A sustainable food system can and should include livestock. The shift from diversified farms that incorporated crops and livestock to industrial monocultures and confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) has led to the fragile food system we have today. There are many reasons to end factory farming, but the climate crisis urgently demands that we shift meat production from factory farms to sustainable family farms.
Emissions related to manure management have risen 66% since 1990, and the majority of this increase is due to the shift toward larger dairy cattle and hog CAFOs.[3] These factory farms rely on heavily fertilized feed grains and the storage and application of liquified manure, while undercutting small- and medium-sized producers in the market. On the other hand, cattle and other livestock can be raised on pasture that would otherwise be unsuitable for growing crops, and they eat crop residues that would otherwise go to waste. They also produce manure that is incorporated into pasture as fertilizer (an alternative to manufactured fertilizer, which is made from fossils fuels and a major source of GhG emissions).
Livestock have a major role to play in helping to restore native prairie and grasslands, which have tremendous carbon-storage potential. Indigenous ranchers and farmers are leading the way to do this essential work, especially as they seek to restore bison to Native lands.