Reconsidering Integrated Crop–Livestock Systems in North America

TLDR

Integrated crop–livestock systems, long used worldwide, are gaining renewed interest in North America because they can enhance environmental sustainability, diversify cropping, and improve soil fertility, yet their complexity and resource demands may limit adoption. The study proposes a new national or international research initiative to address the complexity barriers and promote profitability and sustainability in North American integrated crop–livestock systems. The authors argue that the system’s complexity and public benefits warrant a coordinated research effort to develop solutions for adoption. Adoption of integrated crop–livestock systems is expected to increase farm profitability and environmental sustainability for farmers and communities.

Abstract

Although integrated crop–livestock systems have been employed globally for millennia, in the past century, farmers in North America have tended toward increased specialization. There is renewed interest in reintegrating crops and livestock because of concerns about natural resource degradation, the profitability and stability of farm income, long‐term sustainability, and increasing regulation of concentrated animal feeding operations. Integrated crop–livestock systems could foster diverse cropping systems, including the use of perennial and legume forages, which could be grown in selected areas of the landscape to achieve multiple environmental benefits. Integrated systems inherently would utilize animal manure, which enhances soil tilth, fertility, and C sequestration. Integration of crops and livestock could occur within a farm or among farms. Both scales of integration rely on farmers' knowledge, motivation, and resources. Despite the numerous benefits that could accrue if farms moved toward on‐farm or among‐farm integration of crops and livestock, the complexity of such systems could constrain adoption. However, farmers should expect that adoption of integrated crop–livestock systems would enhance both profitability and environmental sustainability of their farms and communities. The combination of system complexity and potential for public benefit justify the establishment of a new national or international research initiative to overcome constraints and move North American agriculture toward greater profitability and sustainability.