies have examined the implications for people and nature following trade-offs between sustainability priorities at the farm level. Therefore, this study explored the effects on a broad range of sustainability themes following agroecological transition on a case farm in east-central Sweden. We applied a novel mixed-methods approach, combining the indicator-based SMART-Farm tool with additional quantitative and qualitative analysis of the farm’s climate impact, contribution to global food security, economic performance, and working conditions. The results showed improvements for aspects within environmental, social, economic, and governance-related sustainability dimensions, with corroborating results across methods. The case farm thus served as an example of transition to a more sustainable production system, but as expected, there were both trade-offs and synergies between sustainability aspects. Negative effects were found for economic aspects at the farm and societal level. For this case, one may conclude that “better” meat production both supports and depends on, a more sustainable farm; but that “better” meat and a more sustainable farm cannot be viewed in isolation from the wider food system. Also, “better” can be described by several states along a transition pathway. Key contributions of the study are threefold, a) articulation of the links between agroecology and the concept “less but better,” b) empirically demonstrating synergies and trade-offs in striving for more sustainable meat production, and c) a novel methodological approach for sustainability assessment.

Effects of extreme events on land-use-related decisions of farmers in Eastern Austria: the role of learning

“…We deducted four adaptation strategies organic production , extensification , expansion , and land-use change based on farm management strategies from the 20 interviews in the study region supplemented with additional 40 interviews with farmers in Austria and France. With the shift to organic and extensive production, farms can decrease the pressure on production quantity; additionally, higher prices can increase their gross margins (Resare Sahlin et al 2022 ; Garmendia et al 2022 ). As farms in this application of the SECLAND ABM only consider the agricultural income as satisfaction criteria, they cannot substitute farm income with off-farm work (Brunner and Grêt-Regamey 2016 ).…”

AD, Volume 48, n° 4, 2023 - Numéro complet

“…These contexts become more and more relevant as the differences between the understanding of sustainable food systems and food preferences are shaped by environments. For instance, in the developed world, where there is a general overconsumption of meat, there is a movement to reduce the consumption of meat because it is perceived to be produced under environmentally unsustainable practices and systems that are insensitive to animal welfare (Neff et al 2018;Sahlin 2022). However, in the developing world, there is a general underconsumption of meat and there are vulnerable groups, like lactating and pregnant women and children, whose food security and health would benefit from consuming more, not less, animal source foods (Paul et al 2021).…”

Sustainable Small Ruminant Production in Low- and Middle-Income African Countries: Harnessing the Potential of Agroecology

“…The unsustainability of the conventional system prompted the shift toward more sustainable intensification methods [25,39], which involved practices that improved productivity while reducing environmental impact. Ultimately, the goal is to transition to agroecological systems [40], which integrate biodiversity, ecosystem health, and social equity with productivity [24,41]. FAO [42] outlined ten components of agroecology: diversity, joint knowledge development, synergies, efficiency, recycling, resilience, human and social values, cultural and food traditions, responsible governance, and a circular and solidarity economy.…”