Limiting livestock production to pasture and by-products in a search for sustainable diets

Röös, Elin; Patel, Mikaela; Spångberg, Johanna; Carlsson, Georg; Rydhmer, Lotta

doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.10.008

Cited by 115 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…This principle has the advantage to be quite transparent (although quite rough as shown in Section 4.1) but favors sectors that have the worst impacts and does not take into account the progress margins of the different sectors. Scenarios show that the agri-food sector has a substantial potential of pressures reduction notably through diet shifts (Notarnicola et al, 2017;Röös et al, 2016;WRI, 2016). Yet these improvements may still be insufficient to lower some pressures down to sustainability thresholds as defined based on a grandfathering principle.…”

Section: Research and Institutional Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting unsustainable pressures exerted on biodiversity by a company. Application to the food portfolio of a retailer

Wolff

Gondran²,

Brodhag³

2017

Journal of Cleaner Production

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SummaryCompanies are called by institutional organizations to assess their impacts on biodiversity and to take actions to achieve collectively conservation objectives. This paper presents a method to assess whether the pressures exerted by a business and its value chain on biodiversity are compatible with biodiversity conservation. The absolute environmental sustainability assessment framework is used to compare relevant life cycle assessment midpoint and endpoint indicators to the ecological budgets assigned to the company. This approach is illustrated based on the case study of a mass-market retailer with a focus on the pressures exerted by its food portfolio at the agricultural production step. The results indicate that several pressures driving biodiversity loss are not sustainable. The study also highlights the prominent weight of a few product categories in the ecological burden. These findings have implications for mass-market retailers as well as their food value chains and open research perspectives to make such an approach fully operational.

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Section: Research and Institutional Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting unsustainable pressures exerted on biodiversity by a company. Application to the food portfolio of a retailer

Wolff

Gondran²,

Brodhag³

2017

Journal of Cleaner Production

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“…This can be done without compromising human health and welfare (more likely reduced met consumption even has health benefits: WCRF 2016) and without compromising pasture biodiversity and open landscapes. Röös et al (2016) estimated that Swedish consumption of beef meat can be reduced with more than half without threatening the pasture biodiversity if the beef meat consumed is sourced from production systems using semi-natural pastures.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlling Sustainability in Swedish Beef Production: Outcomes for Farmers and the Environment

Fischer

Röös

2018

Food ethics

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Swedish beef and dairy farmers are currently facing a challenging financial situation. Simultaneously, beef farming contributes significant environmental impacts. To support farmers, actors from the whole value chain are now promoting Swedish beef as particularly 'sustainable'. The paper draws on critical discourse analysis of interviews with and documents from the largest Swedish supermarket chain ICA, Swedish farmer organisations and farmers to study how ICA and farmers articulate sustainability and their responsibility for the same. Articulations are subsequently discussed in the light of actual environmental impacts of beef production and the distribution of power in the beef value chain. The findings suggest that negative environmental impacts and farmers' struggles are largely hidden in the dominant articulation of sustainability. Furthermore, ICA does not use the power it has to steer consumers toward reduced beef consumption. We conclude with suggesting more open deliberation about current levels of beef sales and consumption and about what compromises to make when striving for 'sustainable' beef consumption.

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“…It can be argued that grass production on good cropland occupies land suitable for cultivation of human‐edible protein, but grass crops are highly important in crop rotation for reducing soil compaction, preventing crop diseases and controlling weeds. In addition, grass can be grown on the same site every year, unlike legumes . Moreover, the nutrients in by‐products used for feed are utilised and do not become a waste with associated disposal problems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protein efficiency in intensive dairy production: a Swedish example

et al. 2017

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Dairy cows in high-yielding, intensive production systems such as those used in Sweden have the capacity to convert low-value inedible protein into high-value edible protein. However, a minor part of the dairy cow diet is edible for humans and this fraction must be minimised to justify dairy production. These results are in line with previous findings on protein conversion efficiency and add scientific input to the debate on sustainable food systems and sustainable diets. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

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Limiting livestock production to pasture and by-products in a search for sustainable diets

Cited by 115 publications

References 39 publications

Detecting unsustainable pressures exerted on biodiversity by a company. Application to the food portfolio of a retailer

Detecting unsustainable pressures exerted on biodiversity by a company. Application to the food portfolio of a retailer

Controlling Sustainability in Swedish Beef Production: Outcomes for Farmers and the Environment

Protein efficiency in intensive dairy production: a Swedish example

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