Animal Nutrition
REMEMBERING THE FARMERS’ NEEDS IN THE SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTION By: Neil Keane, Commercial Director, Alltech
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It’s hard to be green when you are in the red” is a common response from farmers being asked to meet the fast-evolving sustainability requirements associated with food production. With many big-picture ideals and schemes, the devil is well and truly in the detail, and agriculture’s move towards a greener future is no different. It will be interesting to see how the European Union’s recent Farm to Fork Strategy proposal engages primary producers in reformulating relevant policy. Interpreting sustainability is one of the most divisive issues facing society today. For agrifood, it is a non-negotiable in how we work. Thinking about future generations and caring for the environment has been an unwritten part of food production for millennia. Now our challenge as agriculturalists is to measure and verify our production models. Livestock production has a unique position in underpinning the circular economy. Converting feed and by-products inedible to humans into meat and milk. In addition, regenerative grazing, strategic cropping rotations and efficient nutrient use all contribute toward enhanced biodiversity. The challenges for each of the food chain stakeholders in
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addressing sustainability requirements are different and complex. For the farmer, it is profitability and evolving a production model that does not undermine their lifestyle or the environment on which their livelihood depends. There is no question that livestock production has the unique position of being part of the climate challenge solution in the form of carbon sequestration. However, in this data-driven world, we need to be able to measure and verify it. For governments, climate change mitigation and meeting internationally-agreed targets would require influencing human behavioural change across society. In agri-food, this necessitates open dialogue with all participants in formulating policy and aligning directives to local needs. Education is ongoing; however, it is widely recognised that this will be more effectively achieved via a collective industry approach. At Alltech, we believe this collaboration for achieving carbon neutrality within food production is imperative. The urgency in developing sustainable production models has accelerated. This needs to be done in a way that bypasses
silver bullet type solutions in favour of holistic programmes for reducing waste. Validation services Up until now, many rural professionals and producers have understood the idea that environmental emissions, such as greenhouse gases, are a lost economic opportunity, representing wasted nutrition that could have driven greater production. This implies that, as a farmer achieves their animal health and productivity targets, the environmental footprint improves by itself. What has been lacking previously, however, has been the ability to quantify these numbers in a real-world situation. By pairing a lifecycle analysis approach with a bespoke on-farm, animalcentred strategy, provides the data that validates the win-winwin approach (i.e., healthier animals, increased revenue and improved environmental qualities going hand in hand). The Alltech® In Vitro Fermentation Model (Alltech IFM™) simulates rumen fermentation and evaluates the nutritive value of a ration and end-product formation. This dynamic approach to understanding diet efficiency is
May-June 2021
