Climate impacts of alternative beef production systems depend on the functional unit used: Weight or monetary value.

Autor: Wang T; Ness School of Management & Economics, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007., Kreuter U; Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843., Davis C; Animal Products and Cost of Production Branch, Market and Trade Economics Division, United States Department of Agriculture - Economic Research Service, Washington, DC 20250., Cheye S; Ness School of Management & Economics, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A] 2024 Jul 30; Vol. 121 (31), pp. e2321245121. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jul 15.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2321245121
Abstrakt: Beef production has been identified as a significant source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the agricultural sector. United States and Canada account for about a quarter of the world's beef supply. To compare the GHG emission contributions of alternative beef production systems, we conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies that were conducted between 2001 and 2023. Results indicated that GHG emissions from beef production in North America varied almost fourfold from 10.2 to 37.6 with an average of 21.4 kg CO 2 e/kg carcass weight (CW). Studies that considered soil C sequestration (C-seq) reported the highest mitigation potential in GHG emissions (80%), followed by growth enhancement technology (16%), diet modification (6%), and grazing management improvement (7%). Our study highlights the implications of using carbon intensity per economic activity (i.e., GHG emissions per monetary unit), compared to the more common metric of intensity on per weight of product basis (GHG emissions per kg CW) for comparisons across differentiated beef cattle products. While a positive association was found between the proportion of lifespan on grassland and the conventional weight-based indicator, grass-finished beef was found to have lower carbon intensity per economic activity than feedlot-finished beef. Our study emphasizes the need to incorporate land use and management effects and soil C-seq as fundamental aspects of beef GHG emissions and mitigation assessments.
Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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